5 Steps to Creating a Great Audiobook | Jane Friedman

Here's the biggest question to ask yourself: What story am I trying to tell?

The voice is the biggest indication to readers of what kind of story they're about to hear. Into the Nanten is told in first person by a warrior-turned-adventurer, much inspired by Heart of Darkness and the exploits of Stanley and Livingston. I knew I needed a voice that would reflect the tone and world.

The character, Marceles, is male, which makes for the easiest qualifier. He's in his thirties, so he needs to sound mature. He's a bit of a womanizer, well educated, and confident to the point of cocky. I wanted someone with British inflection, ideally deep tone, and with enough range to do some voices as Marceles encounters new people in the depths of the jungle.

Once you have this pinned down, it hones you in on a small subset within the ocean of voice actors for hire. The first step is finding samples. Sites like Voices.com or VoiceBunny.com will allow you to filter based on gender, age, language, and accent-then you can listen to samples. I tend to use sites like this to browse, but not to make contact. Posting a job to a site like this may lead to interest from actors, but it will leave you with extra work and a lot of rejections to hand out.