Audiobook Adventures: Week Eighteen

Another week, another dollar.  In theory.  I've done less this week on this audiobook stuff than I have the past few.  I'm not exactly standing under the money tree, so I'm focusing on other things.

I know a couple other folks who have gotten into this little hobby recently, and I suppose they're technically my competition (though Lauren won't be going after the same projects, I wouldn't think).  Big says he's going to do it once he moves into his new house--he's going to have a study where, with any luck, he'll be able to set up microphones permanently--and it'll be fun to see how he does on it. 

I keep thinking about putting some of my own short stories up on Amazon.com, and then recording them to sell on Audible when I'm in the mood.  But the doctors tell me there's a faulty connection between the part of my brain that produces ambition, and the part that gets me off my duff to actually do anything.  The good news is, the doctors are considering naming the disability after me.  The bad news is, the name they've agreed on is Rishout Doucheypussy Syndrome.

So, anything else?

Oh yeah, I did end up getting the contract to narrate the first five books in that Sci-Fi series I mentioned, and I did go ahead and contact the maintainer of a fan page dedicated to that series to ask his opinion about them.  It just seemed like a fun thing to do, and if HBO or Showtime (or the fudgin' Lifetime Network) ever decided to make a television series out of the movie JENNIFER'S BODY, I'd hope they'd email me to ask my opinion about it too.

As a first, instead of PDFs (or unreadable DOCs) of the books in question, the publisher actually sent me old Ace paperbacks of the books.  Because these are a bit historical, and potentially well-known, I'm going to try my darndest to make these readings Frank Muller-level good.

However, one of the instructions in the FAQ for producing work for Audible is not to get too carried away with character voices.  I believe the exact wording on there is "Cartoonish voices will turn off listeners."  And that gave me pause.

What, exactly, is a "cartoonish" voice?

In another book I'm narrating, the author suggested I read one alien species with an Australian accent.  If you've ever heard my Aussie accent, you know how bad it can be, but in dealing with a whole alien race from Oz, it's been a challenge to try and do different Australian accents.  Ultimately, I chose to go the more subtle route for the main voice, and picked an extremely silly voice for the others.  This, methinks, is what Audible was talking about with "cartoonish voices."

But I don't know which is better, when a reader doesn't even try to do accents and everybody sounds the same, or he/she does really bad regional accents.  Hopefully, mine lands somewhere in the middle.

Wait, no, that's not good either.  Maybe there's a third option.

Rish

P.S. That reminds me: I auditioned for a book recently where the author wanted me to do an Irish accent for one of the characters.  If you think my Aussie is bad, you should hear my Irish.  Actually, if you think my Aussie is bad, stop reading now and go didgeridoo yourself.