Viviana from Enchantress of Books and I are extremely excited to have Jennifer Lyon aka Jennifer Apodaca with us today!
Choosing A Narrator
Thank you to Viviana and Kelly for having me here today! I’m excited to share with you my
experience of putting the three books in my Plus One Chronicles Series,
The Proposition,
For me, second only to the story and writing, the most important component of an audio book is
the narrator. Through Audible.com I had several narrators audition using a short excerpt from my
manuscript. I chose a sexy scene with dialogue from both the hero and heroine so that I could
1) How does the narrator handle male and female voices? This can be tricky – some
narrators switch with natural ease. But for others, doing the opposite sex voice can sound harsh and unnatural, jarring the listener out of the experience.
2) These books are erotic and I wanted to make sure the narrator sounded natural in the sex scenes and using the language. I needed to feel like I was in the character’s head, not being read a script. Just as important, I needed to be able to work with the narrator on erotic material with professionalism. I had one narrator who auditioned also contact me through social media with some adolescent type comments about how hot my book was for him to read. I crossed that narrator of my potential list immediately.
3) Performance Quality. The narrator I chose,
Ryan Hudson, is an actor who has appeared in movies and done voiceovers for commercials (under another name). He did a good job of interpreting the story while in the character’s point of view. It really felt to me like I was experiencing it with the character.
4) Someone who will do corrections and work with me on any issues that come up. Ryan was fantastic about that, very professional. I actually only had a few corrections for him, and he did them promptly. I really appreciated that. After about ten auditions in total, it came down to two narrators. But ultimately it was Ryan’s voice and talent made the choice very easy for me. He ticked all the boxes and frankly, has one of the sexiest voices I’ve heard yet. I really had a good experience working with him.
But like all things, this was a learning curve for me. The one thing I wish I’d done better was to have all three books recorded and released at the same time, or at least closer together. I started slow, having Ryan do only the first book to see how well we worked together. In retrospect that was a mistake, as the first two books in the series, The Proposition and Possession end on cliffhangers and that really frustrated listeners. By the time I contracted Ryan to do the next two books and he could get them in his schedule, I ended up with a time lag of months between the books. That really wasn’t fair to listeners chomping at the bit to get the next book. But I learned from the experience, and if I ever put a cliffhanger-type series in audio again, I will absolutely release the books as close together as possible.
One fun note about my experience with audio books: I discovered that listening to my sex scenes is a vastly different experience from reading them. Whoa, it feels a lot more personal and intimate. While Ryan handled the scenes wonderfully, I had a hard time listening to them to proof for mistakes. My husband thought it was hilarious that I can write the scene but blushed when I listened to them in an audio book.
THANK YOU Jennifer for being part of our Audio Book Lovin’ series and sharing with us your experience with selecting a narrator!! Friends, you can learn more about Jennifer below and that includes where to find her and she has a fabulous giveaway for you all! Kelly and I also have a giveaway that is running throughout the month of June! Make sure to enter by scrolling below!
About The Author
Jennifer Lyon, who also writes as Jennifer Apodaca, lives in Southern California where she continually plots ways to convince her husband that they should get a dog. After all, they met at the dog pound, fell in love, married and had three wonderful sons. So far, however, she has failed in her doggy endeavor. She consoles herself by pouring her passion into writing books. To date, Jen has published more than fifteen books and novellas, including a fun and sexy mystery series and a variety of contemporary romances under the name Jennifer Apodaca. As Jennifer Lyon she created a dark, sizzling paranormal series, and The Plus Once Chronicles, an emotionally sensual adult contemporary series. Jen’s won numerous awards and had her books translated into multiple languages, but she still hasn’t come up with a way to persuade her husband that they need a dog.
You can find Jennifer at
Author Giveaway
Today I’m giving away one full set of the three audio books in my Plus One Chronicles series, The Proposition, Possession and Obsession, and a bonus audio book of The Baby Bargain under my other name of Jennifer Apodaca. (Please note, I must be able to deliver the audio books to the winner through Audible.com. You may have to sign up to pick up your audiobooks.) To enter, just tell me if like listening to audio books.
TITLE: Spiraled
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