Romance Audiobooks discussion

Do you have something to share about narrators in general? Share your thoughts and opinions here.

Thanks for starting this thread. Like I said in the other thread, it is interesting to learn what others feel in regards to narrators. This way we can continue the convo long after April :)

Jonetta wrote: "Do you have something to share about narrators in general? Share your thoughts and opinions here."

Thanks, Jonetta. LOL, I'm sure there will be a lot of disagreements here on male and female narrators.

So, let me start by saying that listening to a male narrator do a female voice is better than hearing a female do a man's voice and sound like a girl. I mean, really, in a HR or contemporary to have the hero described as tall and handsome and saying something gruffly then he open his mouth and sounds just like a girl? That's what some listeners want to listen to? Yeah, that's not for me. 90% of the female narrators don't even try to sound manly. And 90% of men read mysteries, suspense, stalker books, murders and so on. It's not like they do HR's. That's usually left to the women, and even then some of the women suck. That's my opinion.

Thank you, Trish, for moving the discussion here!

I don’t have a general preference for a male/female narrator. However, I’d prefer the narrator be of the same gender as the character who dominates the narration in the book. In romance, most times it’s the heroine. When it’s equal, I’d love for it to carry two narrators.

As far as female narrators doing decent male performances, I have a list of some who do a really good job:

Kristine Hvam (Graveyard Queen)
Hillary Hubert
Tavia Gilbert
Reneé Raudman (Kate Daniels)

We all have opinions. This is why I enjoy the feedback and to get varying opinions and viewpoints.

I think it is what sounds pleasing to the ear.

Jonetta wrote: "Thank you, Trish, for moving the discussion here!

I don’t have a general preference for a male/female narrator. However, I’d prefer the narrator be of the same gender as the character who dominate..."

OMG! You are so right about a narrator do the voice of the predominant MC.

I love Donna Grant and according to Goodreads I've read 62 of her books and novellas BUT she did a series called The Sons of Texas, all "starring" one of three brothers who were in the service or they're cops and the narration is done by Carly Robins! My first thought was WTH? Why would you have a woman narrator do a series on 3 brothers? Needless to say, I think Carly Robins is a terrible narrator and doesn't even try to sound like a man so I won't be adding those 3 books to my collection of DG's books.

Does it cost so much for these companies who are making money hand-over-fist to redo these terrible books on audio with a better narrator?

Trish wrote: "And 90% of men read mysteries, suspense, stalker books, murders and so on. It's not like they do HR's. That's usually left to the women, and even then some of the women suck. ..."

I listen to a LOT of mysteries and the narrators are generally the same gender of the main character. For example, Michael Connelly recently launched a new series featuring a female detective so the narrator is a woman and she was really good. Harlan Coben did the same with the Missing You where the main character was female. So I think in this genre, gender selection for narration continues to be driven by the dominant voice in the story. However, most of the well known writers in the genre are male and write stories primarily where the main characters are male.

David Baldacci uses duality narration for his Amos Decker series (male and female narrators are used anytime the voice and dialog changes gender). The first book was just so-so as you could tell they weren’t recording together but the next two worked.

I’m convinced that the gender selection is primarily driven by the story, at least for the books I listen to, with some exceptions (I.e., Pamela Clare’s choice of Kaleo Griffith for her I-Team series).

Trish, this may be why you feel this way about the HR books because the main narrator tends to be female...at least the ones I have read.

Trish wrote: "Does it cost so much for these companies who are making money hand-over-fist to redo these terrible books on audio with a better narrator? ..."

The whole audiobook business has changed radically over the last few years with such a huge rise in readers/listeners. Even the narrator business has become highly competitive, a really good thing for us listeners. I’m seeing more and more authors and publishers using talent coming from professional acting backgrounds. Most of the time that’s great but I have one experience where the narrator, an actress, was so terrible she ruined the book. I’m happy to say this happens infrequently for me. But, I tend to do my homework before choosing a book to add to my library.

Those older books? I’ll bet Grant had absolutely no say in the narrator selection and publisher criteria was weak at best (think cover selections that don’t match the story). Even more complicated are the author’s ability to get the rights to that older stuff. It’s a complaint I hear often from authors who are now self publishing.

Samantha wrote: "Trish, this may be why you feel this way about the HR books because the main narrator tends to be female...at least the ones I have read."

My first, probably, 650 books on audible were HR but then I got so tired of the narration being done by a woman when the MC was a spy and a man or a killer, also a man so I stopped listening to HR's and went to murder mysteries. Now, I only listen to an HR if it's someone I really like, otherwise it's murder for me. No more angst and misunderstandings and no communication for me.

Samantha wrote: "Trish, this may be why you feel this way about the HR books because the main narrator tends to be female...at least the ones I have read."

The Highlander stories are the ones often having male main characters and you’ll see those narrated by men. Antony Ferguson and Phil Gigante (before his fall from grace) do outstanding jobs with the male voices and utterly awful with the females. I mean really bad. But, I just suffered through the female stuff because they really told the stories so well in other respects.

Trish wrote: "My first, probably, 650 books on audible were HR but then I got so tired of the narration being done by a woman when the MC was a spy and a man or a killer, also a man so I stopped listening to HR's and went to murder mysteries. Now, I only listen to an HR if it's someone I really like, otherwise it's murder for me. No more angst and misunderstandings and no communication for me. ..."

Are they still doing that for newer stuff? I don’t listen to a lot of HR.

Do you listen to the samples first before selecting? I do it routinely for unfamiliar narrators but find the sample rarely include passages that include dialog or voice for both genders. Sometimes on Sound Cloud you may get longer samples so I’ll go there.

Jonetta wrote: "Trish wrote: "Does it cost so much for these companies who are making money hand-over-fist to redo these terrible books on audio with a better narrator? ..."

The whole audiobook business has chang..."

I'll be glad when self-publishing get so good they put publishers out of business. As to the Donna Grant books, the Son's of Texas are from 2016 and 2017, so it's not like they were old.

I could be all wrong but I read where if the cover on audible matches the cover of the book then the author had a say in the narrator? Do you know if that's true.

Jonetta wrote: "Do you listen to the samples first before selecting? I do it routinely for unfamiliar narrators but find the sample rarely include passages that include dialog or voice for both genders. Sometimes ..."

LOL, I listen to the samples then go see how many books they've read then listen to the sample of their other books too. You just can't trust the narration of the book you're interested in anymore. You gotta "shop" around.

Jonetta wrote: "Do you listen to the samples first before selecting? I do it routinely for unfamiliar narrators but find the sample rarely include passages that include dialog or voice for both genders. Sometimes ..."

I started to do this recently so I can know what I am getting myself into. You are right about Sound Cloud.

Trish wrote: "I'll be glad when self-publishing get so good they put publishers out of business. As to the Donna Grant books, the Son's of Texas are from 2016 and 2017, so it's not like they were old.

I could be all wrong but I read where if the cover on audible matches the cover of the book then the author had a say in the narrator? Do you know if that's true...."

Then shame on Grant for that bad decision. I cannot imagine a good excuse for that.

I’ve not heard of that rule of thumb concerning the covers. My understanding is it’s dealt with in the contract, plain and simple. It’s worth exploring. I’ll ask a couple of people I think would know.

Jonetta,

I love David Baldacci’s Amos Decker and John Puller books. Since Ron McClarty retired from narrating Baldacci’s book, and in his place Kyf Brewer was chosen, I have stopped listening to his books.

Since there had been no new Puller book I can’t say how well Kfy’s performance would be. But I do not like the way he voices Amos Decker sounding somewhere between 15-17 years of age. Amos is 40 something not a snot nosed teenager.

Orlagh Cassidy is fine. She always does a great job.

Samantha wrote: "Jonetta wrote: "Do you listen to the samples first before selecting? I do it routinely for unfamiliar narrators but find the sample rarely include passages that include dialog or voice for both gen..."

What is sound cloud? Never heard of it.

Trish,

SOUND CLOUD is a app you can download on your phone. You can find on PC through SoundCloud.com.

Jonetta wrote: "Trish wrote: "I'll be glad when self-publishing get so good they put publishers out of business. As to the Donna Grant books, the Son's of Texas are from 2016 and 2017, so it's not like they were o..."

I asked because I ask two different authors if a particular book was ever going to go to audible and they both told me they were auditioning narrators at the moment but they would be on audible soon.

Maybe they were self-published???

Trish wrote: "I asked because I ask two different authors if a particular book was ever going to go to audible and they both told me they were auditioning narrators at the moment but they would be on audible soon.

Maybe they were self-published??? ..."

It really is contract driven now so I wouldn’t assume they’re self published. Some of your high profile authors get a lot more say-so these days (Nora Roberts comes to mind). I just don’t know but it would be a great topic for discussion.

Let me see if I can get a few from the business to be willing to do a Q&A.

Here’s the link to SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/stream

Jonetta wrote: "Trish wrote: "I asked because I ask two different authors if a particular book was ever going to go to audible and they both told me they were auditioning narrators at the moment but they would be ..."

Thanks so much, Jonetta. I look forward to hearing what you find out.

Yes got into soundcloud because of podcasts but found out so much more.

Mara wrote: "Jonetta,

I love David Baldacci’s Amos Decker and John Puller books. Since Ron McClarty retired from narrating Baldacci’s book, and in his place Kyf Brewer was chosen, I have stopped listening to h..."

I haven’t started the Puller series but I believe McClarty narrated the King & Maxwell series and I liked him. Sorry to learn he’s retired.

I kinda like Brewer as Amos:)

I’ve reached out to two of my publisher contacts. Will let you know what they say when I get a response.

Jonetta wrote: "I’ve reached out to two of my publisher contacts. Will let you know what they say when I get a response."

Great, Jonetta!!

Ron McClarty did narrate most of Baldacci’s books. But Scott Brick narrated some also.

I’m just no crazy about the new guy.

Thank God for Overdrive(Libby), RBDigital, Axis360, and Hoopla. I don’t to feel bad in not liking the book. I can return it without guilt in having bought it.

Trish wrote: "Jonetta wrote: "I’ve reached out to two of my publisher contacts. Will let you know what they say when I get a response."

Great, Jonetta!!"

See what you started?

Mara wrote: "Thank God for Overdrive(Libby), RBDigital, Axis360, and Hoopla. I don’t to feel bad in not liking the book. I can return it without guilt in having bought it."

I get most of mine from the online library.

Bad narration equal lost sales. I don't care if the narrator is male or female or I've listened to them before. I like to hear a sample before I get the book.
A female narrator I like for a romantic comedy I can't stand on suspense. The suspense were all first person with that characters being 30ish females routinely in combat situations. She voiced them like teenagers, young teenagers. I would have preferred a male narrator over that. I returned audios and read them in other formats. I looked at what else the narrator did. She narrated a mystery/suspense series, female main character that I quit part way through the first book years ago because it gave me the creeps. Maybe the problem was the narrator more than the book but that's twenty something books I haven't purchased even though I have the author's previous series.

L J wrote: "Bad narration equal lost sales. I don't care if the narrator is male or female or I've listened to them before. I like to hear a sample before I get the book.
A female narrator I like for a romant..."

I listened to a woman narrate a mystery and everything she read sounded like she should have been in the bedroom having sex. It was awful. She would have been perfect doing erotica. And so many other times listening to a woman do a mystery she would talk in a regular tone when it would have been a time to whisper. I can overlook many things except the lack of a whisper. If you're hiding or planning on taking on a target you know you have to kill and you're talking in a loud voice it throws me completely out of the story. If you want me to believe then read like you want me to, it's that simple.

And when the adults sound like teenagers because of the narrator I have to give the book back. I can't listen to Alison Larkin for that very reason. She should stick to children's books, IMO.

This is such a fun topic as i love audiobooks.
I personally prefer female voices over male ones. Females can do a male voice by making their voice a little rough. But when males do it they make it sound so nasal and I have a very low tolerance to nasal voices.
My personal all time favourite narrator is Lorelei King (Mercy Thompson series). She makes every character sound different and her male voices are sorta sexy (haha).
I also love duality narrations (can't believe their aren't more books read like that).
I love Kyf Brewer for Amos although I know a lot of people don't like him. Orlagh Cassidy does every voice the same so she kinda ruins the books for me!
Looooved the fever series when Natalie Ross and Phil Gigante took over as i can't for the life of me bear Joyce Bean's voice (in any book).
Some of my other favourites are:
Renee Raudman (used to not like her but Kate Daniels' novels changed my mind)
Lorelei King
Christina Traister (Her voice is very calming)

Also I have heard so much about January LaVoy and I will definitely be listening to her narrative next.
Does anyone know of anymore duality narrated books? Please let me know.
Lastly, I am a huge fan of all the narrators in Six of Crows! It was one of my best listening experience.

January LaVoy is excellent! I’ve chosen books simply because she’s the narrator.

The Amos Decker series is my first experience with duality narration. I’m a fan, too.

Trish wrote: "I listened to a woman narrate a mystery and everything she read sounded like she should have been in the bedroom having sex. It was awful. She would have been perfect doing erotica. ..."
The narrator I thought did romantic suspense weird also does mystery. I won't be listening to her again. The planning and battle scenes weren't as bad but she made the mildest cuddling or kissing scene sound like erotica and the love scene sounded like porn. The book is from 30 years ago but audio is much more recent.

L J wrote: "Trish wrote: "I listened to a woman narrate a mystery and everything she read sounded like she should have been in the bedroom having sex. It was awful. She would have been perfect doing erotica. ...."

Yep, make or break a book. That's what narrators do.