The Art of Picking the Right
Audiobook Projects (Video 2)
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Running time: 46 minutes
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(YOU’RE WATCHING: VIDEO 2) The Art of Picking the Right Audiobook Projects
Plus: Mistakes most ACX narrators make with their profiles
Feel free to ask your questions here…Dan and I are ready to answer them and help you begin your journey as an audiobook narrator on ACX, for Audible and for any other production platform or publisher you want to work with.
And remember, if you miss one of the videos, you can click on the little image of that video below the main video on this page, and it will take you to that video that you missed.
So…Just post your questions below.
DAvid, I have a memoir published that was released in October of 2022 – I really want to do an Audio book version. And I want to read it myself….I have done some voice-over work over the years but music was my focus. Do you “produce” susch audio projects? I am a terrible techy, not really set up to record at home.
No one has a recording set up at home…until they do, and many of our students consider themselves less than tech experts. Luckily, narrating an audiobook doesn’t require extraordinary technical skills. The fact that you were able to post your question means you have more than the tech chops needed to do this work – you just need some guidance and help making choices, and we do that really well.
What is the best way to submit /find opportunities?
Do you need a demo reel?
We share the opinion that ACX is the best place to start finding those opportunities, and yes, you need demo samples to show what you can do for the authors and publishers and producers who can potentially hire you.
But audiobook demos are not created in the same way as demos in other VO categories: rather than costing you thousands of dollars each to create, we show you how to create great demos (yes, you’ll need several) at no cost whatsoever. It’s actually pretty great!
Following up what David said: Please, please don’t pay anyone anything to create for you an audiobook demo reel. I’m sure you’d find someone offering such a “service,” but it’s something you’ll be able to do without anyone’s assistance.
Sounds great. Could I get more info?
You sure can – we’re putting the final touches on that “more info” as we speak, and will be sharing details in a couple of days. Be sure you’re on the Alert List!
Hello ! Thank you for those 2 videos. I am from Montreal Canada and most of the voice work I do is in French wich is my first language. Do you think I will be able to work in french or it’s only in english ? I have done a few Audio book for blind people in the past for an organisation named INCA. I have my studio but I don’t know how to edit an audiobook.
And question number 2 is how much it cost for the Master class ?
Thank you 🙂
Nathalie –
You’ll qualify to audition for and being hired for any French-language audiobook that is looking for a narrator.
At the moment, there are 18 titles on ACX that are looking for French narrators.
By contrast: At the moment 1,315 titles are looking for English narrators.
So, obviously there’s a lot more English-language work than French.
And, of course, there are lots more English narrators than French narrators competing for work. So at any given moment, there is far less competition for far fewer auditions for French narrators.
If you’re also interested in narrating English titles — perhaps on titles seeking narrators to voice it in English but with a French accent — I’d recommend you start each day by checking for new French title auditions and responding to the ones that sound good to you. Then, if you don’t already have too much work to do, check out the new English auditions.
Your second question: We’ll be announcing the tuition cost — which varies according to how promptly you take action — when we open Registration (which will be very soon).
The Registration page will have tons of detailed information telling exactly how the class works, what you’ll learn — it addresses pretty much every question you or anyone else might have…including “how much is the tuition?”
Hope you’ll be joining us!
P.S. I don’t think you’re on our Alert List yet.
Please join the list now.
Once you’re on our Alert List, you’ll be advised a day or two in advance when Registration will be opening, and you’ll also receive a notification email when it’s open….
…And when you’re an Alert List member, we’ll be opening Registration for you and everyone else on the List earlier than for the rest of the world. So you’ll have extra time to soak in all the class details (including the tuition and your opportunity to save $300).
I hope to see you in our upcoming Home Study class!
Alert List, please. Regarding numbers posted in the French question, how many narrators have profiles on ACX, who are competing for those 1,315 titles?
As an aside, my daughter listens to audiobooks and encouraged me to become a narrator because she said she has stopped listening to some books that interested her, but the reader was too awful.
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To answer your question, there are a few thousand serious and active narrators on ACX, an subset of those that are really good at it, and then there are hundreds of thousands of people who signed up at some point and have never done anything with their ACX account. That active narrator-to-title ratio is so different (and more favorable) than any other category of voice work.
Thank you for the clarification. Now I await an answer to the question I posted last night under video 3.