A warm welcome to author TM Smith joining us today for her Audiobook Tour on “Fame and Fortune”.

TM talks to us about how to choose a narrator and there is also a giveaway to participate in!

Welcome TM 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Choosing a narrator for you story…

 

Hello everyone, and thanks to the lovely group here at Love Bytes for hosting me today! I thought I’d talk about my process for choosing the narrator for Fame and Fortune. It’s actually a detailed process that can take weeks, sometimes even months.

 

First you want to figure out your budget for the finished product as most narrators work on a ‘per finished hour’ basis. This will give you an idea of which narrators you can and can’t afford. Second, you want to find a narrator that can create the distinct voices in your head for the characters. For instance, in Fame and Fortune the character Victor has a very specific tone. He’s described as Dracula at times by some of the guys with his commanding presence, pale white skin, black as night hair and eyes and his ever present Romanian accent.

 

I would always suggest figuring out your budget first. This way you don’t pull up a narrator that you won’t be able to use financially, and fall in love with their voice(s) when you wouldn’t be able to hire them anyway.

 

I’m also an avid audiobook listener so I have a list of narrators that I’ve listened to and loved that I can then go check out on ACX. For Fame and Fortune, I specifically wanted a narrator that could nail Victor flawlessly, but also bring the emotion that is wrapped around the book to life in a way that someone listening would feel the joy and pain that the characters feel. I also wanted someone with dozens of different tones and nuances in their arsenal so he could carry the series going forward. And then you have to have a narrator that is willing to listen to your suggestions and critiques.

 

I found everything I wanted and so much more in Joel Leslie and I can’t wait for you to listen to this story. He brought Victor’s accent and attitude to life, he put so much emotion and feeling into Mattie and what he’s been through, and he gave Andrew the strength to hold everyone together. I literally had goose bumps during certain scenes, I laughed, I cried and at the end, I was sad the book was done. Aside from all that, he was very much attentive to my suggestions and any concerns I had that a word or sentence wasn’t working in my head.

 

At the end of the day, I hope that everyone that purchases the audiobook will be as happy with Joel’s performance as I am. Thanks again to the Love Bytes group, and thank you to everyone following the tour. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win a giftcard or a signed paperback copy of Fame and Fortune!

a Rafflecopter giveaway