…And Sometimes They Have to Wear a Lot of Hats
If you think audiobook narrators walk into a booth, read a book out loud, and call it a day, you’re massively underestimating all the work that goes into their job.
Kimberly Wetherell pointed out that, in addition to all the characters they play, narrators also perform a lot of jobs. “You’re running a small business, auditioning, hustling, bookkeeping, calendarizing, reading, making notes, developing characters, studying dialects, looking up words you don’t know or know how to say properly, narrating (and self-directing) in a tiny, hot, padded box (or closet) for hours and hours each day, every day, and then, if you’re not sending off your raw audio to engineers for post-production, you’re also doing the audio editing and mastering before uploading it for publication,” she said.
“A lot of narrators start out (or continue) to do all aspects of post-production: proofing, editing, mastering,” said Cindy Kay, who has narrated audiobooks by bestselling authors like Chloe Gong and Ryka Aoki. “I’m a pretty good proofer but editing…ugh. I’m so, so grateful for editors and engineers. I bow down to their talents.”
