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5 Reasons Nonfiction Authors Should Hire a Professional Narrator for their Audiobooks

5 Reasons Nonfiction Authors Should Hire a Professional Narrator for their Audiobooks
This entry is part 12 of 33 in the series Audio for Authors

So you’re convinced you need an audiobook for your nonfiction work. Excellent. Oh. Now what?

Do you hire a pro or do it yourself?

Dear nonfiction author,

I realize that I already convinced you to narrate your own nonfiction book and you’re probably mid-sentence right now with the microphone in front of you and Audacity open. But just in case you’re the type to hem and haw or just feel like doubting yourself some more, here are 5 reasons you should just hand over the manuscript to a pro and let them narrate it.

  1. Pro. Because they’re professionals. It’s what they do. It’s their job. It’s not your job (at least not yet–do you even want it to be?). Do you fill your own cavities? Probably not. But could you? Well, maybe with some YouTube videos and those tools you have to fix watches … No. Just leave it to the pros. In fact, we don’t even need 4 more reasons, this one is enough said, right? Fine, we’ll do 4 more.
  2. Performance. Sure, you can read. You can even read aloud. Maybe you played the back-up lead performance in your high school play. Maybe. But an audiobook is a performance. It’s a show. Your book is words on a page and that’s it. The reader hears only the words on the page. But now there’s an entirely new and different element involved: voice. There are things like pause and tone. Pacing and even breathing. Can you read your book in an entertaining or at least not-cringe-worthy fashion? Engaging narrators can help turn “boring” books into engaging stories.
  3. Fans. Do you have fans? No, lots of them? The die-hard kind who will read anything you write? Awesome! How many? Oh, will they also listen to anything you read? Yeah, there’s that. Back in my scenario where I decided to go it on my own, I didn’t specifically mention it, but in my research, one of my responders said, and I quote, “I would read anything that Simon Vance narrated.” Did you read in between the lines there? The part about how she didn’t say “Oh, I’d also read your book.” Uh, no. She’s basically saying she’d read your book if (and only if) Simon read it. But if you read it? “Sorry, who are you again?” Fans. Some audiobook narrators have them. Lots of them. You don’t. No, really, you don’t.
  4. Work. It’s a lot of work. Remember the dentist in #1? Keep in mind that the dentist fills cavities every single day. You probably don’t. Do you know what -23dB means and how to fix the audio files if you don’t get it to -23dB? Audiobook narrators read and stop and start and re-record and possibly edit and tweak and cough and back up and delete and continue and … get the idea yet? It’s work. Lots of it.
  5. Time. Did #4 not scare you off? Do you need me to add more? How about ACX Requirements? Maybe a little head and tail time? Do you really want true silence or can you adjust it to a bit of white noise? Which is better? If you have years in order to do this, no worries. But if you’d like it done on a deadline, guess who’s going to get that done? What is your time worth? Shouldn’t you be writing anyway?
  6. BONUS: Next time. Still on the fence? If you’re not sure, let the pro do this book and you can do your next book. You don’t need to hire them for a multi-book contract. Just hire them this one time. See how they do. If you then think that you can do better, I’m sure we could find more reasons for you to narrate your own nonfiction book.

Oops, I may have convinced myself to hire a pro.

What do you think? Have you narrated your own books or have you hired out a pro? How did it go? Are you going to stick with that strategy or might you switch it up in the future?

Let us know in the comments.

Series Navigation<< Your audiobook playing in a stranger’s living room? Crazy, I know.How $14.38 confirmed my future audiobook publishing strategy. >>

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