8 Skills You Need for Audiobook Narration

Narrating an audiobook isn’t just reading words off of a page in one single monotone voice, it’s a lot more than that and some would even consider it one of the hardest forms of voiceover jobs you can do. But if you follow these steps, you’ll be able to master the technique and become one of the best narrators out there.

1. Articulation and Breathing

You need to be able to properly and clearly pronounce words, especially on those with harsher or higher-sounding tones as they aren’t very pleasant to the ear (such as the letter S). You also have to be wary of which words to put just a little more emphasis on and which ones to not, while also making sure to avoid any whistling sounds, lisping and other unnecessary mouth noises.

Always make sure you have enough air in your lungs to properly be able to deliver a full sentence without needing to take a breath (some could be super long sentences as well) so that the line stays consistent and your voice isn’t fading out by the end. Avoid any swallowing, and gulping and look into breath control.

You’ll need to focus on controlling how your ‘p’ sounds, harsh words, maintaining your volume throughout and being able to project your voice properly. This way, once you’re on the review and editing phase of the audiobook, there won’t be that much to adjust and you’ll more likely be hired.

2. Delivery, Tone and Consistency

To be able to draw in and fully immerse the reader into the story is what makes a narrator a great one. It must match what is going on in the text and the message that the author is trying to deliver at this point of the story. 

The pacing and the tone of yours need to be adjusted accordingly as the listener could easily get bored of your voice as it becomes more predictable and similar sounding. You’ll have to practice the energy you place in reading each sentence, breath control, pitch control and characterization. The more professional and consistent you are in your delivery the more likely you are to get hired,

On top of that, your voice must stay consistent from day to day as it’s most likely that you’ll be doing more than one recording session for the same audiobook.

3. Eye-Brain-Mouth Control

When reading the script, you are to read it word for word as it is tailored and perfectly written with all the words necessary to unfold the story - so don’t go adding or changing up anything yourself. 

You also must avoid making any mistakes or as little as possible as one mispronunciation of a word will lead to having to redo the recording - which takes up time and money. So, make sure to read ahead and know more or less of what next lines need to be delivered. This way you’ll be able to easily read the script and deliver your performance effortlessly.

4. Stamina and Endurance

As an audiobook narrator, the days are long and you’ll typically be spending 4-6 hours in the studio, each day recording. This means you’ll need to have the same amount of energy in the delivery and tone of your lines by the end of the day as you had at the start of it. 

5. Characterization

Give life to these characters through your voice. Based on their gender, age, accent, personality, tone - whatever it is have a specific voice for each character that matches their description.

6. Analysis

Understanding the story, its plot, and the characters is crucial to delivering a great performance that won’t bore the listeners and actually get them more invested and immersed in the world that the author has written on the pages - but in audio form. 

7. Separation 

Make sure to separate your narrator voice from your character’s voice so this way the listener can differentiate between each character while also knowing which parts are just describing words. Basically, say “she said” in a normal voice, but what she actually says is in a slightly different voice. But make sure this stays consistent so the reader can identify which character is speaking without needing a name.

8. Investment

Any successful narration is due to the narrator actually being invested in the story and enjoying it themselves. As opposed to seeing it as just another assignment or job that pays, to see it is an opportunity to be able to bring the story to life and take the listener through the journey of each character as their life unfolds.

CONCLUSION

If you want to become an audiobook narrator start sharpening your articulation and breathing skills, work on your delivery, tone and consistency, eye-brain-mouth control, your stamina and endurance, bringing the character’s on the pages to life, understanding the story, being able to create distinctions between each voice and to be thoroughly invested in your work.

Are there any other secret skills you’d like to share for audiobook narrators? Let us know!

Written by Tina Phong

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​​If you need help turning your book into an audiobook, we offer audiobook production services that will help you reach a wider audience and increase your book sales. 

Learn more here and listen to some of our audiobook samples.

7 Ways Audiobooks Benefit You and Your Health

“Why listen to audiobooks when I can read an actual book?” A question I asked myself all the time when first hearing about the existence of audiobooks. I ended up doing some research on it to see if it was really for me and found out why people do listen to audiobooks instead of actually reading books. Here’s 7 reasons why audiobooks can greatly benefit you and your health for the better. 

1. Improve Listening Skills in Children

Developing something as important as listening skills in young children is crucial, given their age. This is where the majority of their learning skills are developed which makes it so that they are able to learn and adapt to things quicker - like a sponge. 

2. Build and Improve Your Own Literacy Skills

Who says we stop learning and bettering ourselves once we become adults? There is always room to grow and improve ourselves and it can start with the skills that we learned from young. Listening to audiobooks can help build up your literacy skills, particularly in those with learning disabilities or when it comes to learning a new language like English.

3. Positively Affect Your Sleep

Our screens have a blue light that impacts our eyes and brains in not a really great way. It can affect your sleep in drastic ways, making it hard for you to even get to the act of falling asleep. Steering away from the screen and occupying yourself with an audiobook can allow for a sooner and better night’s sleep. 

4. Reduce Negativity In Your Head

In place of unwanted thoughts, listening to something else can allow for a much more positive mood, disrupting any negative thought processes that may occur.

It also makes any menial, everyday tasks more enjoyable when listening to an audiobook while performing them and can assist in helping manage your time. 

5. Just Like Reading A Book

Minus the physical act of holding the book and reading it with your own two eyes, listening to an audiobook does cause the same activity in the brain as it would when having the physical copy in front of you.

6. Relax Your Eyes

On a daily, many people are staring at their screens for most of their waking hours. This can lead to many negative health issues such as poor eyesight, and blurred vision. Putting the phone down and listening to an audiobook can definitely help give your eyes a much-needed break.

7. Immerse Yourself Into Another World

Lay back, relax and fully immerse yourself into the world of the story. Many readers (like myself) visualize the words written across the page, or in this case, the sounds being delivered through our headphones. Through audiobooks, it can make this visualization much more real without the need to focus on what’s in front of us, but rather what we hear. 

Conclusion

There are many benefits to transitioning into audiobooks such as improved literacy skills in children and adults, time management skills, mood (diverting negative thoughts into positive ones), which can also lead to better sleep. It also helps with completely immersing yourself into another world within the pages without the distraction of hundreds of words laid out in front of you. Do you listen to audiobooks? If so, which ones are your favorites and why? Let us know!

Written by Tina Phong

If you need help turning your book into an audiobook, we offer audiobook production services that will help you reach a wider audience and increase your book sales. 

Learn more here and listen to some of our audiobook samples.

5 Tips For Narrating Audiobooks

Have a book you want to turn into an audiobook? If not, then you should seriously consider looking into it as audiobooks are becoming very popular with book lovers!

If so, then consider writing your book, from the very start to sound appealing, rather than visually. This is definitely a change in one’s mindset especially if you’ve been a writer for a while now, but if you’re choosing to go into the audiobook market, then you’ll need to cater to its audience.

Keep on reading for tips and tricks on how to be a better narrator for your audiobook and keep your listeners engaged and interested as your story unravels.

1. Clear Audio Writing

The typical audiobook listener will have their focus split between the audio and whatever it is they’ve decided to do that day: driving, walking, and doing the dishes. Even if they were to give it the full attention, they only have that one chance to hear what you’re saying as the story continues with its flow, making it very different from physically reading the book as you can always backtrack and reread what it is you didn’t quite understand.

How to keep the reader engaged and still know what you’re saying is to include connecting words such as finally, therefore, then, while, and so as it draws attention to the contrast in what you’re saying. And don’t forget, repetition such as names is important as well.

So keep these in mind when recording that your words need to be clear and easy to understand. 

2. Audiobooks Are Performance Scripts

Write your story as a performance script from the beginning to make it easier to narrate for the audiobook. This way you can easily connect with your audience as the tones, rhythm, pace and any other audio signals throughout your story would’ve already been thought about - leaving you with little editing.

3. Repetition and Rhythm

Writing an audiobook based on how it sounds is similar to that of oral storytelling and slam poetry. Each writing performance has its own structures to it, but one aspect to note in particular is that of repetition and rhythm, and to land the nouns. So that even if your words aren’t super clear, the listener will still be able to understand what is going on. Basically, place more emphasis on nouns as opposed to other words.

However, make sure to change up your rhythm every now and then as it can get repetitive and boring and you don’t want to lose a reader.

4. Long Sentences and Breathing

Watch out for any long and wordy sentences in your story. Not only will it make it harder for the listener to understand what you’re saying, but you may run out of breath by the end of the sentence and ruin the quality of your work.

Read your sentences out loud more than once at any and each stage you progress on with.

5. Listeners Need Attunement Time

Hearing an unfamiliar voice can be a bit strange to people, especially to new audiobook listeners, so they’ll need time to adjust. 

Just as with any radio show host, they’ll have an opening line to ease the listener into their segment, as the words can get lost starting off, so avoid using any keywords in the first sentence. Try starting off the section with its main orientation words and then later on including important plot points of the story.

BONUS: Whispersync

Whispersync is a feature created by Audible as a means to synchronize your audiobooks with Kindle’s ebooks in case you or any of its many users decide to switch audiobook platforms and that way your progress in the story doesn’t get lost. In fact, it’ll start you right where you left at.

Be wary that not all audiobooks are compatible with this feature, but for those who use Amazon as their main platform will have easily granted access to it (except for books with images, that’s where it gets a bit tricky and you may as well not bother). 

CONCLUSION

Narrating your audiobook isn’t as easy as speaking into a microphone. You’ll need to be able to speak clearly, write your story as a script, make use of repetition and rhythm, watch out for long sentences and breath, and allow for listeners to adjust to your voice. Do you have any other tips on how to better narrate your audiobook? Let us know!

Written by Tina Phong

If you need help turning your book into an audiobook, we offer audiobook production services that will help you reach a wider audience and increase your book sales. 

Learn more here and listen to some of our audiobook samples.