Romance Audiobooks discussion

This question and related thoughts actually comes from Bobbie. She posted it in our Introductions thread and I think it got lost. She brings up a question I'm sure many of us have wondered about.

"Hi to Audiobook readers. Not sure this is considered Romance Audio, but I have listened to 3 of the 4 Lisa Lutz books. She writes about a wacky family with a detective agency. They are considered comedic mysteries I guess you would say. Well, here is my dilemma. All the books take place in the voice of Isabelle Lutz and she is a young woman in her 20's. Ari Gaynor (think that is her name) was the reader for the first 3 books and she WAS Izzy. In the 4th book of the series, they changed readers and she sounded like a 60 yr old grandmother. I couldn't listen and according to reviews on Audible, many felt the same way. I love her books, so read the 4th book.

She has a new book coming out and I asked her on Facebook if there was a chance we could get Ari back to read the story. She told me that she has NO influence on who the reader is and half the time does not even know I'd there is going to be an audible version. Do any of you know if we the listener can influence the publishers and if so, how?

If you haven't listened to any of these books and need a little comic relief, give them a try, but listen to Ari, not Caroline or whoever the other reader is!

Thanks for letting me vent, and if any of you know where I can express my concerns in a legitimate way , please let me know."

Bobbie - I like to think we, as listeners, can influence choice of narrators. But I also think we need a contact within a specific production company to relay our wishes for us. A comment on a customer service type of email - I think that does little to no good. However, if we have that source, who knows the value of listening to those who buy their books - I do think it makes a significant difference.

We have that sort of relationship with Tantor. And I believe with a good number of other companies as well although it may not be AS direct. However, the Lisa Lutz books are produced by Simon and Schuster and know of no contact person there. Does anyone else?

Thanks Lea. I appreciate your response and if anyone knows anyone at Simon & Schuster, please let me know. I will start a campaign

Hi Bobbie,

I don't know anyone at Simon and Schuster, but this issue with old narrators irritates me endlessly. I don't know how they think they can pass 60 and 70 year old readers as vibrant 30 year olds. This doesn't happen in romance as often as other genres. My current pet peeve is George Guidall 70+ actor narrating Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series. I keep thinking someone will get a clue and no-one does. I have others I can name too. They go on my will not listen to no matter what list.

Thanks Jody for supporting my thoughts! I wish we as the listening public had some power in regard to this.

On the other goodreads Audiobook group, there was just a thread regarding returning Audible books. If you are unhappy with a production, they seem responsive to returns. If its a totally subjective reason (you simply don't care for a narrator's style) they might not go for it, but if there's a narrator change mid-series, that might be a way to express your displeasure.
I think it happens often when a series moves publishers, and sometimes it is because a narrator is just not available. But if the original is replaced by someone totally inappropriate, feedback is reasonable.
Also, oftentimes authors DO have influence (even though some pubs hate it!) so Ms. Lutz should keep trying!

Thanks Karen. Which other goodreads Audible group are you referring to so I can check it out? I have expressed my disgruntlement on the Audible site along with several other, so it will be interesting to see who the reader of this next book is. Thanks again for the response.

I am listening to Barefoot Season by Susan Mallery and the reader is driving me nuts. Has anyone else listened to it yet? I love Susan Mallery books but this may be my first Audible of hers and I am really wishing I had just bought the ebook. I don't know if this is a "normal" reader for Susan, but she just does NOT fit the characters as I listen. Just wanted to know if I was the only one. The reader is Sarah Grace. Has anyone listened to other books she has read?

I was once so annoyed by a reader for Brilliance Audio that I emailed them and told them. I admitted that I didn't know if it was the reader or the director, but (among other things) if the narrative said, "Surely you aren't serious," he laughed, instead of kind of laughing while saying the dialogue, the reader would say, "Surely you aren't serious, heh, heh, heh," he laughed.

I couldn't finish it.

I got a response from someone thanking me for my comments and saying that they had forwarded them to the director.

I've just found this thread and it seems that more than 2 years later nothing has changed. And really I'm so angry...I've just browsed through Audible looking for some new audio books and found some quite interesting sounding books, but most of them seem to be narrated by someone older than 60!

Why is it that a story which is told from the perspective of a 20 or 30 something is narrated by an "old" (sorry) narrator? Doesn't anyone at the publishing companies recognize, that when a person becomes older their voices change too?! A 50+ year old narrator doesn't sound like a 20 something.

It's quite disturbing in a science fiction or suspense book, but if it's romance it's revolting. I just say sex scenes...urgh...no thank you...it's not fun to listen to them, if they are read by someone who sounds like your grandmother or grandfather!

Gabriella wrote: "It's quite disturbing in a science fiction or suspense book, but if it's romance it's revolting. I just say sex scenes...urgh...no thank you...it's not fun to listen to them, if they are read by someone who sounds like your grandmother or grandfather!"

Hahahahaha! That's why I'm not a fan of Dick Hill in romance. He's a talented narrator, he just sounds a bit too old for thirty something heroes. I got used to him playing Reacher (because that's more action than anything) but in romances, I don't like him at all.

Ah, Gabriella. I'm the other way. The babyish voice that narrated 50 Shades was hard to get used to. The more seasoned narrators tend to have the experience to do the various voices.
I guess it's a matter of taste, though, and it's a shame there isn't more to your taste, since there's plenty for mine.
She says with exquisite tact.

Going back to the original part of this thread...it would seem that NO ONE has influence at Simon and Schuster; however, I recently signed up at their website to complain about McNaught's backlist not being in ebook/audio formats. They actually asked me pertinent questions about why I was at the site. They also now have a FB page. It seems as if they are trying to get into the 21st century, albeit a bit slowly lol.

I think authors who have a really good contract relationship with their publisher have some control over their narrations. But the majority seem to have no control, unless they are self publishing.

Sales seem to be the one area we do have control over. So reviews would be very important and returning those books that are just too awful to handle.

D.G. - I'm not a fan of Dick Hill either, at least in romance.

Krissie - it's okay that you like older voices. We are all different and as you've said it's a matter of taste, as well as likes and dislikes. I think it sounds off, if an older narrator reads books with younger characters. They don't sound vibrant, agile or vivacious, they just sound calm, tame and well, just old. So for me that doesn't fit and ruins the audio book...sorry.
Unfortunately this happens a lot with historical romance, mm romance and sometimes YA.

I just think that publishers need to cast their narrators with a bigger focus on the books content, such as the characters age or if it's a fast paced or slow story, not just because some of their narrators are well established and experienced.

Actually we should get back to the original point, which is -- I requested Xe Sands for my historicals since she'd done such a brilliant job on the ICE books (wish to God she'd done them all -- there are different narrators for each of the first four). I had to work a bit (they wanted a British narrator) and Xe and I talked privately about it, discussing it. So yes, a writer can influence who narrates. I asked for Xe when Tantor bought On Thin Ice and they said yes, thank God.
A lot of writers aren't that conversant with who's out there narrating. But they're getting more educated as time goes on.

Gabriella wrote: "I think it sounds off, if an older narrator reads books with younger characters. They don't sound vibrant, agile or vivacious, they just sound calm, tame and well, just old. So for me that doesn't fit and ruins the audio book...sorry."

Can you tell us which narrations you're talking about? I think most narrators can sound agile or vivacious but it all depends on the writing. As theatre actors say 'if it's not on the page, it's not in the stage' so if a character is not described as vivacious in a novel (even by implication), I don't think the narrator should sound chipper just because the person is young. I know plenty of tame young people. :)

I think the best way is to vote with your almighty dollar. If you don't like the narration complain about it, write the author, demand your money back from the publisher. If the product is substandard and you say nothing it never gets any better. If publishers are like politicians then they assume that for every person who writes a letter that represents 1,000 to 5,000 people who feel the same way but don't say thing then your voice is louder than you think it is.

I have strong feelings about the narration of the Game of Thrones books so I'm sharing them:


Because GRRM is taking so f-ing long to write the song of ice and fire series (the cuss word is appropriate here IMHO), I'm pretty sure Roy Dotrice (god bless him) who is 90 will not finish the series even though Martin promised him he would. So in my own head I've started recasting the POVs (this is a fantasy project so I have different narrators for different POVs) and I want Xe Sands to do the Dany scenes because she's great with accents and I want Tavia Gilbert to do the Arya scenes or Sansa scenes.
I could imagine Kristen Potter or Karen White doing Cersi's POV.
If they don't get the narration right I will be unhappy and I will complain.

Amazing that for a second year in a row, we have an autobiography of a celebrity, read by the celebrity as the top audiobook. That tells you right there what's the problem with the Audies.

I do wonder about the D.G. If you look at narration solo female are, except for one, all high profile actors. Maybe it's less a reflection of true talent and a certain amount of name recognition. It's true for the Oscars so why wouldn't it be true here.

Gabriella wrote: "I've just found this thread and it seems that more than 2 years later nothing has changed. And really I'm so angry...I've just browsed through Audible looking for some new audio books and found som..."

I agree that casting a narrator who can best reflect the essence of the book is important. NA should probably be narrated by a 20 something. But take a narrator like Davina Porter, who is "older." I can't imagine anyone else doing the Outlander books. She is so versatile that she can do any age. And I would say that Rosalyn Landor has a "mature" voice, but it suits British historicals really well.

On another Romance Audio thread, we had a discussion about narrator Talmadge Ragan, who completely ruined Jo Goodman's In Want of a Wife. According to an interview on YouTube, she has a production company, and SHE picks the books that she wants to record. And seriously, this woman slurs or swallows the ends of her words. It was also noted that her narration was really boring. There have been complaints about other books that she has narrated, too.

This past year, I have actually requested specific narrators from a few of the publishers. Can't say it's ever worked but if we don't start asking, how will they know we care that much about the narrator? I say - ask - wherever you can. Return Audible books that you don't care for because of the narration.

On the younger voice issue - there are a few narrators who just sound too old now (to my ears) and it's a heartbreaker as I can think of at least three that I have absolutely loved in past books that don't work now for characters under 35 (if we're talking romance titles).

I have forced myself into the New Adult genre. There is too much going on there in the romance genre for me to ignore it. And I have happily found many titles that I truly enjoyed. I had a hard time getting used to all those young voices but I now prefer them for NA. However, if your characters are over 25 years old, I'd much rather have a seasoned (older) narrator who knows how to perform a wide variety of characters. Experience counts big.

Also, a healthy number of listeners buy according to a narrator's former work. I do - it's really hard for me to give an unknown narrator a chance. I do - I have to since I write about romance audio but I can't say the odds of success are high.

This is a fascinating discussion. I definitely agree with what Gabriella says about publishers needing to cast according to content.

I have returned the odd book to Audible, each time because of poor narration, and have said so.

I suppose one problem is that with perhaps a few exceptions where we can all agree as to the "awfulness" of a narration, one man's meat is another man's poison. There is one prolific narrator of historicals to whom I just can't listen, but reviews at Audible suggest I'm in a minority.

Also I can't help but wonder if the people who assign the work have actually read the books in question. It probably isn't practical for them to do so, but in an ideal world, they should, as it might help them to make better choices.

Ancientpeas wrote: "I do wonder about the D.G. If you look at narration solo female are, except for one, all high profile actors. Maybe it's less a reflection of true talent and a certain amount of name recognition. ..."

Definitely, Ancientpeas. I think these people are just choosing based on the fame of the celebrity and what will get them more PR. I'm sure the Billy Crystal and Tina Fey audios are good, but in an industry so prolific, how is it that only celebrity biographies seem to be winning the top award? That's ridiculous.

I have returned books also because of poor narrators. I wish Arthur's should be able to request what narrators they think can present their books the best

authors

Re. male narrators
I have written to Karen Rose asking her if she was open to having a male narrator for her future books and she said yes. After all, I buy every one of Sandra Brown's that has a male narrator - and she has several! I'd love KR's books to be narrated by a good male narrator because they have a balance of male/female POVs. The NA genre (which I tried and dislike) is female POV so far as I know, but regular Romantic Suspense tends to be equally split so a male narrator works.

There are some older romances narrated by Dick Hill and if they re-did those with a younger-sounding narrator, I'd definitely buy them! Jim Frangione is another male narrator I don't care for.

I wish we could, but I don't think so. There books by my favorite authors whose books I'd love to listen, because of the narrators I have to pass.

Really Elaine? I had never heard of him until someone got me absolutely addicted to the BDB series, and have enjoyed him a lot with that series. He isn't all that great with all female voices, but he hits those Alpha Male Va,pier voices on target.

Dawn wrote: "Really Elaine? I had never heard of him until someone got me absolutely addicted to the BDB series, and have enjoyed him a lot with that series. He isn't all that great with all female voices, but..."

Sorry, my bad!!!

I meant Richard Ferrone, not Jim Frangione. I went and checked out the BDB sample and thought, "hmm, he doesn't sound so bad here." then searched for an oldie by Jane Ann Krentz, http://www.audible.com/pd/Romance/Gra... and realized my mistake.

Ferrone has a nasal, "old" voice and though Frangione is much better, he's not one I like either.

I just saw my post...that should have been vampire lol. I will look out for the other one. I am usually not a fan of males doing romance, bug there are a few exceptions. Nicholas Boulton is one.

I'm not really a fan of Frangione either. His female voices are.. painful.

I agree that most of his female voices are bad...I think he does okay on a couple, but since most of the dialog in the BDB is the Brotherhood and/or their cohorts...I like his voices for them. I think a female would have a really hard time with them

@Caz...oh I have only returned audiobooks based on poor narration and gave said so. And, I try not yo buy those narrators again. Interestingly enough, Julie Garwood uses two of the ones I almost always dislike.

I avoid the books narrated by Sandra Burr. Her narrating is not my cup of tea.

I was just about to go back to my group read of Nora Roberts' PNR series, and noticed the narrator is Dick Hill. I agree he can bug me with some of his accents. But then I really dislike Simon Prebble and there are a lot who are fans of his, so maybe it is just personal taste.

Dawn,

You don't like male narrators because you haven't tried the magnificence that is Robert Petkoff narrating the IAD series. He's one of the best narrators doing romance out there, bar none.

And luckily, all the books are out in audio. I started listening when the second book came out in audio (the series had over 10 books already) and they came out every 3 months for like 2 years. The wait was torture!

I don't know what I'll do now that I'm all caught up because I'll have to wait a year between books!

James Marsters is also an excellent male narrator and Phil Gigante.

I do like Phil Gigante a lot. He has an amazing voice. I also like Dennis Kleinman.

Wow, this has become quite the discussion…

D.G. (post 16) – Phew, how to explain it…I didn’t mean for the narrator to sound chipper per se, just because the character is young or younger. What I meant was that a younger narrator, sounds more lively and that his/her voice comes across as more agile and vibrant. For instance…Holter Graham in contrast to Sean Barett or Simon Prebble. Leslie Bellair in contrast to Rosalyn Landor.

Julie (post 20) I love reading historical romance, but I’m so not tempted to buy any of Julia Quinn’s audio books because they are read by Rosalyn Landor. She sounds old. British yes, but old. In my opinion at least.

Lea (post 21) On the younger voices issue…Just think of how many actors and actresses are cast for roles according to their age. In 1990 Julia Roberts was cast as Pretty Woman, today she plays older mature women. Same with Meg Ryan. They are both great actresses, but romantic movies leading actresses today are younger! Like Saoirse Ronan or Lily Collins… Same with the actors.
In my opinion it’s just time for the next generation…
That doesn’t mean that the older, established narrators should retire, it just means that they have to change what they are reading…

Caz (post 22) one man's meat is another man's poison You are so right! And I think that’s what makes it so difficult for the publishers as well, because I think for every returned audio book there’s an email that tells them how much someone enjoyed the narration.
I too think, that the one who assigns the work should read the book, it would definitely help to pick the right narrator and casting the narrator according to the content would also benefit the sales.

Gabriella - Definitely different tastes. Rosalyn Landor doesn't sound old to me. :) She doesn't sound like a 20 year old either but I always find that she hits the right points of the interpretation so if she's portraying a young person, I always believe her.

But I guess we all have our pet peeves. Mine is accents. I don't like books set in Britain narrated by narrators with American accents (the only exception if one of the main characters is American.) That's an automatic no, no for me. Also, I can hear a mile away when the narrator doesn't have a good Queen's English - most of the Historicals set in Britain have aristocrats as main character so if I hear any twang, I switch to print right away.

The accent is one of the reasons why I haven't gone very far with The Winter Sea narrated by Rosalyn Landor. the American accent at the beginning is so obviously fake that it pulls me out of the story!

I am having that exact problem with Dick Hill on the Nora Roberts series I am listening to. He is trying to do Chicago, New York (both present day), old Gaelic both Scots and Irish. So Chicago is really bad, and the Scots and Irish blend too much.

I also had that problem with an audio I listened to for review...the Oregon "accent" threw me, since I am from Oregon.

I have the opposite problem with JQ's audios. The few Bridgerton books she has in audio and done by Simon Prebble and some other guy...I hate them. But I like the ones done by Rosalyn Landor.

Gabriella - I agree to a certain extent on the younger voices as stated previously. But I don't want a 22-year-old performing a heroine who is 28 or older (and many, many heroines fall in that range) and I believe we see so many younger actresses in movies and TVs because they look better. The sound of their voice is incidental when you are considering looks.

Dawn wrote: "I am having that exact problem with Dick Hill on the Nora Roberts series I am listening to. He is trying to do Chicago, New York (both present day), old Gaelic both Scots and Irish. So Chicago is r..."

Dick Hill is HORRIBLE with some accents. I started Reacher #10 and there was a British character and he was so freaking bad! I just had to stop listening.

The New York accent is mangled a lot in narrations - I live in NYC so I can tell. It probably sounds easy because it can be distinctive but some narrators are too over the top with it. The only narrator I've heard with an awesome NY accent was Scott Brick. I was very impressed.

Lea's Audiobooks wrote: "Gabriella - I agree to a certain extent on the younger voices as stated previously. But I don't want a 22-year-old performing a heroine who is 28 or older (and many, many heroines fall in that rang..."

True, Lea! There are certain young voices that sound too young much even for YA. Not every young woman has a high voice - some of those in YA and NA sound like 12-year olds.

The first romance I tried to listen to was When He Was Wicked, narrated by Simon Prebble. I thought it was so gadawful it ws embarrasing, and was stunned to discover it's considered excellent. (This was the inspiration for my old signature at the RT forums, about English people having sex... with their accents!) I also really dislike Roslyn Landor's cut-glass accent, though when she narrates Maeve Binchy, she uses a much lighter, pleasanter tone that works.

I thought I just hated to listen to British accents, but then I found Susan Dearden (?) and she's great.

I recently finished listening to The Deepest Night. The primary female narrator was fine. But the man narrating Jesse... who's 19 IIRC... well, I know just what you mean about voices sounding too old. There's nothing wrong with having a mature voice, but it's not right for the character!

I am so, so picky about narrators. Sometimes I download 4 audiobooks from the library and can't listen to one. And you can't always return them early. :-( Luckily there is now a sampling feature.

willaful wrote: "The first romance I tried to listen to was When He Was Wicked, narrated by Simon Prebble. I thought it was so gadawful it ws embarrasing, and was stunned to discover it's considered e..."

I know I mentioned Rosalyn Landor as a mature sounding narrator of historical fiction, but I gotta tell you, her upper crust male protagonists all sound like they have sticks up their @$$es. I do, however, like her other accents very much. And for me, Susan Duerden makes me crazy. She speaks so slowly and sing-songy. I really like Simon Prebble's narration of Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series, and Jo Beverley's books. He does have an older man's voice, but I don't have time to think about it because I'm sucked so thoroughly into the story.
If a narrator is really good, I will look to see what else they've done, and will often buy.
I would also add that actors don't always make good narrators. Take that, Talmadge Ragan! I'm a dog with a bone...

willaful wrote: "The first romance I tried to listen to was When He Was Wicked, narrated by Simon Prebble. I thought it was so gadawful it ws embarrasing, and was stunned to discover it's considered e..."

I really enjoyed that series by Shana Abe. The main female narrator is terrific. I don't remember much about the male one, but he was only in there for a short amount of time. I really hope she continues that series, but I haven't seen anything on her website about a new book.

I guess we have exactly the opposite tastes, Julie! Explains why there's so much variety out there. :-)

I'm very picky about narrators as well. Luckily, I listen to so many genres that I can get by with only listening to ones I like. There are many favorites: Susan Ericksen and James Marsters to name a few, that I simply don't care about. And once I put a narrator in my black list, I'll never try them again.

Wow, the responses since my last post really highlights DG's point about meat and poison.

I will not listen to any Simon Prebble narration because of his JQ narrations. Maybe it is because his females are really bad to me.

I have several Julie Garwood books on audio, and hate most of the ones done by Susan Deurdon (sp?). She emphasizes the end if EVERY word and goes so slow I want to beat my head. The others by Anne Flosnik are hit and miss for me.

I just thought it was very interesting the wide variation in peoples likes and dislikes. It must be insane as an author or publisher, trying to please everyone.