Can I turn this 'talent' into a part-time gig?

[Noreen Claire]

I took my kids to the Museum of Science on Monday. While I was reading the descriptions of several displays to my younger two boys, a woman approached us and said, "Wow. I thought that was a recording! Was that you reading? It sounded so professional!" I muttered something about reading lots of books so I've had lots of practice. She pushed her stroller away while repeating, "That sounded so professional. I thought it was a recording!"

Can I get a part-time gig somewhere reading the display captions in a museum? Or audiobooks? Or something? How does one even try to find out if this is a possibility? I will eventually go back to teaching and send the kids back to school, but in the meantime I wouldn't mind bringing in some extra cash!

[MercyA]

Maybe try audible.com?

Voice Talent
If you're interested in becoming an audiobook narrator, please email readers@audible.com and include:

• Two-minute MP3 clip of your audiobook narration (i.e., not commercials or radio demos)
• List of books you've narrated, if any. Indicate which, if any, are being sold on Audible.com
• Link to your website, if available
• Contact information including the city and state where you're located

[MercyA]

Oh! Read this: https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/make-money/voice-over-jobs-narrating-audiobooks/

Excerpt: "Enter Amazon’s Audiobook Creative Exchange (ACX), which connects audiobook narrators with books to narrate."

And one more link to try: www.voices.com/jobs/audiobooks

Edited February 27, 2020 by MercyA

[Noreen Claire]

Thank you, @MercyA! I'll check those links out!

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Thinking outside the box here.... I'm visually impaired and would KILL to have audioguides available at more museums, even if it's just reading the printed descriptions.  When my brother was in college, he worked for some office that read all sorts of stuff for visually disabled students of all ages.  So they'd read textbooks, novels, you name it, whatever the curriculum called for.  They would read, describe any illustrations, etc.  So maybe you can look to see if your state's disability services has an department like that. 

 

[catz]

There are agencies that specialize in voice talent you could probably sign on with one and that might open opportunities.  I know a couple people that do get called for voice work this way.

Edited February 27, 2020 by FuzzyCatz

[Farrar]

Yes, you can read professionally. There's a former homeschool dad I kind of know who makes his primary living this way. He has a studio in his home and reads audiobooks. I know he works for the Library of Congress, which does recordings for the blind as a government service and they often read books that don't get traditional audiobook versions as well as books where the audiobook version has some issue (I think maybe it's a license thing? Or maybe it's the way the book is done doesn't meet their standards?). Anyway, that's another place to consider work.

If you wanted practice and to build up a bit of a resume, you might be able to do it as a volunteer first - there are local foundations for the blind that read the newspaper every day and they usually need readers. My dh does this once a week. He was required to pass a reading test and train with the equipment before he could start. So that might be a good way into it.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

LibraVox is a worldwide organization of volunteers who read books in the public domain. You can read a whole book or just a chapter here and there.  There's a website that connects readers with books they're interested in reading. It's not a paid gig, but it would give you practice.

libravox.org

[lmrich]

Look into voice overs. My dd is working with a client who want to start a talent agency for just voice over talent. Look around and see what is out there.. 

 

 

[Katy]

There are tons of videos on YouTube of instructions on how to do audiobook narration.  I'd start there.

[plansrme]

I think maybe I've read on here about someone who has a gig as a reader for visually-impaired college students.  Or did I make that up?

[Laura Corin]

For what it's worth, my friend who is an actor who specialises these days in reading audio books, started off recording texts for a charity for the visually impaired.  Reading longer texts is quite a skill in itself and he got lots of good practice that way, as well as providing a service.

[Jenny in Florida]

I'm an instructional designer with a company that produces eLearning courses. We use independent contractors to do the narration for all of our stuff. The primary guy we use is someone the now-ex VP apparently found years ago on upwork.com. I'm sure it's tough to get noticed and get your first few gigs, but it might be worth exploring. Seems like a low-stress way to test the waters.