Pat Fraley’s Formula For How To Get Audiobook Narration Work

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This week, voices.com is pleased to present Pat Fraley.
Pat Fraley: The Formula to Getting Audiobook Narration Work. Hi, this is Pat Fraley. Here’s a brief lesson on what it takes to get narration work reading audiobooks. I have become the Johnny Appleseed of audiobook narrators. Last year, performers who I’ve taught and guided made 158 book deals, 27 of them were first time book deals. Because of this and the abundance of work available to narrators, I’ve decided to take my instruction on the skills of narration, marketing, and method of producing demos on the road. I’ll be coming to San Francisco, Austin, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, South Florida, and perhaps more.
You know, it always gives me pause when I get something right. Paul Simon’s song, “Something so Right” should be my personal anthem. When something goes right, well it’s likely to lose me, it’s apt to confuse me, it’s such an unusual sight. Well, I came upon something right and in order to avoid confusion, I’ve defined it. A formula has emerged to gain audiobook narration work and there are four elements to it; skills, personal style, the demo, and marketing. Let me walk you through them.
Skills. I’ve been honing the way I teach audiobook narration with those in the audiobook world who breathe a rarified air: Audiobook narrator and publisher Scott Brick. Audiobook narrator and teacher Rene Raudman. Audiobook narrator Hillary Huber who I have worked and taught with for more years than she would want me to share. Carrington Macduffie, narrator, writer, producer, and a fine teacher. Dan Musselman who is the managing producer of Random House BOT and Stefan Rudnicki, narrator and the busiest independent producer in the audiobook world.
It’s not surprising to me that rubbing elbows with a list like that is bound to leave me with some formidable wisdom. Learning from those who possess the skills, which get them hired and read audiobooks or produce and hire skilled narrators on a regular basis is central to getting the inside story on delivering the audiobook narration goods. Just this simple, those who are performers know how to deliver the skills producers and audiobook publishers want and those who produce and publish audiobooks one after another know what skills they want to hear.
There are the obvious skills of how to wind the story, the right amount of diction and expressiveness, but in this lesson, I would like to address two or three fundamental mindsets, which guide many skills. The first mindset has to do with freeing the author from punctuation prison. Authors are forced to present the thinking and feeling of their work, and in fiction, their characters, with the accepted and shared symbols of printed text punctuation. Punctuation can be helpful, but when you think about it, people don’t think in neat paragraphs, they don’t go down in tone and pitch all the time at the end of sentences nor do they go up in pitch at the end of a phrase, which is question. In fact, questions are posed verbally in a statement form about 50% of the time. You get that? You see that was a question, but I didn’t go up at the end in pitch like did you get that?
As my friend, teaching colleague, and audiobook narrator Scott Brick says, the author’s words must be delivered as if they were freshly minted. If the performer is channeling up the author’s voice, ideally this takes place intuitively. Some authors are able to use punctuation, which many times assist the narrator to realize the story in character. There are no rules, only notions, and developing the ability to discern between what punctuation is helpful and what isn’t takes practice.
One suggestion is to get hold of the text of a book and read along with an excellent reader and see and listen to how the narrator embraces and dishonors punctuation. So narrators have the key to each author’s punctuation cell. It’s the narrator’s job to free the author from the imposed cell of punctuation and get them back to the way they think and feel and how their characters think and feel.
Another mindset, which all narrators need to have in their skill toolbox has to do with understanding and accepting the fact that some books were not meant to be read out loud. A performer needs to accept this and try not to make an apple an orange.
I produced a book entitled, “The Fall of Che Guevara” written by Henry Butterfield Ryan. It is a very dry book, which reported the last days of Che Guevara. It did not lend itself to be heard. The author’s voice was that of an old school news reporter and there was little subjective opinion or attitude for the audiobook narrator to chew on. For my narrator, I chose a very good and versatile character actor, Richard McGonigle who I had taught and I had hired on other occasions and he was challenged with realizing the author’s intent and style. Richard’s journey to reign back all attitudes and opinions of what he was reading was a real task. It drove Richard nuts to almost report the book, but the end result was a match to the author’s voice and we were satisfied we hit the right tone of the book.
One final mindset to audiobook narrators I’d like to cover has to with the unique nature of the audiobook genre and the listener’s experience, the time. The narrator’s listening audience is going to spend 10 hours plus with one voice. This leads the performer to question their choices of the narrator’s voice and the way the present characters. Every strong choice a performer makes risks breaking the suspension of disbelief with the listening audience and yet every strong choice a performer makes invites an enhanced experience by the listener. That is what’s lurking behind the oft heard phrases, less is more and conversely be bold and risk.
Personally, I work out my choices like my salvation, with fear and trembling. Usually, my errors and successes are on the side of boldness as I am in the habit of going to battle with fear. In 37 years, I’ve never received a poor notice for being too subtle. Like my friend and actor Brad Garrett says, less is less. Well, that’s my journey, however, and it may not be yours. If it’s Mark Twain, I’m your guy, but there are many other projects, which call for a more a subtle touch, I’m not your guy. Generally, I think that risking being too subtle is a good way to go with audiobooks because of the extended time listeners spend with the narrator and characters. To sum up this mindset, I don’t know if I could spend 10 hours in a car with Al Pacino.
The second element to the formula of getting audiobook narration work is gaining a strong sense of personal style. This guides the performer into the critical melding of the way they think and feel with the author and his or her character’s thinking and feeling. Having a solid sense of personal style also guides the performer into what genres of audiobooks they’re best suited for — contemporary fiction, young adult, mystery, suspense thriller, non-fiction biography. Having a handle on personal style in a very practical sense guides them into the excerpt selection for their demo making a good marriage of skills and the presentation of those skills.
Along with skills and a strong sense of personal style is how to get a killer demo for marketing. An audiobook demo must be excellent because 90% of first time audiobook narration book deals come directly from their demos. Few auditions are held for book deals. If the publisher likes the performer’s work, they come back to them for their second book deal and so on. In those cases, you have made their list.
The way I produce demos is very simple. They are made up of three one-minute excerpts. I guide each student of mine into finding interesting brief excerpts for their demos. I know some publishers request longer excerpts, but I have yet to hear complaints and have heard numerous publishers say they like the narrator’s efforts in shorter excerpts. I came up with a length, the number of excerpts by contacting audio publishers personally and asking them what they want to hear. They are very oral and many privately shared with me that they can hear if a talent has what they need in seconds, not minutes. Of course, if a publisher insists on a longer demo or longer excerpts, fine, you record one.
Again, the excerpts must be excellent. You’ll never be much better than the written word. Certainly, for a demo, they need to be interesting no matter what the genre or style. Also, if the excerpt is written and edited well, the talent’s personal style and skills are shown in the very best light in brief excerpts. The performer can never prove that they can sustain a 10-hour book no matter how long the excerpts, but they can in a brief period of time demonstrate their personal style and skills. It is most impressive to hear a narrator realize an exchange between two characters, a mood or vocal motions from the listener in seconds, not minutes.
I train my students to recognize passages from books that are interesting, fit their personal style, show of their skills and how they edit the text to maximize the potential of the excerpt. Listen to this less than one-minute excerpt from newcomer to audiobooks, Nancy Linari.
Nancy Linari: This is from “Bergdorf Blondes” by Plum Sykes. Talking of princesses, Mimi’s shower was packed with a Park Avenue version. Everyone was there except — oddly — Julie the biggest princess of them all. The most glamorous girls were all working the $325-Chloé-jeans look. They looked deliriously happy. Then there was another group who were working the Harry Winston engagement ring look and they seemed what I can only describe as beyond radiant. Jolene Morgan, Carrie Philips ( who had the biggest ring, but then she’d gotten a deal because her mom was a Winston), and K.K. Adams were in this group.
Soon, the abandoned the main party for an engagement-ring summit in Mimi’s bedroom, which is so big an entire dorm could sleep in it. Everything in there is upholstered in dove gray chintz, even the insides of her closets. When I finally got poor George sorted out and off of my cell, I joined them. Jolene who’s curvaceous and blond and pale and worships Sophie Dahl because she’s heard she’s never sunbathed in her life has been engaged twice before. I wondered how she could be sure that this latest fiancé was the right one. “Oh, easy! I’ve got a new watertight method of selection. If you use the same criteria to choose a man that you would when you choose a handbag, oh, I guarantee you’ll find one that suits you perfectly,” she explained.
Pat Fraley: Nancy has a terrific skill set and can move with ease from this kind of chicklet to complex literally fiction and non-fiction. But she shows well her cynical hooded eyes kind of personal style, it’s evident in this excerpt. I prepared her demo and within weeks, she landed her first book deal with Random House, a mystery by Lisa Unger titled, “Fragile.” Her narration garnered a shamefully glowing review in the 2010 November issue of Audio File Magazine.
Now, the fourth element to the formula to getting audiobook narration work deals with the all important marketing method, which should be renamed, getting work, like seeking instruction should be referred to as getting learning. As I have said, at least in this era of the audiobook market, narrators are hired for the most part off their demo first and the talent works directly with publishers and producers. That means you can contact them directly and send your demo via email or a link to them without agents or from the casting houses or other roadblocks, which are put in place in other genres of voiceover work.
As with all employment, getting a job works a whole lot better when you have a connection. So I do what I can as a teacher, I keep ongoing contact with publishers and producers so I know what kinds of narrators they’re looking for and how they want the narrators’ demos to be produced. For example, recently I had a visit with the person in charge of selecting narrators at a major independent audio publisher, the biggest in fact, and he shared with me that they were in need of some new narrators who are facile at narrating young adult titles. I keep a list of excellent students for whom I’ve done their demos and I’ve guided, by personal style and abilities at different audiobook genres. So the call went out, I emailed them then I got back to my contact, gave him a list of demos he could expect in the next day or so.
Some talents are ready for the big leads and others need to work in the minors or small independent publishers for a while to get a better skill base. But since there’s such a huge need for narrators, it’s all working well.
A final thought on this so called formula of mine, it changes depending on the strength of each element. For example, someone who is clearly stellar wouldn’t work without a demo or marketing, that happens. Also, someone who is highly skilled at marketing can get going with book deals with modest skills but a killer demo. It’s all a balance between the four elements. Just know that my job is to help my students get work.
So taking on the mantle of the Johnny Appleseed of audiobook narrators means that I not only sow the seeds, which are skills, but water and nurture. If you’d like to get planted as a narrator by my guest teachers and me, contact me at [email protected] or go to my website patfraley.com and check my teaching schedule on the learn page.
I will be bringing my audiobook event to cities in every region in the country this year. Nothing delights me more than getting my students ready for work, and I’m grateful for the access to so many talented and creative people.
Julia-Ann Dean: To learn more about the special guest featured in this Voices.com podcast, visit the Voice Over Experts show notes at podcast.voices.com/voiceoverexperts. Remember to stay subscribed. If you’re a first time listener, you can subscribe for free to this podcast in the Apple iTunes podcast directory or by visiting podcasts.voices.com. To start your voiceover career online, go to voices.com and register for a voice talent membership today.

The Formula to Getting Audiobook Narration Work

By Patrick Fraley
Hi, This is Pat Fraley. Here's a brief lesson on what it takes to get narration work reading audiobooks. I have become the Johnny Appleseed of Audiobook Narrators. Last year, performers who I have taught and guided made 158 book deals. 27 of them were first-time book deals. Because of this, and the abundance of work available to narrators, I have decided to take my instruction on the skills of narration, marketing, and method of producing demos on the road. I'll be coming to San Francisco, Austin, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, South Florida and perhaps more. You know, it always gives me pause when I get something right. Paul Simon's song, "Something So Right" should be my personal anthem: When something goes right. Well it's likely to lose me, It's apt to confuse me, it's such an unusual sight. Well, I came upon something right and in order to avoid confusion, I've defined it. A formula has emerged to gain Audiobook Narration work, and there are four elements to it: Skills, Personal Style, The Demo, and Marketing. Let me walk you through them. Skills. I've been honing the way I teach audiobook narration with those in the audiobook world who breath rarified air: Audiobook Narrator and Publisher, Scott Brick, Audiobook Narrator and teacher, Renee Raudman, Audiobook Narrator Hillary Huber who I have worked and taught with for more years than she would want me to share, Carrington McDuffie Narrator, Writer, Producer and a fine teacher, Dan Musselman, who is the Managing Producer for Random House/BOT and Stefan Rudnicki, Narrator and the busiest independent producer in the audiobook world. It's not surprising to me that rubbing elbows with a list like that is bound to leave me with some formidable wisdom. Learning from those who possess the skills, which get them hired to read audiobooks or produce and hire skilled narrators on a regular basis, is central to getting the inside story on delivering the audiobook narration goods. Just this simple: Those who are performers know how to deliver the skills producers and audiobook publishers want and those who produce and publish audiobooks one after another know what skills they want to hear. There are the more obvious skills of two to wind a story, the right amount of diction and expressiveness, but in this lesson I would like to address two or three fundamental mind-sets, which guide many skills: The first mind-set has to do with freeing the author from Punctuation Prison. Authors are forced to present the thinking and feeling of their work and in fiction, their characters, with the accepted and shared symbols of printed text-punctuation. Punctuation can be helpful, but when you think about it, people don't think in neat paragraphs. They don't go down in tone in pitch all the time at the end of sentences, nor to they go up in pitch at the end of a phrase, which is a question. In fact, questions are posed verbally in a statement form about 50% of the time. Do you get that? You see, that was a question, but I didn't go up at the end in pitch, like, "Do you get?" As my friend, teaching colleague and audiobook narrator Scott Brick says, "The author's works must be delivered as if they were "freshly minted." If the performer is "channeling up" the author's voice, ideally, this takes place intuitively. Some authors are able to use punctuation, which many times assists the narrator realize the story and character. There are no rules, only notions, and developing the ability to discern between what punctuation is helpful and what isn't takes practice. One suggestion is to get hold of the text of a book, and read along with an excellent reader and see and listen to how the narrator embraces and dishonored punctuation. So narrators have the key to each author's Punctuation Cell. It's the narrator's job to free the author from the imposed cell of punctuation, and get them back to the way they think and feel and how their characters think and feel. Another mind-set, which all narrators need to have in their skill toolbox has to do with understanding and accepting the fact that some books were not meant to be read out-loud. A performer needs to accept this and not try to make an apple an orange. I produced a book entitled The Fall of Che Guevara written by Henry Butterfield Ryan. It is a very dry book, which reported the last days of Che Guevara. It did not lend itself to be heard. The author's voice was that of an old school news reporter, and there was little subjective opinions or attitude for the audiobook narrator to chew on. For my narrator, I chose a very good and versatile character actor, Richard McGonagle, who I had taught and had hired on other occasions and he was challenged with realizing the author's intent and style. Richard's journey to rein back all attitudes and opinions of what he was reading was a real task. It drove Richard nuts to almost report the book, but the end result was a match to the author's voice, and we were satisfied that we hit the right tone of the book. One final mind-set to audiobook narrators I'd like to cover has to do with the unique nature of the audiobook genre and the listener's experience: The Time. The narrator's listening audience is going to spend ten hours-plus with one voice. This leads the narrator to question their choices of the narrator's voice and the way they present characters. Every strong choice a performer makes risks breaking the suspension of disbelief with the listening audience and yet, every strong choice a performer makes invites an enhanced experience by the listener. That is what is lurking behind the oft-heard phrases, "Less is More," and conversely, "Be Bold and Risk." Personally, I work out my choices like my salvation: With Fear and Trembling. Usually my errors and successes are on the side of boldness, as I am in the habit of going to battle with Fear. In 37 years, I have never received a poor notice for being too subtle. Like my friend and actor Brad Garrett says, "Less is less." Well, that's my journey, however, and it may not be yours. If it's Mark Twain, I'm your guy, but not for many other projects, which call for a more subtle touch. I'm not your guy. Generally, I think that risking by being too subtle is a good way to go with audiobooks because of extended time listeners spend with the narrator and characters. To sum up this mind-set, I don't know if I could spend 10 hours in a car with Al Pacino. The second element to the formula to getting audiobook narration work is gaining a strong sense of personal style. This guides the performer into the critical melding of the way they think and feel with the author and his or her character's thinking and feeling. Having a solid sense of personal style also guides the performer into what genres of audiobooks they are best suited for. Contemporary Fiction? Young Adult? Mystery/Suspense/Thriller? Non-Fiction, Biography? Having a handle of Personal Style in a very practical sense, guides them into the excerpt selection for their demo, making a good marriage of skills and the presentation of those skills. Along with skills, and a strong sense of personal style, is how to get a killer demo for marketing. An audiobook demo must be excellent because 90% of first-time audiobook narration book deals come directly from their demos. Few auditions are held for book deals. If the publisher likes the performer's work, they come back to them for their second book deal and so on. In those cases, you have made their "List." The way I produce demos is very simple. They are made up of three, one-minute excerpts. I guide each student of mine into finding interesting, brief excerpts for their demos. I know some publishers request longer excerpts, but I have yet to hear complaints, and have heard from numerous publishers say they like the narrator's efforts in shorter excerpts. I came up with the length and number of excerpts by contacting audiobook publishers personally and asking what they want to hear. They are very aural, and many privately share with me that they can hear if a talent has what they need in seconds, not minutes. Of course, if a publisher insists on a longer demo, or longer excerpts, fine, you record one. Again the excerpts must be excellent. You'll never be much better than the written word. Certainly for a demo, they need to be interesting, no matter what the genre or style. Also, if the excerpt is written and edited well, the talent's personal style and skills are shown in the very best light in brief excerpts. The performer can never "prove" that they can sustain a 10-hour book, no matter how long the excerpts, but they can, in a brief period of time, demonstrate their personal style and skills. It is most impressive to hear a narrator realize an exchange between two characters, a mood, or evoke emotions from the listener in seconds, not minutes. I train my students to recognize passages from books that are interesting, fit their personal style, show off their skills, and how to edit the text to maximize the potential of the excerpt. Listen to this less than one-minute excerpt from newcomer to audiobooks, Nancy Linari. Nancy has a terrific skills-set and can move with ease from this kind of Chick Lit to complex Literary Fiction and Non-Fiction, but she shows well her cynical hooded-eyes kind of personal style. It's evident in this excerpt. I prepared her demo and within weeks, she landed her a first book deal with Random House, a mystery by Lisa Unger, titled, Fragile. Her narration garnered a shamefully glowing review in the 2010 November issue of Audiofile Magazine. Now, the fourth element to the formula to getting audiobook narration work deals is the all-important marketing method, which should be renamed, "getting work," like, "seeking instruction," should be referred to as "getting learning." As I have said, at least in this era of the audiobook market, narrators are hired, for the most part, off their demo first, and the talent works directly with publishers and producers. That means that you can contact them directly and send your demo via email or a link to them without agents or through casting houses and other roadblocks, which are put in place in other genres of voice over work. As with all employment, getting job works a whole lot better when you have a Connection. So I do what I can as a teacher. I keep on-going contact with publishers and producers so I know what kinds of narrators they are looking for and how they want the narrator's demos to be produced. For example, recently I had a visit with a person in charge of selecting narrators at a major independent audio publisher (the biggest, in fact) and he shared with me that they were in need of some new narrators who were facile at narrating Young Adult titles. I keep a list of excellent students for whom I've done demos and I've guided by personal style and abilities at different audiobook genres. So, the call went out. I e-mailed them, then I got back to my contact, gave them a list of demos he could expect in the next day or so. Some talents are ready for the big Leagues, and others need to work the Minors or small independent publishers for a while to get a better skills base, but since there is such a huge need for narrators, it's all working well. A final thought on this so-called formula of mine. It changes depending on the strength of each element. For example, someone who is so clearly stellar will work without a demo or marketing. That happens. Also, someone who is highly skilled at marketing can get going with book deals with modest skills but a killer demo. It's all a balance between the four elements. Just know that my job is to help my students get work. So, taking on the mantle of "The Johnny Appleseed of Audiobook Narrators" means that I not only sew the seeds, which are skills, but water and nurture. If you'd like to get planted as a narrator by my guest teachers and me, contact me at [email protected] or go to my website, www.patfraley.com, and check my teaching schedule on the Learn Page. I will be bringing my audiobook event to cities in every region in the country this year. Nothing delights me more than getting my students ready for work and I'm grateful for the access to so many talented and creative people.