Romance Audiobooks discussion

I thought it might be interesting to start a topic about/to track narrator pseudonyms, both because sometimes I audio-stalk a narrator whose work I enjoy and how can I do that if I don't know what name their other work is under? and because I've found it's more common to use one with romance audiobooks (especially category romances) and I sometimes stay away from a book after seeing an unknown narrator. Here's the list I have:

Anna Fields – Kate Fleming
Jennifer Van Dyck – Genevieve Bevier
Bianca Amato – Rebecca de Leeuw
Kate Reading – Jennifer Mendenhall
Julia Whelan – Sophie Eastlake
Hillary Huber - Elizabeth Livingston
Joyce Bean – Jane Brown
Grover Gardner – Alexander Adams, Tom Parker
Wanda McCaddon – Nadia May
Simon Vance – Richard Matthews
Tavia Gilbert – Kelly Fish
Emily Shaffer – Suzanna Duff
Gabra Zackman - Isabelle Gordon

This is fascinating! Why would Narrators hide their identities? Good sleuthing, Kelli!

Thanks for starting this, Kelli. As I mentioned on another thread there are so many names I'm not familiar with showing up in new releases. Today (May 1) Audible released 31 (!) new titles in the romance category. I'm a heavy duty buyer in romance and I was disconcerted to find that I recognized only 2 of 31 narrator names. I left the site without buying anything because I was only interested in a couple of the books and I'm not inclined nor do I have time for sampling 31 (!) unknown-to-me narrators. I hope someone will alert me if I've missed a buried treasure.

Why dump 31 new releases on the same day, anyhow? Print books normally release on Tuesdays spread throughout the calendar while ebooks don't appear to conform to a pattern.

I didn't realize Sophie Eastlake and Julia Whelon were the same ppl!

I wonder if they do it, since often they might start to get typecast into a certain genre, and by using a different name, its like a fresh start

@Diana
It was our convo in another thread that prompted me to start this topic so thanks for that!

It seems like the Harlequin categories and, as a subsidiary (or whatever you call it,) the Carina Press titles release on the first of the month but I agree it gluts the market a bit.

@Dee
I think I read in a couple of interviews that it's usually the publisher who requests the name change but I may be misremembering. In any case, I'd guess you're right about the concern being typecasting although it does a disservice to the readers, most of who are perfectly comfortable crossing genres willy nilly.

Well, it was 31 (!) this morning. Now it's 35 (!) Yes, it gluts and tarts up the market. I thought HQN was spreading out their release dates now? Anyhow this is not very smart or effective marketing.

As to why narrators use pseudonyms, I'm sure it's to distinguish between genres. And romance readers know (sadly) about the stigma attached to romance. It is what it is.

Therese Plummer ~ Savannah Richards

She uses SR when she narrates paranormal and erotica and her real name (TP) for everything else.

Sex. That's a reason often stated. If there are sexual scenes, narrators may opt for another name. I think this reaches beyond the romance genre in general.

Most of these unknown narrator names you are seeing though are first time narrators - more often than not with little to no training. It's the "anyone can read an audiobook in their closet at home without a director" concept that's sweeping the industry with lower priced books and often unknown authors. You have probably heard me rant on this but the main thing to remember is that if you buy one of these from Audible and don't care for the narration, return it. It's easy - you can return as many times as you want (although I'd be afraid to overuse it) and it sends a message that you don't care for sub-standard performances all in the name of getting just any romance fix.

KarenH wrote: "Therese Plummer ~ Savannah Richards

She uses SR when she narrates paranormal and erotica and her real name (TP) for everything else."

Thank you, Karen. I didn't know about TP's other name. I'm off to look at new books.

Kelli wrote: "Grover Gardner – Alexander Adams, Tom Parker"

OMG! I should have known this!!!

This guy narrated The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn under different names! The funny thing is that I listened both books and didn't notice it was the same guy! I just thought they sounded very similar!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (To be fair, I listened to the books months apart.)

Now, what is the point of narrating two books in the same series under different names?? Must have been a mistake by the production company.

Lea's Audiobooks wrote: "Sex. That's a reason often stated. If there are sexual scenes, narrators may opt for another name. I think this reaches beyond the romance genre in general.

Most of these unknown narrator names y..."

This was my concern. The narrator is so integral to my enjoyment I am very careful of the unknown narrator.

D.G. wrote: "Now, what is the point of narrating two books in the same series under different names?? Must have been a mistake by the production company."

I've seen that happen before and I think it must be a production company glitch. Unclaimed by Courtney Milan is listed as narrated by Polly Lee on Audible, the narrator introduces the book as "Read by Bianca Amato" and the other book in that series she narrates shows Rebecca De Leeuw as the narrator (which is Bianca Amato's non-Lit Fic nom de plume (nom de vox?)

Kelli wrote: must be a production company glitch. Unclaimed by Courtney Milan is listed as narrated by Polly Lee on Audible, the narrator introduces the book as "Read by Bianca Amato" and the other book in that series she narrates shows Rebecca De Leeuw as the narrator (which is Bianca Amato..."

If the production companies can't keep it straight how are we supposed to? :D

Thanks for this list Kelli (and for adding to it Karen) having been aware of maybe half of these names ... this list gives me new names to look for ... or to actually trust.

Kelli wrote: "I've seen that happen before and I think it must be a production company glitch. "

Definitely! It doesn't make sense otherwise!

Robert Petkoff uses the same name for his stage career and all his narrations - and he's done both mysteries and romance. Maybe productions companies don't mind you using the same name if you are already established!

Phil Gigante mentioned in an interview that he has done work under another name but I haven't come across it.

Karen White = Caroline Ryan

Great to have this list!! Thanks!

This is really useful - thanks for putting it together! I usually listen to the sample on Audible, but that's sometimes not enough to be able to determine whether you're going to like the narrator or not - especially as the selection is usually fairly arbitrary and may not feature all the characters.

This is a double-edged sword though, isn't it? I'd have thought that regular buyers of audiobooks will have favourite narrators they look for, so using pseudonyms could be costing sales.

Caz wrote: "This is a double-edged sword though, isn't it? "

Maybe, maybe not. That could just affect people that read across genres (like me). It seems the pseudonyms are genre related and most people tend to stick to the genres they like.

Brenda wrote: "Phil Gigante mentioned in an interview that he has done work under another name but I haven't come across it.

Karen White = Caroline Ryan"

I only did one title under that pseudonym! It was offered as a suggestion by the publisher. But I'd already done JTSMA with my real name so the pseudonym thing seemed silly.
However, for narrators who do a lot of YA or children's titles, it does make sense to have a separate name for Rated "R" or "X" title. You don't want a ten year old searching for more narrations to end up in an inappropriate place :)

In the "olden" days, there were rivalries between publishers and narrators had to choose a different name for each company, but those days are gone now.

I think Polly Lee is also Ashford McNab (the person who narrates the Maiden Lane series.) If any of you have some time, would you listen to samples to one of the Maiden Lane books and Desired (the book I'm listening now by Polly Lee) and tell me if I'm right?

D.G. wrote: "I think Polly Lee is also Ashford McNab (the person who narrates the Maiden Lane series.) If any of you have some time, would you listen to samples to one of the Maiden Lane books and Desired (the ..."

I'm with you, D.G. I hear the same narrator whether the name is Polly Lee or Ashford McNab. What an odd choice to use different names though, since both do historical romance.

I know! Specially Polly Lee who sounds so weird (just say it out loud.)

Johanna Parker narrates as Charlotte Kane

I'm wondering if Alison Larkin and Fiona Underwood might be the same person.

I've listened to a few of Ms Larkin's historical romance narrations recently, and am currently re-listening to , which is narrated by Ms Underwood - and I'm noticing a lot of similar vocal inflections. Ms Underwood has also recorded some Sylvia Day historicals, which are raunchier than the things I've listened to read by Ms Larkin.

Has anyone else listened to both these narrators? What do you think?

Are Justine Eyre and Alix Dale the same person?

Gabriella wrote: "Are Justine Eyre and Alix Dale the same person?"

Oooh, a new one for my list. Thanks, Gabriella. That's definitely Justine Eyre recording as Alix Dale.

You're welcome Kelli.

Candace Thaxton - Shayna Thibodeaux

She narrates mostly new adult and young adult books.

There's no way Ashford McNab and Polly Lee are the same. There's voices and enunciation are completely different.

Janine wrote: "There's no way Ashford McNab and Polly Lee are the same. There's voices and enunciation are completely different."

I read two of their books back to back and let me tell you, they sounded EXACTLY the same. Let me see if I find the books I listened...

Listen to these samples:

(Polly Lee) - http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_3?...

(Ashford McNab) - http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sa_3?as...

Angie wrote: "Candace Thaxton - Shayna Thibodeaux

She narrates mostly new adult and young adult books."

I'm so glad you pointed this one out, Angie. I loved Candace Thaxton's narration in Katja Millay's The Sea of Tranquility and was disappointed she had such a small body of work. I passed over the Abbi Glines books recorded under the pseudonym but now I'll go back and give one a try.

I just discovered another pseudonym for Therese Plummer - G. C. VonCloudts. Where do they come up with these names? She's using this name for a couple of the recent Ellora's Cave books that came out.

ETA: Audible also has one of the books under the name G. C. Van Clouts.

Is it kind of like sitting around at a party saying "What name would you pick if you were a stripper" ? :-)

Lee wrote: "Is it kind of like sitting around at a party saying "What name would you pick if you were a stripper" ? :-)"

I love that Lee!!

Now they're just getting ridiculous.
http://www.audible.com/pd/Romance/At-...

Angie wrote: "Now they're just getting ridiculous.
http://www.audible.com/pd/Romance/At-..."

Oh my gawwddd. As romance listeners, does that make you want to buy the audio or does it make you want to turn away feeling a little insulted? Must admit I'm in the second category.

Pretty funny!

"Angie wrote: "Now they're just getting ridiculous. http://www.audible.com/pd/Romance/At-..."

Lea wrote: Oh my gawwddd. As romance listeners, does that make you want ..."

Yes - insulting - but it's still hilarious. :D Loved Lee's analogy ... Is it kind of like sitting around at a party saying "What name would you pick if you were a stripper" ? :-)

Though romance is the top selling genre it remains the Rodney Dangerfild of fiction ... Boo!

Joey W Hill inadvertently confirmed on FB today that GC vonCloudts and Maxine Mitchell are the same narrator. The former is narrating Hill's Knights of the Boardroom series and the latter is narrating her Nature of Desire series. GC did great men's voices so I'm looking forward to Maxine's as well.

Michele wrote: "Joey W Hill inadvertently confirmed on FB today that GC vonCloudts and Maxine Mitchell are the same narrator. The former is narrating Hill's Knights of the Boardroom series and the latter is narrat..."

She must have made a mistake because GC VonCloudts is definitely Therese Plummer, but Maxine Mitchell is someone else. I've listened to several Therese Plummer books and she has a distinct voice. I just listened to some samples for Maxine Mitchell and they sound nothing alike.

That's too bad. I really enjoyed GC vonCloudts.

Yeah, she would have definitely been a good choice. I really enjoy listening to her.

Michele wrote: "Joey W Hill inadvertently confirmed on FB today that GC vonCloudts and Maxine Mitchell are the same narrator. The former is narrating Hill's Knights of the Boardroom series and the latter is narrat..." I agree just finished mate Set narrated by GC,

Here's another pseudonymous narrator for Ellora's Cave: Eve Bianco is recording some of Lisa Marie Rice's books under the name Alexandra R. Josephs.

I also think that James Langton = Roger Hampton.

I recently listened to Mr Hampton narrating The Bridegroom Wore Plaid; I just put on The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After with Mr Langton, and was struck by the similarity in their voices. So I listened to an excerpt of each back to back, and if they're not the same person, then I'm a Dutchman!

So, let me jump in here and explain why I, and probably most of the long-term narrators in that initial list, might be found to have narrated under different names...
When I came to the US it was standard policy for narrators to have different names for different publishers - apparently it was a hangover from when each publisher liked to have their own 'team' of voices. The late David Case explained this to me at the time(he was aka Frederick Davidson).
So I decided (in my innocence and/or naivete) to adopt a different pseudonym for each publisher I worked with... deciding that if I really sucked at narration it wouldn't affect my fledgling acting 'career' here on the west coast. No, really. :)
I became Robert Whitfield for Blackstone Audiobooks and Richard Matthews for Books on Tape.... Now Blackstone have changed the credit on a number of books back to Simon Vance (which I'm very happy about - I now think I actually might have a future in this industry) but Random House(sadly) dropped quite a number of my 'Matthews' books as they did many other narrators' when they absorbed BoT and have never bothered to rename what's left - go to Audible and you'll find 80 of Whitfield's and 17 of Matthews' (which, with the other 480 under my own name, makes me the most prolific narrator on Audible, I believe).
- and I've never done any erotica... honest!
Nor have I done many Romances but it's nice to get mentioned in any group :)

I always though about that. I discovered about this practice with Max Bellmore = Victor Bevine. I guess, just like authors do, they like to enjoy anonymity. I just wonder if is only with the romance genre..LOL