It could cost as much as $6,000 to hire a narrator for a book that may earn back only a few hundred. The publisher puts out about 100 academic books a year - by scholars for scholars or students. But for small publishers and authors, time and money can make a more powerful argument than the sanctity of a creative performance.Īudiobooks don't make much money for the University of Michigan Press. Money talksĪudiobook diehards might have a hard time understanding why anyone would opt for a synthetic voice over a human one. "The whole thing about consuming media is we want to be enveloped in it," said Jonathan Sleep, a narrator who lives outside Atlanta, Georgia. But even the most fluid can set off those uncanny valley tripwires with a delivery or pacing that sounds off. The danger, they worry, is disrupting the experience.ĪI voices can range from stilted to quite convincing. Narrators describe the intimacy of being a voice in a listener's ear, and wonder if even the most lifelike AI will fall into the uncanny valley. "If a character is sobbing after the death of their father, I have to convey those tears and gasps in her speech," said Kathleen Li, an Austin, Texas-based narrator. Particularly with fiction, narrators make decisions about everything from a character's voice to how to communicate nuance and emotion in a way that mirrors the story. Narrators like Eby say their humanity is exactly what helps them do their jobs. "I don't know if, in five years, this will be my full-time gig anymore," said Eby, a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based narrator who's recorded more than 1,000 books in the last 21 years. Whether this is an offshoot of the rise in popularity of podcasts, a matter of listening convenience or a byproduct of the pandemic, it hasn't escaped the attention of tech companies and the inevitable creep of artificial intelligence.Īward-winning narrator Tanya Eby. The market is expected to hit $33.5 billion by 2030, up from about $4.2 billion in 2021, according to Acumen Research and Consulting. "I want to get some more emotions in these questions," Allers tells Hinkle before restarting a section of a chapter.Īudiobooks are booming. Hinkle is tuned in to every word coming out of Allers' mouth, glancing from an iPad with the book's text to a large monitor sitting on the soundboard in the studio. The smell of coffee permeates the waiting room. NAP's studio is at the Rukkus Room in Nashville, Tennessee, the same place Taylor Swift recorded her seven-time platinum, self-titled debut album. They're human beings, recording for Nashville Audio Productions in mid-January, fretting about gurgles, discussing where to put the emphasis on the word "increase" and tending to the detailed work of giving a "real" voice to a book about how couples communicate. Sometimes, if there's a mic nearby, those burbles and gurgles get picked up.ĪI audiobook narrators don't have to worry about strange gastrointestinal noises, but Leah Allers and engineer Craig Hinkle aren't bots.
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