Testimonials

Narrator as Storyteller

The key to making nonfiction audiobook narration engaging and captivating is to approach it as storytelling. While storytelling may be more commonly considered the province of fiction, nonfiction can still be viewed (and, I would argue, should be viewed) as telling a story, whether or not it really contains a narrative arc. On one end of the spectrum, books about history are clearly telling a story, so focusing on that aspect as a narrator helps bring it to the forefront. However, even a book that’s a fairly dry explanation of a subject (say, quantum mechanics or criminal procedural law) can come alive for the listener with a professional, human—and humanizing—narrator who approaches each concept or rule as its own, mini story. In that context, by “story,” I mean that it has a purpose, a reason for being written down and now spoken to the listener.

Just because an author is an excellent writer doesn’t mean their writing will automatically translate into scintillating audio. A really compelling nonfiction author makes it easy for the reader to follow along with interest. Consciously or not, the reader typically interprets the author’s written words into their own voice or some other voice within their mind, carrying the reader through the text. But with an audiobook, that translation process from the written word to “heard” thoughts is fully dependent on an intermediary in the form of the narrator. It’s my job as a narrator to do that work directly for the listener—or, more accurately, for the listeners. Since I’m not just reading for myself, though, it’s my responsibility to do my best not simply to accurately speak the author’s words, but also to appropriately convey the author’s meaning to all listeners. It’s my responsibility to connect the author with the listener.

In order for me to create a meaningful and impactful connection, it’s essential that I give a quality performance, not merely an understandable reading. And that means I need to know what story the author is telling, both from a factual standpoint and, most often, from the author’s personal perspective. To do that, I have to prepare ahead of time so that I can understand the arc of the story or the purpose of the text, as well as the nuances of how the author seems to feel or think about different parts of the story.

Narrator as Researcher

When I was a lawyer, one of the things I was best at and most enjoyed was researching both legal and factual issues. As a narrator, being an excellent researcher helps to bring authenticity to my storytelling. Research for audiobooks pertains both to content and pronunciation.

The primary research for content is simply reading the book before jumping into narrating it. My goal isn’t necessarily to fully comprehend everything to the extent of the author’s expertise. But for me to tell the author’s story well, it’s important that I have a sufficient understanding of it. At times, that may lead me to look up some foundational details—things the author may be presuming the reader is already aware of—so I have at least a general idea of what the author is talking about. Sometimes I may look for an image, a video, or some other reference so that I have a more contextual understanding of a particular subject.

As to pronunciation, research is essential for any words I’m unfamiliar with or even somewhat unsure about. Those generally consist of technical terms, non-English words, and proper names. Sometimes it’s fairly straightforward to find the correct pronunciation, and other times it can require a bit of digging and comparison. If necessary, I’ll ask my client, but I prefer to do so only after I’ve done some amount of research and been unable to find an answer I feel confident in.