Let's Talk Audiobooks!

 LUCY BURDETTE: I know some of you, Debs in particular, are big fans of audiobooks. John is too, he always has his EarPods in listening to something. Usually when I’m out walking, I prefer to be looking around at the world or trying to come up with plot ideas. One time I do listen is when I’m trying to get to sleep. This is very particular, though. The story has to be something that I’m already familiar with so I’m not worried about keeping up with what will happen. One of my favorites is Jenny Colgan, especially The Endless Beach or others in her Mure series. Since I love those, I bought two other titles when I saw them on sale. But oh horror of horrors, it was a different narrator—one that I did not feel the least bit soothing. I tried listening a little more while I was walking to see if I could get used to her voice, but it was like nails on chalkboard.

So that’s the question of the day. If you listen to audiobooks, how important is the narrator, and when do you most enjoy listening? And one more question, do you like the narrator acting out the voices or would you prefer they just read the darn book? (I guess you can tell what side I’m on!)

HALLIE EPHRON: I’m not (is it anathema to say this?) a huge fan of audio books or of narrators who get into all the voices. Plus I fall asleep and then have no idea where I tuned out when I restart the thing. 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Yeah, um, oops. Well, I cannot listen to them. I HAVE listened to mine, although I have to say it’s really difficult to listen to one’s own audiobooks for a million reasons, but I adore my actors and am happy with the terrific response to them. The actor who reads  ALL THIS, Sarah Mollo-Christensen, is incredible, and shows how a good reader can make a book fully realized.

 But me, listening to an audiobook? Is me, sleeping. Boom, done, I am out. (I think it has something to do with not knowing where to look.)

If I try to do something else while I’m listening, I cannot do either thing, god forbid I should drive, which would be deadly. 

I’ve just downloaded one now, though, because someone told me it was unmissably fabulous, so we shall see. 

Adding this later: wow. This is interesting. The book I am “hearing” is great--but I can sort of tell that if I would have been reading it on paper, I would have thought: ”backstory backstory get on with it” but because I am hearing it, it’s like someone telling me a story, and that’s fine. Whoa.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I’ve adored audiobooks ever since they were cassette tapes in HUGE boxes. The audiobooks of the Harry Potter series and novels like The Wizard of Oz and The Boxcar Children made many a long, long car trip bearable when my kids were small.

I tend to lean more to nonfiction for my audiobooks, interestingly. Right now I’m listening to Becca Syme’s ENERGY MANAGMENT FOR WRITERS. Next up will be 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History by Andrew Ross Sorkin. 

I’m going to give a shoutout to the reader who performs my audio books, Suzanne Toren. She is SO good, and I can’t tell you how many readers love her. I’ve listen to her narration for other books as well, and she always knocks it out of the park. The performer/reader/narrator is SO important to the enjoyment of the book!

JENN MCKINLAY: Like Julia, I’ve been a listener since the old “books on tape” days. I used to listen during my commute in CT and now I listen at the gym, while gardening, etc. My latest love is the graphic audio books where they have multiple narrators and sound effects! I listened to all of Sarah J Maas’s ACOTAR and Rebecca Yarros’s Fourth Wing on audio — so good! 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Well, obviously, I am a fan. I did start with the books on cassettes, how many ever years ago, then CDs, but that was mostly in the car on long trips. (I can't listen to audio books while driving in Dallas traffic.) But the digital audio books were revolutionary. I think my gateway books were the Harry Potters, read by the marvelous Jim Dale, because I knew the stories and didn't have to worry if I didn't understand or was missing something. (The new full cast audio of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is really good and is unabridged, but I think I prefer one narrator.) I do like readers who do different accents and character voices!

Lucy and Hank, I listen while I am cooking (as long as not following complicated recipe!), washing dishes, doing mindless chores like watering and cleaning out catboxes, and I do listen in bed at night. I just set the Audible timer on my phone, so if I fall asleep I only have to back up a bit the next day.

RHYS BOWEN: there was a huge upheaval in my world when the narrator for the Royal Spyness series died. Not only because she was so young and it was so unexpected but because she was so talented. She was nominated for an Audie award every year and one year she won, beating out Meryl Streep. So the fans had a hard time accepting a new narrator, who was quite good. But this time she was nowhere to be found so I had to choose yet another new narrator. Luckily the actor who has done the Molly series was available so all is well. But the narrator makes a huge difference. A grating or inappropriate voice and the book is ruined!

Red readers, are you audiobook fans? How important is the narrator?

Meet Gerard Doyle, the Voice Behind the Books

DEBORAH CROMBIE: What a treat it is today to introduce you to Gerard Doyle, who has narrated most of my Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James books since the very beginning of the series! Here's the audio cover of A SHARE IN DEATH, Kincaid/James #1. (Due to contractual obligations, Gerard read the early books as Michael Deehy, but it's still Gerard!)

As you can see, we've been friends for a long time, and I love the way Gerard reads my characters, especially Gemma. She sounds just the way I imagine when I'm writing her!

I thought it would be fun to ask Gerard to give us the scoop on what it's like to narrate audio books, and he very kindly obliged. Welcome, Gerard!

DEBS: Hi Gerard! Thanks so much for agreeing to vist with us. We have so many big audiobook fans here on the blog, and every day there are more new converts.

Can you tell us how you got started narrating books?

GERARD: I sort of fell into it. I completely blew my first audition but, 3 years later, I auditioned for the same producer (who didn’t remember me, thank goodness), and I was offered my first audiobook. I received an “Earphones” award from AudioFile magazine for that book and the ball started rolling from there. My background experience as an actor has been invaluable during my years as an audiobook narrator.

 

DEBS: Do you record at home or do you have to go into a studio?

GERARD: I’ve been recording at home and self-directing for about 20 years. I have a soundproof recording booth in my basement.

 

DEBS: I love seeing that. Now I will imagine you recording.

Do you have a regular producer you work with, or is it different for every book?

GERARD: I rarely meet the producer who offers me a book to record. I record for all the leading publishers and several independent ones, but they are not involved in the recording process. The only time I work with a director is when I’m recording Christopher Paolini’s fantasy series, “The Inheritance Cycle (The World of Eragon)”, which are sweeping, epic stories about a young warrior and his dragon, and the complexity is such that two heads are better than one during the recording process.

 

DEBS: How do you prepare for reading a book? Do you have any special tricks for getting into the characters? And how do you remember the characters in a series from book to book?

GERARD: Prepping a book is a very pleasurable experience for me. Ideally, I like to sit in a chair on the beach, under an umbrella (with some liquid refreshment to hand!) and immerse myself in the exploration of a new project.

Of course, one has to read the entire book before beginning to record! People are often surprised by this, but the narrator needs to be as familiar as possible with the overall story, as well as the journey through it of each individual character.

I make note of everything the author reveals about each character’s background and relationships in the narrative, as well as what others say about them and what they say about themselves. I then try to create a voice that would truly reflect each character as I perceive them.

When recording a book in a series, I refer to my archived manuscripts and I can cross refer from the text to my archived audio files to access previous character voices, in order to maintain consistency.

 

DEBS: That sounds like a lot to keep up with. Can you walk us through your actual recording process?

GERARD: I’d be happy to answer specific questions about that. 

 

DEBS: I will bug you in the comments for some of those process things. Meanwhile, do you have a favorite accent? What about favorite genre?

GERARD: I love murder mysteries and have been fortunate enough to record many of them over the years, including Deborah’s Kincaid and James mysteries.

I very much enjoy having a stab at various accents, particularly the broad spectrum of accents still prevalent in the UK and Ireland. My background is Irish so, although my everyday accent is a sort of bland English, I’m lucky enough to have an Irish accent to drop into without it sounding fake.

I was once recording a book in a Manhattan studio and the producer pinpointed my Irish accent to the very town that my family came from. (He had just returned from there a few days previously.) I wasn’t using the accent for the book I was recording, I just happened to curse in that accent because I kept repeating the same mistake. He pinpointed the accent from those two single-syllable words of Anglo Saxon!  I was absolutely gobsmacked!

 

DEBS: That is amazing! 

I know some of your authors like to give you really difficult to pronounce passages just for fun. What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to read? (I gave Gerard a lot of Scottish accents in NOW MAY YOU WEEP  and it’s still one of my favorites to listen to. And I love his Irish accent reading Fergus O'Reilly in A BITTER FEAST.)  

GERARD: Don’t you start getting any ideas, madam!

In a recent book a mischievous Irish author, who shall remain nameless (Adrian McKinty), gave me chunks of Greek, Latin and Icelandic to articulate! I can navigate Latin but the Greek and Icelandic were very tricky. He, of course, was absolutely useless with all three languages (he and I are on very friendly terms, so I can say that (and worse!) about him) so I had to be very resourceful; contacting a Greek Orthodox priest, as well as the Greek and Icelandic consulates in DC. I eventually got the Icelandic through a chance referral to an Icelandic person in New Zealand, resulting in a midnight Zoom meeting, with me recording her speaking the Icelandic phrases and repeating them back to her until she was satisfied with my accuracy. I finally recorded and sent those pronunciation clips to the audio editor three weeks after I had submitted the rest of the finished audio for the book. Such fun! Over the years, in the process of pronunciation research, I’ve had some incredible luck and spoken to many wonderful and helpful people.

DEBS: Can you tell us what you’re working on now?

GERARD: I’ve just finished recording “Clown Town”, book nine of British author Mick Herron’s wonderful “Slow Horses” series (on which the Apple TV series is based). I’m recording some final corrections (I don’t always get it right first time!) on a delightful book called “The Last Hummingbird West of Chile”, a book my recording engineer son, Adin, and I have produced for Canadian author Nicholas Ruddock and I’m about to begin character research for a new and exciting children’s book, “The Society of Incredible Stories”, by British author, Mike Oakley. After that, I’m contributing to an audiobook of short stories by Alexander McCall Smith and Charles Todd. All while dealing with our newly acquired, rambunctious labradoodle puppy!

 

DEBS: That is Josie. Isn't she adorable??? I don't know how you get anything done, Gerard. Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions, and I hope you'll hang out and chat with our readers a bit this morning!

You can check out Gerard's Audible catalogue here. It runs to nearly a dozen pages and that's not including books read as Michael Deehy! There are terrific choices including crime fiction, fantasy, history, children's books, and classics. (I've added his narration of James Joyce's Dubliners to my list.) Among my favorites are his narration of Adrian McKinty's Sean Duffy novels, and of course Mick Herron's Slow Horses books. I can't wait to listen to Clown Town!

(I'm thinking I should put in something challenging for Gerard in the book-in-progress. Hmm. Any suggestions?)

P.S. If you're interested in a fictional portrayal of an audiobook narrator, I have a couple of suggestions. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING by Julia Whelan, narrated by Julia Whelan, is one of my favorite audiobooks AND one of my favorite novels. Whelan is probably my favorite female narrator. She, along with Kristen DiMercurio, narrates ATMOSPHERE: A LOVE STORY, the new novel from Taylor Jenkins Reid, and it will knock your socks off.

Also fun is HIDEAWAY by Nora Roberts, narrated by January LaVoy, another top-notch voice talent.

 

A Few Good Voices

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Audio books have really become the rage in the book world these days, and I am all on board with that. William Kent Krueger, for instance, has a novella coming out in March, THE LEVEE, as an Audible exclusive, and will be here to tell us about it!

Humans have been listening to stories, after all, much longer than we've been reading them, and I think the act of listening satisfies on some basic subconscious level. Some of our readers, however, have expressed reluctance to embrace audio books, and I will confess that it has been a sort of slow blossoming for me, but now I listen as much, if not more, than I read print. If you're just dipping your toes into audio books, you might start with listening to something well-loved, so that you can settle into the rhythm, enjoy the characters, and not feel impatient to get on with the plot. Jim Dale's wonderful narration of the Harry Potter books is a great introduction.

Also, if you're reluctant to add the regular Audible subscription to your monthly expenses, there are other sources that don't require it, including libraries and Chirp, which has great deals daily. 

And then there's the matter of choosing narrators. This is so subjective! A voice that is honey to one person's ears may be vinegar to another's! Good voice acting requires a huge amount of skill. It's not just getting the tone and accents right. For me, one of the biggest factors is whether the narrator can make characters of the other gender sound believable, and some narrators are masters at this. I always listen to the sample before I buy an audio book.

Here are a few narrators that I think are outstanding:

I have to begin with my lovely Gerard Doyle, who reads my books (also as Michael Deehy, so don't be confused) as well as Mick Herron's Slow Horses series and Adrian McKinty's books, among others. Gerard won an Audie (the audio book version of the Oscar) for his reading of my novel IN A DARK HOUSE.

Then there's Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, who reads Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London books. I am in love with this man's voice, it's that simple. I could listen to him all day, and often let him read me to sleep. He's a very talented stage and screen actor--you may have seen him most recently as the angel Balthamos in the His Dark Materials series.

James Langton, who reads Charles Finch's Charles Lennox books, as well as Elly Griffith's Midnight Men series (except for the most recent one) is so good.

I've been listening to more female narrators recently, so here are a few I've really liked. 

You cannot beat Julia Whelan, oh my goodness, she is amazing, and her narration of her own novel, THANK YOU FOR LISTENING, was one of the highlights of the year for me.

Elizabeth Jasicki, Evie Dunmore's narrator, is terrific.

Davina Porter reads the Outlander series, brilliant.

Ditto Jennifer Ikeda who reads Deborah Harkness's books.

Victoria Fox is great, too, and I love her narration of Julie Caplin's books.

And at the moment I'm listening to January LaVoy reading Alix E. Harrow's THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY and she is excellent. She reads Nora Roberts' THE HIDEAWAY (among other Nora Roberts books,) which is about an audiobook narrator and I'm going to have to indulge in that even though I've read the book.

And now I'm turning you over to our wonderful back-blogger Judy Singer, who is just as big an audio nut as I am! 

JUDY: I always listen to the sample before I buy the book. Some voices may be music to someone else’s ears, but I am careful to listen first and decide for myself.

Talented Narrators:

Men:

Shane East: British accent, sexiest voice ever, reads lots of romances especially Louise Bay

Gerard Doyle: Versatile British accents, reads Deborah Crombie’s series

Titus Welliver: American actor in Bosch series, reads a few of Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch books

Jim Dale: British accent, reads Harry Potter; just a pleasure to listen to him read those books

Scott Brick: American, reads Janet Evanovich-Lee Goldberg Fox and O’Hare

Zachary Webber: American, great voice, reads lots of romances

Andrew Eiden: American, reads Wait for It by Jenn McKinlay. Really good voice!

Jason Clarke: American, great voice

Sebastian York: American, great voice

James Langton: British accent, reads Elly Griffiths’ Brighton Mysteries.

 

Women:

Andi Arndt: American, reads lots of romances, girl next door voice

Angele Masters: Versatile British accents, great with male voices and distinct voices for different characters, reads Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell

Elizabeth Jasicki: reads Evie Dunmore’s series, outstanding voice!

Amanda Ronconi: American accents, New York, New Jersey reads E. J. Copperman’s ghosts series

Barrie Kreinik: American, excels in European and British accents, good male voices; read Rhys’s The Venice Sketchbook.

Allyson Ryan: American, lots of good accents, versatile, reads Jenn’s Library Lovers and her Bluff Point series.

These are just a few of the terrific narrators I have encountered. I am very fussy about an accent if it is one I would recognize, like New York versus Boston. Please don’t mix them up! But generally, I couldn’t tell the difference between the Southern American states’ accents or any of the English accents so that is something you will have to decide for yourselves. If you expect to hear New Orleans and it is Alabama and that bothers you…

DEBS: So many great suggestions, Judy! Readers, do you have any favorite narrators to share? We'd love to expand the listening community!