How Long Does it Take to Record an Audiobook? ...and other FAQ's about audiobook narration.

​I have recorded over 250 audiobooks so far in my career.  And whether this fact is revealed during casual conversation at a party, or whether I’m reading an email from one of my fans (yes! I have some fans!  It’s the most amazing feeling ever!), I tend to be asked a lot of the same questions. Because let’s face it: audiobook narration is completely fascinating.  So for this month’s blog entry, I thought I’d field some of the more frequently asked questions about audiobooks.  Let’s get to it!

​Do you read the book first?

Of course!  You wouldn’t expect actors to perform for an audience without reading the play first, would you? Yes, I read the book thoroughly. I annotate important things that will affect the way I perform in front of the microphone, such as how a character is feeling when they speak, or whether someone is whispering or shouting or crying. I also have a special symbol that I mark next to each character’s lines, so that I know who is speaking and can quickly switch from one character to another during dialogue. If there are any words I am unfamiliar with, or that I don’t 100% know how to pronounce, I research them.  It takes a long time to prep an audiobook!  Hours and hours  and hours, which leads us to:

​How long does it take to record an audiobook?

​It depends. The more mistakes you make during recording, the longer it takes to record! On average, I’d say it takes one-and-a-half times (1.5x) the finished length of the book. So if an audiobook is, say, ten hours long to listen to, then it will take 15 hours of studio time to record it.

​Do you just sit in a recording booth for hours on end, reading out loud?

​Yup! That’s exactly what happens! Although it’s certainly not just “reading out loud.” It’s acting, non-stop, for hours on end. A marathon performance lasting multiple days. Most voice-over actors who record audiobooks will work six-hour recording shifts. Usually 10am to 4pm. And a lot of actors do this every day until the book is finished. Now I personally cannot do that; I don’t have the stamina. I find that I have to record alternate days (every other day) so that my voice doesn’t become exhausted. And even with that schedule, audiobooks can be pretty taxing. I record with a recording engineer. The engineer is in charge of stopping the recording when I make a mistake, and restarting where we left off. This is called a “punch” recording. Many audiobook narrators don’t work with a recording engineer. They record themselves, and when they make a mistake, they erase it themselves and re-record from that spot, all the way through the book. Amazing, right?

Recording an audiobook is like a solo marathon.

​Do you do all the character voices yourself?

Mais oui! Who else is gonna do it? Except for multi-cast audiobooks, wherein a different actor plays each character – similar to an audio play – every character in the audiobook is voiced by one narrator. Which leads me to...

​How do you come up with the character voices?

Here I must take a moment to tip my hat to an amazingly talented actor, Jim Dale, who is well known for creating hundreds of unique character voices for the Harry Potter series. He is an icon of the audiobook world in that regard. How do I do it? Well, I take my cues from the text. The author most often describes each character’s personality and physical appearance, which gives me a lot of clues as to how they might speak. Sometimes the author provides really clear direction. I recently had a character whose voice was described as a “gravelly midsouthern baritone.” So that was a nice easy one. Once I know all about the character, I read their lines aloud in a voice that I think might work for them. If it feels right, I stick with it. And if not, I play around with variations until it feels right.

Hearing voices in my head...is a good thing!!

​How (much) do you get paid?

An audiobook is paid PFH – per finished hour. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to read the book ahead of time, research it, mark up the script, prepare all the character voices, then get into the studio and record it, with all of the errors and the stumbles. None of that is “paid” work. Narrators are paid for the finished product. The average rate for audiobook narrators (once they have some experience) is between $100 and $250 PFH.

​I love to read. Can I be an audiobook narrator?

Well, for this question, may I refer you to my blog entry from October: How to Start a Voice Acting Career.

Do you have any burning questions that I haven’t answered here? Please put them in the comments and I’ll add them in! Thank you for reading all about audiobook narration. And if you’re interested in listening to any of my audiobooks, you can find most of them HERE. Enjoy!

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