Thank you for choosing me to narrate your book! I’m grateful for your trust in selecting me as your narrator/producer and excited to work with you on this audiobook.

The following information will help make the project go smoothly.

Contact Info

I’m mostly active on Facebook. Feel free to connect with me and tag me on your social media sites!
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lindakutzer/
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-kutzer/
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD2iTMFP7TnnI428a1re09w

Phone 1.919.274.3297
Email lkutzer@gmail.com

Please contact me by email for fastest communication. Also, if we are using the ACX system, we need to send any emails regarding scheduling or manuscript changes through their message system as it is the official record of communications for ACX projects.

Auditions

I use an audition reel of my voices for most 1st auditions. If you like my voice I will then do a custom audition. Most authors like to hear how the prospective narrator will perform their words. I will be happy to supply a custom audition lasting no more than 5 minutes from your text.

Choose 2-3 pages of your book for me to record. You may decide to choose pages from different scenes or chapters. For instance, I’d suggest an interaction between main characters in a fiction book.

Schedule

When we agree that I will record your book, I’ll establish 2 due dates for the audiobook:

  1. the first 15 minutes (see item 3 below)
  2. the complete audiobook

Payment

Payment options

If you own the audio rights to your book, you are referred to as the rights holder (RH). The RH has many choices when starting an audiobook project. Two of the most important decisions you’ll make are the narrator’s payment and the audiobook’s distribution.

Make these decisions very carefully and INDEPENDENTLY because their long-term repercussions could be harmful to you in ways you don’t expect!

Payment Options

You basically have 3 ways to pay your narrator:

  1. Per Finished Hour (PFH) — You pay the agreed upon $X times each finished hour of audio to the narrator. For instance, a $300 PFH rate on an 8-hour audiobook would cost $2400 at the time the audiobook is completed. (8xs $300.)
  2. Royalty Share (RS) — Rather than you paying anything up-front to the narrator, you agree to share your royalties with the narrator. The narrator gambles that her narrator fee and production expenses for team members (director, editor, proofer) will earn out over time through the royalties. This contract can be structured so that the narrator receives ALL royalties until her fee is paid or, more typically, the royalties are split equally between the RH and narrator for the course of the contract.
  3. Hybrid/Royalty Share Plus (RS+) — You pay the narrator some up-front fee to cover their hard expenses and also have a royalty share contract.

Recommendation:  By using a PFH payment, you could contract with a narrator completely outside of ACX or any other distribution platform and upload your completed audiobook to the distributors of your choice as a DIY project.

You may want to download and modify one of the contracts on this page if you go this route.

I occasionally may work on an ACX Royalty Share (RS) or Royalty Share Plus (RS+) contract. For these projects, I may request flexibility in the project completion date to accommodate books where I am being paid my full narration fee up-front with my Per Finished Hour (PFH) rate.

For RS+ and PFH projects, I ask new clients to pay 50% of the fee as a non-refundable deposit after approving the 15-minute checkpoint file. Once I submit the full, retail-ready audiobook to you, I’ll send an invoice for the remaining balance. Payment is due upon receipt.

The final invoice is based on actual finished time and may differ from my estimate.

If we’d be contracting directly rather than going through ACX , I would withhold the end credits and retail sample until the invoice is paid.

My voice is never to be used with AI, nor for AI generated books or other material.

Production Process

I want to give you a behind-the-scenes look at my audiobook production process.

I. I receive the complete, recordable manuscript in PDF or Microsoft Word format.

2. Once we have entered a contract for me to produce and narrate the audiobook, I read the manuscript cover to cover and make choices affecting how I will record the book.

If you have character bios, please send them to me! It’s particularly helpful when an author can tell me things that aren’t in the book, like:

  • Who would you cast for this role if you were producing a movie? I don’t imitate people or provide a voice match, but it’s usually helpful to use other people as inspiration for a character’s voice.
  • Is this book part of a series with recurring characters?
  • Are there any pronunciations of words or names that are made up or not easily researched? Sometimes authors have a preference for a character’s name or have invented the city or world they live in.

I don’t mark pauses or emphasis, preferring those choices to be made organically while performing the text.

During my prep, I look for clues about the characters or people in the book, including:

  • their age
  • their gender
  • their personality
  • their native region and/or specified accent

I do  research on pronunciation as I prepare the text.

3. I record and produce the first 15 minutes .

This 15-minute checkpoint usually is the first 15 minutes of the audiobook. However, it could include passages taken later in the book if the RH wants to check certain character voices.

The RH should listen to this file and provide me with any feedback about pacing, tone, character voices, and pronunciations. This is your chance to offer any specific comments about the performance.

Once the RH approves this file, I complete the audiobook without further input.

4. I then record the entire audiobook. 

I perform the text in the book word-for-word as written. I must read the words on the page in the order they are written, without adding, subtracting, or transposing words while maintaining any character voice and using the proper inflection and emotion for the context.

I frequently find typos in the book and correct them in the recording as I am saying that line.

Non-fiction works may also require me to add clarifying transitional words or descriptions of material. If your work relies heavily on information contained in charts or sidebars, I recommend that you create a PDF to accompany the audiobook and change your text to indicate the page in the PDF to find the reference material. This site shows how to create the PDF, and this page from the ACX help system has instructions for including it with your audiobook.

Important note: Audiobook narration is a performance art based on my interpretation of the author’s text. As a result, I make integral artistic and directorial choices as I record. I therefore rarely accept artistic or directorial change requests past the 15-minute checkpoint. Thank you for understanding.

5. The audiobook and my pronunciation research is edited and proofed.

Editing adjusts pacing and eliminates noises that distract the listener. The text Is checked to ensure that my read matches the authors words and notes any corrections I need to make.

6. I re-record the sentences identified, that require corrections.

These sentences are known as pick-ups. They may have technical errors, such mispronunciations and misreads, or noises that couldn’t be edited out, such as excessive mouth clicks or extraneous background noise.

I need to hear how I performed the line so that I can repeat the inflection and emotion when re-recording the line.

7. I seamlessly insert the pick-ups into the original audio and masters the files to give them a consistent and pleasing finished sound.

8. I upload the final, retail-ready files to the rights holder for approval and distribution.

I will correct any technical errors of mispronunciations and misreads, even if it means fixing it multiple times throughout the book. As stated above, I do not make artistic or directorial changes after the 15-minute checkpoint.

Many authors are surprised or startled by the finished audiobook because it will never sound like the voices in your head, especially if you wrote about real people whom you know. These 2 resources may be useful to you:

  1. Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth sums it up beautifully in this 1:10 video.
  2. Author RC O’Leary wrote an excellent article titled What Happens When Your AudioBook Ends Up Sounding Different Than Expected.

Sometimes rights holders want to re-write passages after they have heard the audiobook. If my schedule accommodates me to re-do such sections, I will invoice the client for 1.5 times my PFH rate on the re-worked passages as I would be going through steps 4-8 a second time.

MARKETING

The author and/or publisher should do most of the marketing and promotion of the title. Even on royalty share contracts, the narrator’s role in and effect from promotion is minimal. Narrators typically have larger portfolios than authors and have shorter deadlines, making it impractical for a narrator to do prolonged and/or substantial marketing on individual books. Having said that, I do promote my newest audiobooks on social media and on my website when they first come out.

I hope you found this information helpful. Please contact me with any questions or concerns you might have. CONTACT

Many thanks to Karen Commins for allowing the use of her material for this packet

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