Friday, February 18, 2011

Who Is Going To Be Your Voice?

by G.Parker


Okay.  Let's say that you get that great book published.  It's out in the book stores, sitting on the shelves and people are buying it like there's no tomorrow and you suddenly have money coming from it.  They want to do an audio version, they say.  Who is going to do the reading?  You?
Be sure to give it some thought.  
I've listened to a couple of books on CD lately, and I have to say, there is a definite difference in the reading.  If you've ever listened to one of Chris Heimerdinger's books, you have to agree that he does a great job in the reading.  He also gets other people to read with him, which adds to the enjoyment.  They aren't always who I would have picked to do the job, but he definitely does well.  I like the inflection he gets, the emotions, simply the way he comes across.
Richard Evans, I'm sorry to say, is not so easy to listen to.  Especially after having just listened to Heimerdinger.  
Who would read your story?  Would you attempt that?  I'm not sure I would.  I mean, on one hand, no one knows your story better than you.  The emotions, the action, the wording.  On the other hand, perhaps you don't have the training or experience to read the words in a comfortable way.  It might be better to hire a professional reader that does it for a living. 
Myself, I'm not sure.  I've been told that I have a nice voice.  My only problem is I tend to loose it after talking for a while, and I would definitely not be able to do it in one sitting.  How long does one of those recording sessions last, after all?  I have no idea.  But, I'm thinking I'd love to have Anne Hathaway read my stuff...I like her voice.  I'll have to give it some thought.  She's a little busy right now.


4 comments:

Joy Spraycar said...

Oh, I agree. My stuff is so much better when someone else reads it. I won an award for one of my stories, and the first of it was read by the presenter, it gave me the chills, that's what a good reader will do for your book.

Jolene Perry said...

I would totally attempt it but my husband's voice is made for radio, so I'd probably have him do it. BUT the last two things i finished were girl YA books, so I might have to reconsider there...

Melanie Goldmund said...

Okay, my first (dream) choice would be Richard Armitage, because I absolutely love his voice and he is such a talented actor. But even if he weren't off in New Zealand filming The Hobbit, he'd still be unavailable, financially, geographically, whatever.

I don't really know any voice talent. I've never listened to any LDS books. Funny, though, that whenever I think about somebody reading my book, I always think of a deep male voice first, even though my book might have a female protagonist. Weird, huh?

Well, gotta write that book first, before I can do more than dream about who will read it aloud.

Karen Dupaix said...

I love to hear audio books read by British voice talent. I don't remember any names, but the ones I particularly like always have a British accent.

On the flip side, I can't stand the voice of the woman who did the audio book for Uglies and Pretties. Her voice makes me cringe.