Often voice talent in the audio book world are referred to as “readers.” I think that term oversimplifies what we audio book narrators do. A “reader” would do just that, but as you can hear in any good audio book there are emotions of anger, passion, frustration, etc. There’s also interpretation and the ability to differentiate between many different characters, including the narrator, while not loosing your audience to confusion thanks to the same voice throughout the entirety of the book. All of this audio book narration talent must then be featured in the audio book demo.
The audio book demo is different than any other demo you’ll do as a voice over talent. The traditional commercial or promo demo consists of many different spots cut into 5 - 8 second segments and all compiled together not to exceed one minute in length. You go from one spot to the next showcasing your niche read while also pointing our your ability to perform a variety of styles or characters, depending on the demo. Whereas the audio book demo is a very different animal. The importance of pacing, diction, clarity of thought, and interpretation of words supersedes the one minute time frame allowing the audio book performer up to 4 or even 5 minutes per demo! One can’t accurately determine an audio book narrators skills in one minute. So our MTV society will need to go against breed by practicing patience.
In researching, I’ve listened to several different audio book demos by professional voice talent such as Jim Dale,”Harry Potter,” and Ashley Albert, listening library “Monkey Town.” They have chosen to include full 30 second to 1 minute sections of those books. That is the most common form of the audio book demo. Three or four chunks up to a minute in length all strung together. I, on the other hand, composed a hybrid version merging my knowledge of the commercial demo with the traditional composition of the audio book demo. I added a 30 second montage at the beginning of the demo and opted for shorter 15ish second segments of some of the books I’ve performed following the opening montage.
I don’t claim to know what’s the best form of an audio book demo so I welcome your comments and feedback below.
Well we have an answer regarding the Audio Book Demo format and whether or not my hybrid version is the way to go. IT\’S NOT! I sent the audio book demo off to a well known producer in Los Angeles at Skyboat Road Company through another audio book narrator who has worked for them. The response I got was very direct, which I appreciated, and gave me a clear route to the preferred arrangement of an audio book demo. Here it is:
\"Dear Joshua,
Thanks again for the demo, but it\’s pretty much useless to me to get any sense of your talent as an audiobook narrator. Sounds more like a commercial demo, with bits and snippets of attitude.
Sorry to be so direct, but please do send along something more representative of the audiobook genre. Either a demo of some longer segments (no need to go over a couple of minutes each), or even better, a sample CD from an actual release. Whatever works for you.
Please send it to:…\"
I hope this information has been helpful to you and aided you in composing the perfect audio book demo! If so, please leave a comment!