Find And Hire Voice Actors For Your Audiobook

If you’ve listened to audiobooks, you’ve likely heard narrators that bring you right into the story, using their talents to make the words come to life. You’ve probably also heard narrators that sound bored, making even the most exciting books feel boring. Well, now you’re producing your audiobook, which means it’s time to hire voice actors, and you want to get it right. That’s what we’re talking about on this week’s episode of Cover 2 Cover.

Join host Isabelle Mongeau as she takes you through the whole process of finding and hiring the perfect voice talent for your needs. From the different types of voices you’ll hear to where you can even find experienced voice actors, Isabelle guides you through this incredibly important step of your audiobook journey.

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Episode transcript:

You knock on the door. Keys jingling in your hand, you check the time. You’re early—thank God. You can’t be late to the best producer in the state.  The door swings open and the teenager sticks his head out.

You smile at him.

“You’re back,” he says. 

“I have a meeting with John at 4.”

The teenager assesses you. “Mm, okay.” 

You can tell he’s disappointed you’re not Questlove. 

“This way,” he says. You grab the door before it slams shut. 

After heading down the stairs, you enter the workstation of a recording studio, lined with panels of lights, monitors, and speakers. Before you spot him, you hear him – the swivel of the chair. 

John the producer gestures to the chair across from him and you sit. With the snap of his fingers, the teenager scuttles over to the tap on the wall. He fills two frosty glasses with beer and hands one to you, the other to John. John takes a sip and smiles. 

“So, you’re here to find your voice talent?”

“That I am.”

“Let’s get to work, then.” 

Hi and Welcome to Cover 2 Cover, a biweekly podcast that teaches you how to write, produce and market your audiobook. I’m your host, Isabelle Mongeau from Q’d Up Audio and today I want to talk about hiring voice actors for your project. 

In episode 3 of C2C, we talked about whether you should voice your own book or have someone else do it. If you’re still debating that question, go back and check that episode out. 

For today, let’s talk about how and where to find the talent for your narrator. Your narrator is extremely important to the listeners’ experience—it’s almost as important as the content itself. Scroll through any audiobook review and you’ll see comments about how the actor delivered the material. In fact, on audible there are 5-star categories for the book overall, for the story, and for the performance. 

In looking at the book I’m reading right now—the 4th book in a popular fantasy series—one review states: 

“waste of time and money.”

“The writing which is sophomoric and tedious [and] is made worse by the reader’s voice, which seesaws and out of sync with the punctuation.”

The very next review gave 5 stars across the board and said that “the combination of the author’s elegant and exciting writing style and the reader’s brilliant narration will make one hard-pressed to hit the pause button…you will not regret the listen”

To each their own, I guess. But the point is this: people will notice your narrator—whether they do a great job…or not. 

Despite enjoyment being subjective, you still have control over who voices your book. So, why give listeners a reason to rate your book lower with an ill-fit narrator? 

 “First thing’s first.” John says. “Let’s determine the type of voices you want to look for.”

“Type?”

“Yeah, you want your narrator to match the content itself. If your protagonist is a man, you don’t want a young girl narrating. Same goes for nonfiction books. You wouldn’t want an old man telling you about women-in-business, now would you?“  

All of this makes a difference in how your listeners will absorb the content. 

You look at John. “and what do you think I should do? 

He leans back in his creaking chair. He tells you that the gender depends on the type of book. If it’s fiction, you want a narrator that matches the protagonist. A novel about a 40-something-year-old woman should have a 40-something-year-old woman voicing it. If the story centers on a 25-year-old man, you might want a narrator like that. 

Now, if you have a novel with multiple POVs and you also have a larger budget, you can get multiple narrators – like with the popular novel Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Each character was played by a different actor and the experience felt more like a radio play. However, listeners—and voice actors—are also accustomed to hearing one narrator play multiple parts. 

You take a sip of your beer and ask what you should do if you’re not writing a novel. What if you’re writing that women in business book? 

He says that if you’re writing nonfiction, a science journal, or a memoir—you want the narrator to match you, the author. As the audience is listening to your opinions, experiences, or data, they want to feel like they’re getting that directly from you.

John also tells you to keep in mind any dialects/languages. If you or your character are bilingual, then hire voice actors who are also bilingual. Nothing can discredit you and your book faster than if your voice actor struggles with the content – either because its regional, specific, or multi-lingual. 

Overall, if you can figure out your categories, you can save a lot of time in the process.

You type all this up in the notes app on your phone, absorbing what he’s said. Ok, so figure out the age, sex, and language of your voice actor based on the content itself or you as an author. 

You look up and ask: “So once that’s done, what next?”

“Next, we find potential voices” 

Here at Q’d, we’ve had our fair share of connecting authors to voice talent. In working on dozens of titles each year, we know just how important matching the right actor to a project is. 

But where do you even start? In order to find a professional voice with experience, where do you look? 

We’ve found that the two most comprehensive websites are voices.com and voice123.com 

These two sites are the largest, aggregating the most diverse talent. Basically, if you need it, they’ve got it. So, we highly suggest looking in these places first. 

If you’re publishing through Audible – or ACX –they also have their own division of narrators. This option is great if you’re just starting out and want to get your services under one roof. 

If you’re looking for something budget friendly, you can check out place like fiverr. For much lower costs, you can snag a good narrator. HOWEVER, with that lower cost sometimes comes lower quality. Not every single narrator will be professional or have the experience you’re looking for when hiring voice actors. So if you choose to go with this route, we caution you to do your research and be thorough about who you pick. 

In using these sites, you can browse sample recordings, host auditions, and hire voice actors. We’ve included the links in our shownotes, so be sure to check them out. 

With all this in mind, there’s another great option we haven’t yet touched upon. Using your own network to find talent. 

Through sites like LinkedIn, you can connect with voice actors and other professionals. From there, your network can grow to include more voice talent for future projects as well. 

While you will still pay a professional price, you won’t have to go through the middle-man, and potentially rack up additional fees. This option does take time, but it can form strong relationships.    

You set down your empty beer, the glass clinking against the floor. Now that you know where to look, it’s time for you and John to search through the options and find the best voice. 

But how will I know who to choose at the end of the day? There are a bunch of 30-year-old voice actors out there, all of them talented — how do I know which one is best? 

John puts down his beer. 

“Listen to their voices, really listen to them” he says. “and you’ll know. You’ll know which voice is best for you and your book.” 

You look to him and say: “let’s get to listening.” 

Producing an audiobook can require a lot of time and effort. But with the right people by your side, the process can be easy and stress free. We at Q’d Up help our authors find and hire voice actors, as well as handle the recording, editing, mastering and uploading. Our authors don’t have to lift a finger – after all, you’ve already written a whole book!  

Thank you for listening to this episode of Cover 2 Cover. Join me every other Monday to hear more about how to get your friends and family listening to your story – from Cover 2 Cover!

For even more free knowledge, follow us on Twitter at QDUPAudio or myself @Izzys_ink_  

So, if you’re looking for a little extra help in voicing, recording, and mastering your audiobook, be sure to contact us at myaudiobookagency.com