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Celebrated chef Marcus Samuelsson can cook a chicken 200 different ways, but how does he take the heat of recording his memoir? We go into the studio to find out.
Authors Julieanne Reeves and Hayden Braeburn rave about Pamela Clare's I-Team books coming out in audio.
Ms. Raffin, who had top roles in films and television, including “Haywire and “Noble House,” also started a successful audiobook business with her husband, Michael Viner. The two started Dove Books-on-Tape in their garage in the mid-1980s. It became a multimillion-dollar business. The company’s first best seller was Stephen Hawking’s opus on the cosmos, “A Brief History of Time.” Ms. Raffin’s job included getting celebrities to provide voices for some of the books. Among them were the nonfiction best sellers “Anatomy of an Illness” and “The Healing Heart,” both by Norman Cousins, which were read by Jason Robards Jr. and William Conrad. Ms. Raffin also compiled celebrities’ Christmas anecdotes for a 1990 book, “Sharing Christmas,” which raised money for groups serving the homeless. It included stories from Margaret Thatcher, Kermit the Frog and Mother Teresa.
I got sucked in big-time this past summer by Gillian Flynn's nail-biting thriller Gone Girl, the tale of a wife who disappears in a marriage that's gone very wrong. To give myself something to do at the gym (and keep myself from flipping to the end), I downloaded the audiobook version from Audible. The result literally kept me up, and got me thinking – what's it like to create an audiobook? I caught up with the actors who brought Nick and Amy Dunne's marriage to life, Kirby Heyborne and Julia Whelan, to found out about the hard work and challenges that come with putting an audiobook together.
Ten participants will be taught by three masters as they record fresh excerpts which can be used on their demos, learn negotiation skills to earn more money, and how to connect with publishers and producers.
Award-winning industry veterans lead a round table discussion with a small gathering of relatively new audiobook narrators. The topic of discussion is how to be a better narrator of audiobooks. Led by Stefan Rudnicki and Gabrielle de Cuir
Today our Audiobook Q&A series returns — AND HOW! — to help celebrate the conclusion of Audiobook Week and June is Audiobook Month with an in-depth talk with one of our favorite narrators, Xe Sands. During our interview — which Listen Up is posting in conjunction with Sands’s Going Public — Xe thanks the narrators who have helped her during her career, offers tips for aspiring audiobook narrators, and tells us what’s she’s working on next.
I have a fantastic post to kick the week off. A few weeks ago, when I first saw the announcement that Audiobook Week was coming up, I contacted Xe Sands, an audiobook narrator who I have had the privilege to get to know via Twitter, and asked for an interview. Turns out with June being Audiobook Month, she has a lot going on this month! Fortunately, she graciously found time to answer my questions so I could introduce all of my readers to her work. Please help me welcome Xe to Books and Movies. First, I have to ask. Is “Xe” a nickname or are they your initials? If Xe is your first name, how is it pronounced?
On a long road trip, the right audio offers a magic elixir of voice and story. It can mitigate irritation over snarled traffic, remedy boredom and, on occasion, lighten the mood if the atmosphere in the minivan resembles the Donner Party minutes before the knives came out. Here is a sampling of great listens, whether you are traveling solo, paired, with pals, or hauling the whole tribe. If you have little ones, exert a bit of caution. My older son fondly recalls my desperate swerve to hit pause during a particularly inappropriate sex and drugs anecdote featured in Anthony Bourdain's splendid reading of his 2000 tell-all memoir, Kitchen Confidential (Random House Audio, $20). Very funny, but for big-boy ears only.
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AudioEloquence.com Relanches
British actor Robin Sachs, best known for his roles in Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Galaxy Quest, dies at the age of 61.
I was initially inspired by being such a voracious reader from the day I learned how letters become words become stories. The magic of entering
Lucy Fleming is the niece of Ian Fleming and is closely involved in commissioning the new James Bond book by William Boyd, due to be published in Autumn next year. She has recently produced all her uncle’s full-length novels read by great British actors for download or on CD.
While it’s true that a Stephen King book can make hearts race, churning through “The Shining” generally doesn’t qualify as a cardiovascular workout. Not in print, anyway. So what about listening to an audiobook version of the horror classic during a run? Joe Flood, for one, says the spoken word imbues him with an inexplicable desire to keep going. “Most days it can be a struggle to get myself out the door, or to run that extra mile,” says the 30-year-old writer and college archery coach who lives in South Dakota’s Badlands. “If I’m wrapped up in a good book, though, the time and the miles just seem to flow along with the narrative.” There are now legions of such long-distance readers who, data suggests, prefer burning calories to turning pages.
In order to satisfy the increasing consumer demand for audio books, audio publishers have accelerated their search for more competent narrators. This trend may explain why, as a producer/director, I’ve received a rising number of narration demos the past few years as well. For me, the quality of performance isn’t keeping pace with the increased solicitations. Sometimes, after briefly listening to a voice-overish demo, I’ll think: Hmmm, not in the ballpark. And I’ll wonder: Who directed this narrator? The lingering impression is that no one did. Though I’m mindful of the fact that many experienced and aspiring narrators, especially those residing outside New York and LA, may have little or no access to credible supervision, I also wonder: Why haven’t these narrators collaborated with the two directors that are always with them? Are they even aware of their presence? If not, would an introduction be beneficial?
On Saturday, August 25, 2012, THAT'S VOICEOVER is blowing into the Windy City to launch VO careers, inspire success, and to inform and entertain you from morning to night with the top pros in the business.
Authors often like to talk about finding their literary voices, which generally means they haven't sold anything yet. This post, however is about writers who actually have sold a book, want to voice the audiobook edition -- and shouldn't. Take the case of Harlan Coben, he of the delightfully entertaining Myron Bolitar crime-solving series and stand-alones such as Stay Close, Caught and Hold Tight. His audio publishers have used a variety of talented narrators: Steven Weber, Dylan Baker, Carrington MacDuffie, and the melodramatic Scott Brick, among others. For a while the Bolitar series used Jonathan Marosz, who was spot-on for Coben's cheeky, irreverent Myron. Unfortunately for Coben and readers, Marosz was not available for the 2006 recording of Promise Me, so the author stepped in to do the narration at the publisher's urging. Not a good idea.
Pat Fraley and Scott Brick
are both masters of their craft and have been partner-teaching for about 5 years now.
They are the Go-To Team for producers and publishers who are seeking out trained, skillful audiobook narrators. They have guided more performers into audiobook deals than anyone in the history of audiobook narration training.
(Ed. note - slightly off topic, but brilliant and inspirational.) The city of Troy, Michigan was facing a budget shortfall, and was considering closing the Troy Public Library for lack of funds. Even though the necessary revenues could be raised through a miniscule tax increase, powerful anti-tax groups in the area were organized against it. A vote was scheduled amongst the city's residents, to shut the library or accept the tax increase, and Leo Burnett Detroit decided to support the library by creating a reverse psychology campaign. Yard signs began appearing that read: "Vote to Close Troy Library on August 2nd - Book Burning Party on August 5th." No one wants to be a part of a town that burns books, and the outraged citizens of Troy pushed back against the "idiotic book burners" and ultimately supported the tax increase, thus ensuring the library's survival.
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