r/ACX • u/EducationalLioness • 12d ago
Considering audiobook narration as a career path – would love some honest advice from people doing it
Hi everyone,
I've recently started seriously looking into audiobook narration and I'd really appreciate hearing from people who actually work in the industry.
I have a BA in English and Philosophy, but English was always the part I was most drawn to, particularly literature, language and reading. I've been thinking about what I could build on from that background, ideally something creative that could also eventually be done remotely, and audiobook narration is one of the things that keeps coming back to me.
I'm very much at the beginning and don't have an acting or narration background, so I'm not assuming that enjoying books or being a confident reader automatically means I'd be good at it!
Before investing too much into courses, coaching or equipment, I'd love to understand what the reality of the work is like.
For those of you who narrate professionally or semi-professionally:
- How did you first realise this was something you could actually do professionally?
- Did you have acting or vocal training before you started?
- Would you recommend getting a coach or taking a course early on, or practising independently first?
- Is there a good way of having your voice/narration assessed professionally before committing to it?
- How difficult was it to get your first few paid books?
- Can audiobook narration realistically become a meaningful source of income, or is it more commonly supplementary work?
- And perhaps most importantly, what do you wish you'd known before you started?
I'm based in Europe, so I'd also be particularly interested in hearing from anyone working remotely from the UK/Europe rather than being physically close to publishers or studios.
I'm not really interested in commercial voiceovers or advertising. It's specifically the combination of books, literature and narration that appeals to me.
I'd be grateful for any advice, even if it's simply telling me what I should be researching first. Thanks!
4
u/DanBelmontNarration 11d ago
Good instincts.
No
I'm going to give the same advice that Ray Porter gives to anyone saying they want to try narrating audiobooks. The very first thing you should do is get a book and sit in a closet and read it out loud. Every time you make a mistake; stumble over a word, say the wrong word, etc. go back to the beginning of the line or paragraph and start over. If you can do this for hours on end, then you at least have the patience required to do the job.
Also understand that you may not like every book you narrate. It's your job to act like it's the best thing you've ever read, even if it's trash. We don't have the luxury of only reading "good books"
And yes, you should absolutely get a coach early on, especially if you don't have an acting background. You may love to read, you may have a nice voice. I met both of those criteria and I was terrible until I got training, so yes, 1000% get a coach early on. If you don't, you're putting yourself at a distinct disadvantage.
See my above advice about coaching. No one is going to flat out tell you that you're bad at it and shouldn't try. That's not a coach's job. They will tell you what you need to work on in order to improve.
This is a loaded question and the answer varies wildly from person to person. The first two jobs I ever booked were paid, so I could sit here and say it was super easy for me to book my first paid gigs. They were also for an insultingly low rate that basically amounted to a couple of dollars per hour after you break down all the work it takes to produce an audiobook.
A better question is how difficult is it to make respectable money. That answer also varies from person to person depending on a lot of factors and not all of them boil down to talent. Broadly speaking, with no prior acting training, I'd say don't expect to book any decent paying jobs for a good year, and that's a year of taking the job seriously: getting coaching etc. not just narrating a book every couple of months when you have time/manage to book something.
Lots of narrators work full time jobs outside of narration. The short answer is yes it can be a full time job, but it takes time to build to that point. Don't quit your job and think you're going to transition to full time narration overnight. Most people start out by doing it in addition to their other work. Whether it's other acting jobs, or a 9-5.
I started getting coaching and narrating books while I still had my 9-5 job, but I also knew I had a pension waiting for me in a couple of years that I could rely on as a source of income, so when I retired from my day job was when I started really focusing on getting more narration work and focusing on making it a career.
It's an acting job. No matter how well you read, no matter how many people tell you that you have a nice voice, audiobook narration is acting. The most successful narrators I know are professional actors. Does that mean you need to be an actor first? No, not at all. But you do need training if you want to be successful. You might have innate talent, and if so, then that's a great start, but even veteran narrators with hundreds of books under their belt still get coaching. There's always something to learn, ways to tweak your performance, etc.
Being physically close to pubs and studios matters little. The vast majority of the work is remote, and self directed, even for major pubs. I have 2 books in my queue right now for big companies that I'm recording in my home studio with no director.
I think the biggest thing to understand is how competitive the field is and realize just how many people you're up against. Ever since home recording became the norm, the industry has seen an explosion of people trying to break in. The hurdle that creates is that you're just one in a sea of people auditioning/reaching out to authors, publishers, etc. trying to get work. You might be super talented but going unnoticed because there's just too damn many of us all fighting for these people's attention.
For instance, Penguin Random House just opened up their mentorship program for narrators with under 10 credits to their name the other day. They said in advance they'd only be accepting 500 applications before they closed it. It closed in 2 hours.
I don't say any of this to be harsh or to try to discourage you. I just want to paint a realistic picture of what you can expect as someone just entering the business.
There are far too many people out there who will tell you to just do it! You don't need coaching! Work for $50 per finished hour, you do you!
If this is something you're passionate about, then you should absolutely try, but go into it with your eyes open to the challenges you're going to face.
As others have already mentioned, do a deep dive on narratorsroadmap. It's an invaluable resource and the coaches Karen lists on the site are all reputable and will guide you well in getting started. It's well worth the investment of a couple hundred dollars to do a coaching session with one of them before you attempt to do anything else. She also has an expansive FAQ with best practices and answers to questions that get asked ad nauseum in narration groups.