In yesterday’s Voice Over Q&A, Jeff Kafer shared tips about getting narration work in the audio book world. Today, he talks about the process of narrating an audio book and the rates.

TJP: What’s the process once you get the job?

JK: Since Podiobooks simply provides an outlet for unpublished authors to get their works out to the masses, getting the book recorded is the responsibility of the author or narrator. In my case, the books were given to me and I recorded them in my home studio in Seattle. I would also prep the ID3 tags for iTunes and FTP them to Podiobooks. The good folks there would then post the books.

TJP: What is the pay. How does it compare to other VO jobs?

JK: The pay rate really depends. Remember, these are mostly unpublished authors and for them, it’s a labor of love to get their books out. Luckily, Podiobooks is set up to allow paypal donations for individual books. The author gets the 75% of the donations and the rest goes to Podiobooks for hosting costs. I don’t believe that any of the people who run the site get paid. I’ve heard of arrangements where the author and voice talent will split their donations as compensation. Of course, being donation based, there’s no guaranteed income, so I don’t go that route. Obviously, the more popular the book, the more donations it will receive. I was paid directly by Mr. Yachnik and will also be paid by the author of this forthcoming book. Podiobooks recommends a fee of $18.75 per 1000 words (I’m working on getting that changed), but every narrator has the option to charge whatever their rate is.

TJP: What has the overall experience been like?

JK: Podiobooks has been a great experience for me. Not only as a voracious listener of audiobooks, but as a narrator. There’s a huge support network on Ning for Podiobooks authors and I see people struggling with problems that professional voice artists have learned to deal with: breathing issues, character differentiation, stamina, etc. This is where voice talent can really add value to the service. As we all know, doing audiobooks correctly is no easy feat and many authors are discovering it’s a far cry from just reading into a microphone. So the more authors who start to self-publish, the more opportunity there is for voice talent to narrate.