Melanie’s #RT17 #Audiobook Wrap-Up

Posted by on May 14, 2017 in Miscellaneous | 34 comments

Melanie's Great time in Atlanta

I just got back from the RT Convention in Atlanta. If you’ve never gone to this event, it is a lot of fun for book lovers. This is my second time attending this event (I attended RT15 in Dallas in 2015). This one was even more fun because there was basically an audiobook track. Though all the panels were geared towards authors (and one for librarians), I still had a ton of fun going and listening, learning and even chiming in as a listener. I’m going to share some of the things that I learned or that were discussed at the event. This post will be all about audiobooks/narrators. Check out my post at Rabid Reads for non-audiobook stuff.


Dual Narrators: Is Two Better Than One? #RT17 - Kai Kennicott, Wen Ross

Dual Narrators: Is Two Better Than One? #RT17 – Kai Kennicott, Wen Ross

Dual Narrators: Is Two Better Than One?

Kai Kennicott (narrator)
Michelle Mankin (author)
Wen Ross (narrator)
T. Torrest (AKA: Tina Torrest) (author)

So this was an interesting panel to start me down my audiobook tract in Atlanta. Kai and Wen are narrators who perform in a style called a Duet. If you’re not familiar with the different styles, there are:

  • Solo – single narrator does the entire book and does all the voices.
  • Dual – usually a male and a female narrator. The male narrator does the entire sections that are from the male POV (including all female voices). The female narrator handles the entire sections that are from the female POV (including the male voices).
  • Duet – usually a male and a female narrator. The male does the male voices and the female does the female voices throughout the entire book.
  • Full Cast – is similar to the Duet, but there can be many different narrators who handle one or more of the characters.
Dual Narrators: Is Two Better Than One? #RT17 - Michelle Mankin, T. Torrest

Dual Narrators: Is Two Better Than One? #RT17 – Michelle Mankin, T. Torrest

So, these narrators do the duet style where they go back and forth throughout the book. They did a few different readings in the panel. There are a few things I should point out about this panel. One, Duet is my least favorite type of narration. I have only listened to one Full Cast narration and it was amazing, but I don’t have a lot to go on here. Two, this panel was entirely scripted. The authors had a script that they read as if they were trying to find a narrator for their book. It didn’t make the panel seem very genuine to me. Lastly, I felt these narrators talked as if all other types of narration was inferior to their kind, which I completely disagree with. I think there are great reasons for all types of narration and that it is the personal preference of the authors, narrators and even the listeners choice as to which is the best best. I don’t think any of them should be put down over the other.


Swoon-Worthy Audiobook Voices

Swoon-Worthy Audiobook Voices #RT17 - Audible, Andi Arndt, Kristen Ashley, Tanya Eby, Jeffrey Kafer

Swoon-Worthy Audiobook Voices #RT17 – Audible, Andi Arndt, Kristen Ashley, Tanya Eby, Jeffrey Kafer

Audible
Andi Arndt (narrator)
Kristen Ashley (author)
Tanya Eby (narrator)
Jeffrey Kafer (narrator)

In this panel, we had narrators talking about what they go through to produce a great product for authors and listeners. I got to hear some great stories about how the process is done. There were also suggestions for authors, such as supplying character bios including things about personality, accent, etc, so that your narrator can give you the best performance possible.


Audiobooks 101 for Authors

Audiobooks 101 for Authors #RT17 - Andi Arndt, Tavia Gilbert, Jeffrey Kafer, Janet Metzger, Aiden Snow

Audiobooks 101 for Authors #RT17 – Andi Arndt, Tavia Gilbert, Jeffrey Kafer, Janet Metzger, Aiden Snow

Andi Arndt (narrator)
Tavia Gilbert (narrator)
Jeffrey Kafer (narrator)
Janet Metzger (narrator)
Aiden Snow (narrator)

Audiobooks 101 for Authors #RT17 - My Prize #NarratorsRock

Audiobooks 101 for Authors #RT17 – My Prize #NarratorsRock

This panel was very similar, but went more into the nitty-gritty of finding a narrator and negotiating a contract between the two of you. There was talk about royalty share vs. Per Finished Hour pricing. There was also discussion about trust and that a narrator and an author must have a trusting business relationship. Lead-time is another big discussion point. If you want your audiobook to release the same day as the print/ebook, you need to give time to the narrator to get that done. Not only, do they have to fit it into their schedule, which can be backed up for months, they must also have post production stuff done (clean up, quality control, etc). Added to that is Audible’s process, which also takes usually two weeks to get a book available for order (which explains why it seems that Audible preorders always seem to go live so late to me). There was also discussion about publishing only through Audible/iTunes, which may give you larger royalties, but will also keep you out of libraries. They also mentioned how close the narrator community is. If a narrator you’re looking for is booked full, they can probably recommend someone else for your book. The same is true if they don’t feel that they are best person for the book. I should also add that they gave away these great headphones, which I won. #NarratorsRock


All About Audiobooks

All About Audiobooks #RT17 - Michele Cobb

All About Audiobooks #RT17 – Michele Cobb

Caitlin Augusta (AudioFile Audiobook Romance Reviewer)
Michele Cobb (executive director of Audio Publishers Association, publisher AudioFile Magazine)

This panel was geared towards librarians and booksellers. Michele Cobb from the APA brought some great audiobook stats. You should check out the APA Fact Sheet and their Audiobook Industry Sales Survey Results. They also discussed how AudioFile Magazine has more than 4,000 audiobook reviews on their site and include quite a few in each Magazine print. AudioFile reviews the technical aspects of the narration.


Where is Your Listening Audience?

Where is Your Listening Audience? #RT17 - Karen White, Michele Cobb, Viviana Izzo, Felicia Sparks

Where is Your Listening Audience? #RT17 –
Karen White, Michele Cobb, Viviana Izzo, Felicia Sparks

Karen White (narrator)
Michele Cobb (executive director of Audio Publishers Association, publisher AudioFile Magazine)
Viviana Izzo (blogger, designer)
Felicia Sparks (Audio Publishers Association 2017 Audiobook Blogger of the Year)

This was another fun panel. Again, it was geared towards authors. They covered how to do get reviews, like making sure that the blogger actually reviews audiobooks. Making sure that there’s a Soundcloud sample for bloggers to use with their reviews. Harness the power of your narrator (if they are one who is willing to help market your audiobook). Promoting on social media. There was also discussion of June is Audiobook Month (#LoveAudiobooks).


Summary

I had a great time learning more about the process to make an audiobook. It makes me appreciate the audiobook experience even more. I will say that narrators are really funny. I was laughing a lot in these panels. I know one thing I stressed during the Q&A of every panel, avid audiobook fans will fangirl over narrators the way most booklovers fangirl over authors. You can bet I was following the narrators around and talking to them. They had a booth in the Bazaar, which I visited frequently to see who was there. I even got my picture taken with a few of them (as a whole, I wasn’t great about getting pictures with people. I would talk to someone and forget to ask). I hope we continue to see narrators coming to these events. I hope that they also have some fan panels too (great topics could include blooper type stories, talking about fun and interesting books that they’ve narrated, how they got into audiobook narration, etc.)

If you want to see the list of narrators who attended, Felicia (TheGeekyBlogger) did a great posts for the narrators SPECIAL In My Ear: #RT17 Narrator Edition #RNL Part 1 and SPECIAL In My Ear: #RT17 Narrator Edition #RNL Part 2. She listed all the narrators and some of their works. Since she did a great job, I won’t duplicate it. Just check out her post. I would also recommend that you check out RomanceNarrators.com. And remember “Narrators Give Good Aural” (I love that tag line and the narrators had t-shirts with this saying on it)


Melanie with narrator Xe Sands #RT17

Melanie with narrator Xe Sands #RT17

Melanie with narrator Karen White #RT17

Melanie with narrator Karen White #RT17

Melanie with narrator Tavia Gilbert #RT17

Melanie with narrator Tavia Gilbert #RT17

Melanie with narrator Traci Odom #RT17

Melanie with narrator Traci Odom #RT17


Don’t forget to stop by Rabid Reads to see about all the non-audiobook stuff that I did while in Atlanta.

MLSimmons Reviewer

Melanie Simmons
I’m Melanie and I live in Ohio. I have two horses and a dog. I’m an animal lover, avid book reader and audiobook listener. I like to live vicariously through fictional characters. I enjoy reading and listening to mostly fictional books in the paranormal genre, including Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance and Horror. My favorite paranormal creatures are shifters, doesn’t matter the flavor.