Audiobook voice over jobs have grown significantly in the recent years. In particular sites like Audible.com have grown and now have the might and reach of Amazon behind them. This post is part of the how to become a voice over actor series. It focuses on helping you understand the voice over industry.
Audiobook Voice Over Jobs – Market Growth
As of writing this post audiobooks sales were growing globally at over 24% year on year. While the APA doesn’t break out these figures by genre, it does see adult titles accounting for 90.4 percent of overall audiobook sales. Fiction leads, with some 76.3 percent. And consumers tell the APA that they prefer the unabridged editions of books they listen to: 96.3 percent of audiobooks sold in complete editions.
Another trend in the market is that many books are now being translated into multiple languages. The Latin American market is booming and one of the big trends is new companies entering the market and giving UBOOK a run for their money. The reason for this is primarily due to the keen understanding of the local market and how much consumers are willing to pay for audiobooks. Voice over audiobook jobs are therefore available now in many different countries.
Audible used to hire only US voice actors, but now they advertise audiobook Voice Over Jobs in UK. This is leading to growth in the market and more demand for voice over actors that can narrate books.
Although many people are drawn to reading children’s books, these still represent only a small proportion of the market.
Audiobooks Voice Over Jobs – How To Start
Most voice over work is short form, whereas narrating a book is about the longest form you can get. One of the most important things is to create an interesting show reel that demonstrates your ability to read long form and do multiple characters. So you’re going to need an audiobook demo.
One of the easiest ways to create a great audiobook show reel is to first practice reading long form. A good way to do this is to choose five books from five different genres to read. There are a lot of different types of books genres and you need to show to potential voice directors that you are adept at reading as many as possible.
The choice of genres is up to you. However, the vast majority of audiobooks published today are fictional novels. A good way to start is to pick a book that you have already read. Then pick a scene with a mixture of both narrative and dialogue, so you can practice moving between the two types of writing. Also pick a two person scene between a man and a woman for the exact same reason.
The first detail any publisher will be paying attention to is how well this particular male narrator does with women’s voices or female narrator handles males and can he, she transition smoothly between them. Two aspects that really spoil a narrative read for are pace and volume. So be aware of how fast you read. If you read too fast, people will not get into the story. If you want to get lots of audiobook voice over jobs it is vital to master these skills.
When you’re telling stories you need to build excitement and expert narrators understand how pace pace helps. Another tip for getting voiceover audiobook jobs is to understand volume. To all intents and purposes, telling the story to one person. When you’re speaking at a low volume, you automatically access our ‘chest voice’ or resonant voice. This is the voice that sounds intimate and personal. To be convincing you need to sound like you’re love telling the story!
The last point is one that often gets over looked, and that is breathing. Different characters will often breath differently because of their physicality – as described by the author. So using different breathing techniques can enhance the depth of a character. It can be an intake or exhale of breath for a purpose. It’s natural and sounds natural, plus it helps us to visualise.Of course you also need to think of the scene, the moment in the story and whether there is anything happening that would change the breathing…like being chased.
Examples of Audiobook Voiceover Work – Performed By Peter Dickson
Listen to how each of these examples differ, Peter’s breathing and pace.
How To Get Voice Over Audio Book Jobs
If you are looking to get audiobook voice over jobs you need to market yourself. You’ve gone to the effort to create a great audiobook demo. Now what do you do with it? It’s time to find contacts. Here are some ideas:
1. Check out the “audio book publisher” reference guide from “audio file magazine” – www.audiofilemagazine.com. There are numerous contacts there.
2. Contact publishers and inquire if they produce audiobooks. If they do, mention that you are a voice over artist who focuses on children’s audio books.
3. Find contacts by looking on the back of children’s audio books packaging. (Go to a library or book store and browse through all the packaging.) Often the publishing company will be listed.
4. A healthy attitude is a must. DON’T GIVE UP !! Even pros will tell you how it took them years to get a consistent level of audiobook voice over jobs.
Other types of voice over jobs you might find interesting:
ADR Voice Over Jobs
Anime Voice Over Jobs
Cartoon Voice Over Jobs
Commercial Voice Over Jobs
Internet Voice Over Jobs
IVR Voice Over Jobs
Radio Voice Over Jobs
Video Game Voice Over Jobs
For more information on voice acting visit our series of posts on how to become a voice actor
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