CourVO & Audie Nominee John McClain
In the heart of Hell’s Kitchen in NYC…there sits the gargantuan Jacob Javits convention center.
The modest gathering, there, for the Audio Publishers Association Conference barely needed a small corner of huge hall for Monday’s one-day audiobook conference, but the talk was mighty.
From 8am on through 6pm, our little corner bustled. The conference was designed with one track dedicated to the issues and concerns of primarily AudioBook publishers, and the other track was for narrators.
Even though you could only attend about 4 seminars in the day, all of it was golden.
Dr. Michele Yagoda, an ENT physician in the Big Apple, made understanding the physiology and anatomy of human soundmaking very easy. Everything anyone needed to know about challenges, diseases, health, and use of the vocal cords made it into this talk.
Tribeca Audio’s Paul Ruben moderated a panel of producers and directors next. Karen Dziekonski of Harper, Claudio Howard of Recorded Books, Hilary Rose of Tantor Audio, and Scott Sherratt of Scott Sherratt productions made it clear what they want to see and hear from prospective narrators in their job search.
Award-winning narrator Johnny Heller introduced an impressive panel of more award-winning narrators to kick off the afternoon session. Hillary Huber, Simon Vance, Karen White,and a handful of others read humorous essays for everyone,
live, just to show how it’s done.
The final session, facilitated by John McElroy, and featuring Tavia Gilbert, Dan Zitt, and Chris Carvey focused on social media’s reach, and other marketing trends.
CourVO & Hillary Huber
Interspersed with meals, snacks, networking, and surrounded in ‘n’ throughout by impromptu conversations in the hallway with old and new friends, the APAC event adds all the elements to the audiobook stew to feast yourself for a year in one day.
An after-hours mixer sponsored by Tantor Press only extended the socializing past 6pm and into the NY night.
I can’t imagine living a day more fully, or more enjoyably. This is a thriving corner of the voice-acting universe, populated by some of the most engaging people I’ve ever met.
CourVO
