The first inklings came in the Summer of 2012 from some of the studios and agents that book narrators and produce audiobooks. It was almost a warning, really. Word was coming down from the 800 lb. Gorilla of audiobooks -- Audible.com -- that they needed hundreds (thousands?) of titles to be...
A highly regarded local Speech-Language Pathologist contacted me the other day. I'm encouraged that my online VO profile brings people to my door, but even this advanced professional was in the dark about the current skills needed to make it in Voice Acting today. Her approach was intriguing: "I...
TRUE OR FALSE: (A) AudioBooks are what you do as a voice-actor when you can't get commercial work. (B) Only the really good voice-actors are the ones capable of mustering the talent needed to complete an audiobook. (C) AudioBooks don't pay well, but they're much more fulfilling to the actor within...
May of 2011 the Audiobook Creation Exchange was opened to the public. (see my original blog, May 12, 2011 about this) A year later, I think it's safe to say the service is a big success...answering a lot of needs: 1) For the consumer: allowing for many many more book titles to be available in...
In the big house of possible avocations in this world, voice acting takes up almost no space at all...and within that small closet of voice careers, the audiobook narrator is perhaps the most scarce - tucked in behind the scarves and used umbrellas in the back. Maybe that's why, when ANYONE shows...
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...
'Not your normal voice over crowd. In fact, the word pairing "voice over" is almost verbotten here at the AudioBook Publishers Association Conference in NYC. And yet, I see a lot of people here who would describe themselves that way, just not when they're around AudioBookpublishers and producers....
...when you're good. And Paul Ruben is great (so he qualifies). The "word" has it that Paul is (1) a seasoned, talented, and award-winning Audiobook narrator, and he is (2) gifted at sharing his craft. Unhappily, I have never met Paul, nor even had a conversation with him...a situation I hope to...
The Audies are about the closest thing regular ole voice actors have to a national award. Sure, a voice actor can also win an Emmy...but that's for the Randy Kay's, Melissa Disney's, Joe Cipriano's, and Tom Kane's of the world. The CLIO's are certainly worthy of note, but again, the awards go to...
Before books or even papyrus, there was the ancient art of storytelling and re-telling...and the oral tradition of passing down knowledge from generation to generation. Little wonder, then, that audiobooks are finding a resurgence (thanks in part to new, enabling technology). It's in our genes. A...