Do you listen to audiobooks? Have you ever wondered how people get into narrating audiobooks? What drives them to read out loud? Audiobooks have been my companions since September 2017, the first audiobook I read was so amazing that I have the date time stamped in my mind. This is why I am super excited to invite Sean Duregger over to The Creator’s Roulette today! He does narration and I am curious to learn the secrets of the craft.
Welcome to The Creator’s Roulette, Sean! Did you love reading out loud as a kid?
I have always had the flair for the dramatic, so yes as a kid I loved reading out loud. We were a family of active readers and it was always encouraged. I never thought of recording myself reading, but I did have a portable tape deck I always carried with me and would create my own radio shows. So I guess speaking into a mic has been something I’ve been doing almost my whole life!
How did you get into this line of work?
It’s been about a year, so I feel like I’m still just scratching the surface. My wife and I went through a tough year financially in 2018 and I was trying to figure out ways to make some extra money. Since I’d been podcasting for fun for about 10 years, I (naively) thought that I could do voice over work for extra money. That proved to be a tougher road for a lot of reasons. My recording area was sub par and I was in desperate need of coaching (though at the time, I thought I knew enough and didn’t need a coach. Boy, was I wrong!)
A friend of mine suggested I look into ACX.com. It’s a site owned by Amazon/Audible where independent authors put their work up for audition in order to get audiobooks made. I set up my account and started auditioning. Landing a small 1.5 hour audiobook project. I was hooked.
I quickly realized my recording space was lacking so I eventually built a recording booth and started auditioning for more projects and I was off to the races! After a couple of books I realized I needed to step up my game and got the coaching I needed. That was a key element to where I sit today with my 2020 calendar almost filled up with projects.
What are your first memories of being read to?
My mom always read to us. Always. She’d try her best to do individual voices and I remember just loving story time. She read the entire Narnia series to my siblings and I. I also remember her reading The Hobbit, A Wrinkle In Time and many more fantasy and science fiction novels.
Do you think they had a role in influencing what you do today?
Absolutely! I read to my kids now too. It really set me up in a few ways. Getting into books at a young age helped me appreciate the power of story and character. Being read to introduced me to C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Madeline L’Engle. Some of the absolute greats. I then discovered the forbidden fruit of Stephen King and that changed my life! So, understanding and loving the power of a novel had definitely brought me to this point of wanting to narrate genre specific novels. Mainly horror, science fiction and fantasy.
….why you do it this way?
Well, if I had my way I’d be doing this full time already! But, as with anything we are passionate about, sometimes we have to take the long road. Building up a career in voice over and audiobook narration specifically is an uphill battle. I have a family and my day job offers specific health and retirement benefits, so I can’t just cut and run. But in a few years if the numbers make sense and I can provide these benefits to my family while doing this I’ll jump at the chance.
What does a typical work day as a narrator look like?
Every narrator I know has a different method of working. But audiobooks are a large project that operates in a few segments: prepping, recording, post production. Since I do this part time, I don’t have a typical work day. Usually I’m in the middle of prepping my next book (reading it, taking character and plot notes) so I’ll always set aside some time to be doing that. In the evenings I’ll look at my production spreadsheet and try to get a few hours of recording done. I use a method called “Punch and Roll” recording so each chapter is roughly edited by the time I’m finished. I then send that chapter to my proofer or editor so they can start their work.
Side note: I tried doing it all myself and have learned to build a good team and budget for at least a proofer to help make sure I didn’t flub anything. The sooner you can get an editor involved with your team the better because then you can focus on narrating and pump out more work every month. More work equals more money in the bank.
On the weekends I get up early and work for about 4 hours. Generally a combination of prepping, recording and sometimes editing.
Are there certain genres of books you like reading more than others?
Absolutely. I love fantasy and science fiction, but I am a huge horror nut. I blame Stephen King. What I really love is discovering crazy horror paperbacks from the 1980s. That decade had an explosion of original horror fiction. I’ve actually recorded audiobooks for a couple and have a lot on my plate for 2020 and into 2021.
Thanks for joining us today, Sean! Readers, you can connect with Sean and find his work in the following places:
Website Twitter Facebook Audible
Cover Photo by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash
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