As you are searching for a voiceover niche, you may have considered book narrator. Understanding the industry of book narrating can help you decide if this is a niche you would like to explore for a career.
About Book Narration
A book narrator is a voiceover artist who reads a book to create an audiobook. People can then listen to the book. They can do this at home while doing other activities, in the car, on public transportation or anywhere else they want to enjoy a good story. Audiobooks are usually recorded on a CD or saved as a MP3 for use with mobile devices.
According to Bettye Zoller, a voiceover artist specializing in book narrations, the audiobook narration industry is one of the fastest growing niches in the industry. This means that there are many businesses seeking voiceovers who are able to narrate published books to make them audiobooks.
What is important to know is that there are special voiceover techniques that go into creating audiobooks. Most voiceovers have theatrical experience or dramatic training before embarking on a career of audiobook narration.
What is also important to know is that even though you may feel good about choosing book narration as a niche in the voiceover industry, you will not be done there. There are niches within the book narration niche. Some voiceover artists are able to narrate mysteries, while others cannot. Some are better at romances. This is because each type of book has characters with different personalities and emotions. While there may be some overlap between characters in different types of books, usually there is a similar voice among all mystery or romance books.
The good news is that you can train your voice to be able to produce great narrations for a wide range of books. You will need to work hard at it, though.
How to Get a Job as a Book Narrator
You will need a demo. Try to create a demo for each type of book you are able to narrate. Each demo should be under two minutes long. You can include different types of narration on one demo or create one for each type.
Once you have your demos in hand, you can start to market yourself. Start with publishing houses. These publishers have a list of books they are interested in turning into audiobooks, so if you are lucky and skilled, you may find one that will have a lot of work for you.
Just know that when you first start out, you may not receive a credit. As you gain experience and worthiness in the industry or with a publisher, you will begin to see the rewards of being a professional voiceover. Give it time and be patient.
You may also want to connect with other audiobook authors. They most likely have connections you do not, and may know of opportunities they are not suited for, but you are. Networking can be a very effective way to start and grow a voiceover business. Just be sure to give as much as you take from others.
Now that you know more about book narration, does it seem like something you would be interested in pursuing? If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment. I would love to help you.