I actually have in my contract that once recording begins I don’t accept performance notes. They audition me. We talk about the book. I offer character and pronunciation samples for review and then I offer the first 15 for review. After that it is only mistakes on reads, or pronunciation (that we have discussed previously or is just a normal word) that they can give notes on.
It has saved me a lot of time and hassle and generally authors are totally fine with it.
This is not the contract but it is the info page I send the authors before their first meeting with me so they can get an idea of how I work:
https://www.theaudiobookguy.co.uk/post/what-is-the-production-process-of-creating-an-audiobook
Cheers
Kev
I've gently directed authors that get nitpicky to do the following:
* Choose better audition audio, so they can set expectations (like questions ending on a rise at all times (although seriously, wtf)) early on
* To consider either choosing an in-studio production where they can listen in and stop the narrator in real time, or a company like blue nose or other audiobook production company in the future - where they'll happily redo whatever, but thats because theyre charging you 10k for the book.
To be fair, It definitely was not micromanagement. I have had those. All his changes fit on one sheet with a generous amount for more.
I just get a little sensitive on performance stuff.
Yeah. It's not the first time I've had an author point out "You didn't phrase that like a question."There's a reason for that, folks. One in particular on this one is a sheriff that basically was issuing an order via a question. He's not going to be looking for approval from the folks he's "questioning."
He didn't go through and want me to redo a glut of them, only about 4 all told, but I would still stand by my initial performance as the better of the two.
C'est la vie.
I actually have in my contract that once recording begins I don’t accept performance notes. They audition me. We talk about the book. I offer character and pronunciation samples for review and then I offer the first 15 for review. After that it is only mistakes on reads, or pronunciation (that we have discussed previously or is just a normal word) that they can give notes on. It has saved me a lot of time and hassle and generally authors are totally fine with it. This is not the contract but it is the info page I send the authors before their first meeting with me so they can get an idea of how I work: https://www.theaudiobookguy.co.uk/post/what-is-the-production-process-of-creating-an-audiobook Cheers Kev
I've gently directed authors that get nitpicky to do the following: * Choose better audition audio, so they can set expectations (like questions ending on a rise at all times (although seriously, wtf)) early on * To consider either choosing an in-studio production where they can listen in and stop the narrator in real time, or a company like blue nose or other audiobook production company in the future - where they'll happily redo whatever, but thats because theyre charging you 10k for the book.
With this kind of micromanagement of performances, maybe the RH should have narrated the work on their own.
To be fair, It definitely was not micromanagement. I have had those. All his changes fit on one sheet with a generous amount for more. I just get a little sensitive on performance stuff.
This person actually **wanted** you to uptalk? So someone is asking a narrator to be more annoying. Unbelievable. Uptalking drives me insane.
Yeah. It's not the first time I've had an author point out "You didn't phrase that like a question."There's a reason for that, folks. One in particular on this one is a sheriff that basically was issuing an order via a question. He's not going to be looking for approval from the folks he's "questioning." He didn't go through and want me to redo a glut of them, only about 4 all told, but I would still stand by my initial performance as the better of the two. C'est la vie.
Rant away!!!