Recently, I submitted an audition to narrate a rather long audiobook dealing with the topical subject of climate change. I was attracted to the book because it covered the subject from all angles, and included pieces written by many scientists, climatologists and a variety of other (perhaps, in some cases, self-appointed) experts with differing opinions on the matter. It seemed to me to be a very rounded study which took account of a range of views at both ends of the spectrum. Furthermore, I am keen to develop my portfolio so that it demonstrates a degree of versatility, and this represented an opportunity to narrate a documentary-style book when so far, most of what I have done is fiction.
Anyway, as I say, it was a long book, containing over 180,000 words which equated to about 20 hours of content. Given that each hour of content usually takes around 8 hours of work on the part of a narrator, if awarded this job I would be looking at something in the region of 160 hours of work.
I was delighted when the publisher contacted me to tell me that my audition was successful and that they wanted to offer me the job. However, my excitement was quashed when they said that they wanted me to complete the project in three weeks!
Given that this meant that I would need to work for at least 60 hours a week over the ensuing 21 days, I turned down their kind offer! But what it brought home to me was that few people – even publishers – seem to realise how long it takes to narrate an audiobook. I guess that they think that the narrator just reads once into their microphone and, hey presto, there’s your completed audiobook. If only it were that easy – and quick!
So, what is involved in that 8 hours work?
Firstly, I read the whole book before doing anything else. As I go, I compile a spreadsheet of all the speaking characters depicted in the book, making a note of their age (if known), gender, role, personality, demeanour and anything else that I can glean at that point. Sometimes further details emerge later. This step takes around 1 and a quarter hours per hour of content.
Then I start recording, chapter by chapter or section by section. So far, the longest chapter I have ever recorded was around 45 minutes of content. There’s inevitably a bit of stopping and starting that goes on and sometimes I may need to research an accent that I haven’t done before. So recording takes about twice as long as the content – in other words, one hour of content will take around two hours to record.
Immediately I’ve recorded, I’ll review the piece. This involves listening back to what I’ve recorded and checking word-for-word accuracy with the manuscript. During this process, I will also make amendments if I don’t think I got the right stress or intonation here and there in my first effort. So, for one hour of content, this step will usually take around one hour and a quarter.
Then comes the editing, which is the most time-consuming bit. Here I work my way through the whole recording, closing gaps where necessary, removing extraneous noises such as excessive breaths, tummy rumbles, or a dog barking loudly in the distance. For one hour of content, allow around two and a half hours.
Once the editing is done, I ‘master’ the recording, which involves applying some audio effects to improve the quality and professionalism of the end result. This takes about half an hour for an hour’s worth of content.
Finally, I submit the recording to the right’s holder – that is the author or publisher – for them to review. It’s important to do it chapter by chapter, because if they decide they don’t like the voice of a character, for example, then it is far preferable to know about that sooner rather than later, otherwise a lot of amendments will have built up! If they want any tweaks done then, on average, they may take around half an hour to sort out for every one hour of content.
So there’s your 8 hours!
To conclude, if you have a book you want narrating, and it contains, say, 10 hours of content, don’t expect it to be completed by the weekend! Around 80 hours of work will be involved, so you could be looking at maybe 4 – 6 weeks before the project is done and dusted and ready to submit to Audible, or whoever else is handling the distribution.
So, I’m sorry I couldn’t meet the publisher of the climate change book’s expectations. I guess I will just have to try to hurry up!
Cheers, Andy.