For me, it was a year ago.
That was when I agreed to voice my first book.
Despite being an actor for sixteen years,
I'd passed all audiobook projects until then.
Why?
The short answer is that they're often one of the lowest paid genres of voice work.
It takes me 4 hours to come up with one hour of finished audio.
1 x hour to read 🧐
1 x hour to prep 📝
1 x hour to record 🗣️
1 x hour to edit and master 🎧
So a 'per finished hour' rate of £250 (at the higher end of the UK market),
is actually working for £62.50 per hour.
NOT bad at all...
But when my recording rate for other genres is £250 per HOUR - you might see why it wasn't a priority.
Three things changed.
1️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿.
With a following of 500k across socials now, more authors and publishers get in touch directly.
They know what I can do and want to leverage my following for their title.
So - a higher rate becomes more feasible.
2️⃣ 𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄
I read the book.
I record the book.
But someone else preps it.
And someone else edits it.
Knowing what can be outsourced to trusted professionals has reduced the workload and stress.
Having a higher rate makes this viable.
3️⃣ 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲.
I love video games.
It's where a lot of the sexy voice work lives.
But it's still rare that you get to go deep with characters in every game.
But if you're narrating the right novels... 🤯
So I've pivoted.
Corporate work is still 40% of my work.
Elearning is still 25% of my work.
Games are still 20% of my work.
But now I always have a book on the go too.
By British Male Actor Christopher Tester