Part II An Interview with VO professional and actor, Daniel Dorse (Part I, click here)
It’s Easy! I use www.acx.com. The platform is simple to use and they have a terrific ‘stable’ of professional narrators. Your book is published in audio form at amazon.com/audio, audible.com and iTunes.com. You can pay your narrator/producer a percentage of sales or a one time fee. The one time fees are on a sliding scale depending on what the narrator requires ‘per finished hour’. With acx.com you will know what you will be paying (it’s based on the number of words in your manuscript.) before you commit. Tip. Eliminate all extra words like copyright page, acknowledgements, title, etc. and count only the words of the manuscript.
My one and only complaint about acx.com is the length of time they take to do the final quality control bit. Two weeks. Now sit back and enjoy the second part of my chat with Daniel.
Q. Can you tell us about your process when you get a job to narrate a book?
A. When I’m hired to produce an audio book, I should read the entire book, making character notes, notes on pronunciation, mood, transitions, accents, etc. In fact, I like to live dangerously, reading only a few chapters ahead (to avoid too many unwelcome surprises, like , “Uh-oh! This character I’ve been voicing for 15 pages is supposed to be Irish. Now I have to re-record.”). I do this, I tell myself, because I like to retain an element of spontaneity in my read, but it’s probably also because I’m both lazy & overly cocky about my sight-reading abilities.
Q. Do you have a separate studio for this work?
A. I work out of my home studio, which is at present an office room in my home, with a computer & monitor (with editing software), speakers, a mixing board, a mic on a stand, a music stand to hold my iPad (from which I read all of my scripts) & a “booth” made from special sound-dampening fabric suspended from the ceiling. (also massive amounts of clutter–there’s that laziness again) I also have a decent work ethic, recording & editing several chapters a day, often from more than one book, along with several auditions & a few commercials, promos, or video game characters each week. I also do some mentoring of other fledgling VO or audio book performers, & spend some time marketing my work.
Q. Do you have a favorite genre of fiction when you narrate?
A. As a reader, I’m an omnivore–everything from mysteries, to sci-fi, to military fiction–tho’ I favor legal thrillers & alternative history. I don’t read romance novels myself, but I enjoy performing them for their energy &, of course, “the naughty bits”. Huge fan of Robert Parker, his wry humor, economical, yet vivid writing, 1st person narrative, strong characters, & cynically optimistic world-view. I especially like performing works with an ironic, dead-pan style, & think my voice is especially suited to it, tho’ I also like things that stretch me as a performer, & expand my knowledge as a person–tho’ I’ve yet to book any educational non-fiction projects. I like working with Trisha not only because I enjoy the characters, genre, & plot development, because it’s very much a collaborative process. We trade ideas on characters, dialogue, & background info, creating a finished product that’s better, I believe, than the sum of its parts.
Q. Do you have a particular genre that you dislike?
I don’t really have any genres that I dislike as a performer, but I hate bad writing, & have turned down several projects by would-be writers who can’t write a grammatical sentence or shape a coherent thought, let alone establish mood, sense of place, or character.
I invite those who do like my voice & storytelling style to check out some of my work on Audible or Amazon.com, or my web-site: www.danielvox.com.
Here’s a little taste of Daniel’s work on my murder mysteries: Dance ofMurder–RAS
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In addition to my twice weekly blog I will also feature an interview with another author once a month. These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name: Janet Evanovich, Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Karen Robards, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Tasha Alexander, Patrick Taylor, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Cathy Lamb, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Raymond Benson, Andrew Grant, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich, Walter Mosley, and many others.
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