From 0 to 60. Becoming an Audiobook Narrator

Screw It. Just Live by Ricarda Peter

I’m celebrating my first Audible audiobook narration going live. I’ve had to learn a lot since December 2024 when I decided to try this out.

So how did I get here?

Well after being encouraged to do this, I watched quite a few YouTube videos on the topic of becoming an audiobook narrator. From them I found the software to record and edit my narration, which is Audacity.

This is free software and useful for both narration and music. The editing is a big part of it because these days only very prestigious narrators use recording studios and recording producers.

Nowadays audiobook narrators have to be their own editors and producers.

I bought myself a USB microphone, a pop filter and headphones. I will do a blog post on equipment another time.

So now I could record and edit my narration…how did I practice? For a start I read aloud. One test from YouTube suggested that you read for an hour every day for a week and at the end of the week did you enjoy it? Do you still want to pursue this career? I found I still did.

Another YouTube suggestion was to check out Librivox

 Librivox is a platform for audiobooks that are out of copyright, in the public domain. It’s organised by volunteers and all the narrators are volunteers as well. I registered with them and volunteered for an initial project. I did a chapter from a group reading of ‘What America Owes to Women’ by Lydia Hoyt Farmer. A feminist book from 1893 examining women’s achievements in various different areas.

Librivox help out with technical issues and give you a proof reader that will check your recording. They also give feedback on your reading technique.

Once you have completed your first group project, you can record your first complete book. This will be uploaded to the Librivox site and their YouTube channel. I chose to record ‘The Well of Loneliness’ by Radcliffe Hall. This taught me a lot about narration and the process of preparation, editing and mastering.

The Well of Loneliness

Now to Audible itself . Audible has a sister site, ACX

This is where narrators are invited to audition for books. So I got myself registered there with my own profile. This involved uploading some samples of narration of different styles, accents and types. Those looking for a narrator sometimes search through profiles and send a direct invite to audition for their work. This had already happened several times for me. Or I can look at the list of projects, download the audition script and go for it.

Everyday there are new book projects on there to try for. In June I sent in my first audition. I didn’t get it but I did get the fifth one I went for. Ricarda Peter’s motivational book

Screw It. Just Live: Dare to Live the life that truly fits you.

The deal for this book and many of the book projects listed is for a Royalty share rather than getting paid on completion of the recording. ACX sorts out the contract and pays out the royalties once the audiobook starts selling. ACX itself takes 60% of the cost and then the narrator and author share the 40% royalties equally.

Once Ricarda had authorized the recording, ACX do their own quality checks and then the book goes live on Audible, Amazon and iTunes.

A very exciting day for me. My very first audiobook narration on Audible.

Find Screw It on Amazon here

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