As they say, “Good friend, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” A Book is truly a man’s best friend. It introduces us to a world full of imagination and adventures. It plays a crucial role in strengthening our mental and emotional well-being. Nowadays, books are silently getting replaced by audiobooks. An audiobook contains the audio recording of the text of a book, for listening purposes. It is a modern alternative to old-fashioned reading. The audiobook projects & market is growing very fast in comparison to the media and entertainment market. Audiobooks are pulling in new audiences and growing fast while making their place in the publishing market.
Benefits of Audiobooks versus books-
Multitasking:
Even for the people who love reading books, sometimes dedicating time to read a book can become a challenging task. In such a scenario, audiobooks come handy. It allows the listener to do multitasking.
Easy on eyes:
An audiobook allows a listener to go easy on eyes. Here the emphasis is certainly on the listening part, which causes less stress to the eyes.
To educate:
Audiobooks are extremely useful when it comes to anyone who has learning disabilities. The content of the audiobook is audible and helps in improving literacy skills.
It also helps people who want to learn the language. The fluency comes much sooner than normal.
The artist who gives voice/audio to an audiobook is called a narrator. A narrator is a person who narrates something from a book to recount the events. The one who delivers a commentary during a film/television program to convey a story is a narrator too and a friend, who tells a story about how she spent her days at her grandparent’s house, is also a narrator.
Guide to Audiobooks
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Sampling an audiobook before buying it–
It is always advisable to read the sample before investing in an audiobook so that if you do not like, you can avoid putting money on it.
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Return policy
Always read the return or exchange policy, before buying an audiobook. If you are not satisfied with the performance, you can always return or exchange it.
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Familiarity
In the beginning, to get familiar with audiobooks, it is always advisable to listen to a book which you already love. By doing so, you don’t need to stay focused, and you can get used to an audiobook.
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Selection of books
Always select books that keep you engaged. For example, if you read the biographies of your favorite person, then you will gain interest in audiobooks automatically.
The audiobook market has boomed significantly, due to which the demand for voice-over actors/narrators has increased as well. A narrator can be a person who loves to read books or someone who has a knack or talent for voice-overs. Their profession is not as easy as it seems. For a beginner and for an experienced artist as well, it is advisable to keep enhancing skills to be in the business for a longer run.
To enhance the skills and become a good narrator for audiobook voice over –
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Work on voice and its modulations
Modulating voice, at various levels, plays an important part in the life of a narrator or a Voice-over artist. Their profession runs around the quality of voice they can provide. Working on voice and its modulation can help control the voice when speaking.
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Training
Getting trained by an established and experienced coach is very much advisable. Take classes to master different kinds of narration styles.
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Practice
keep practicing with your breaths. Instead of breathing through the chest, one should learn diaphragmatic breathing. It improves voice quality and results in less exertion as well.
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Record
Record your own voice and listen to your own performances. Self-analysis is very important for a narrator, as assessing yourself critically can be very beneficial. Sending your recording to someone who is knowledgeable is a great idea as well. By doing so, you can get constructive suggestions about your dialect, accent, rhythm, etc.
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Finding work
Leading companies in India like Voyzapp provide the best of talent in the field of voice-over. They encourage new talents as well. They provide professional voice recording services to many clients. Starting a career with them can be really fruitful. To gain some experience, Freelancing can also be a good option for an artist before approaching big audiobook publishers.
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Tools
After polishing the narration skills, the narrator must invest in the tool/equipment that is needed for a home studio. The narrator should also be well aware of audio editing. And should have his/her audiobook narration demo ready that can be sent further to audio publishing houses for better chances of employment.
The audiobook narrators must find their respective niches after mastering their skills. There are so many genres in the voice-over field, and every artist has his/her own specialty. For example, an artist can be very good for animation voice-overs whereas he might not be the best contender for an audiobook voice-over. So, if you want to be a great narrator, identify your skill and interest and prepare yourself accordingly for the voice-over industry.
Voyzapp, a leading voice-over agency in India offers an opportunity for voice actors to register themselves for free on the platform. Voice actors can upload their samples, fulfill their profile, and then get featured on the platform to showcase their talent to the world.
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