The https://www.ACX.com/ audiobook market is a great thing. Audiobooks used to cost a small fortune to produce and distribute. They were just for the big publishers. But the advent of the internet changed all of that, of course. Now, pretty much anyone can get a professional audiobook published online for...nothing.
Royalty sharing allows you to split audiobook profits 50/50 with the narrator. Or you can hire actual Hollywood voice actors for the cost of a few hundred dollars, in many cases.
Funny story: I felt bad about the great people that took profit sharing jobs for me, when I realized my books were probably never going anywhere. So I tried to strike a few deals for paid narrators. Every single deal like that fell apart. It turns out that some of them, at least, are get rich quick opportunists who bail when you start sending them extensive lists of edits.
Hmmmm.
But, as luck would have it, I had a few narrators that seemed to really get my work, and were happy to do royalty share agreements. And they pretty much turned out to be great audiobooks. The few minor deficiencies were all on my part. Don't expect someone to necessarily know how to pronounce 'Nyarlhotep' or something without coaching. At the very least, be sure and check every second of every audiobook before publishing...no matter how in love with the narrator you are.
Having said all of that, here are four narrators I would highly recommend, work with again, and even pay upfront for narration services.
Tom Rockwell (Zombie Killa - https://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Killa/dp/B00FW1Q15A)
Tom is a comedian/funny songwriter/sometimes nerd rapper, so it was entirely fitting that he narrate ZK, which is full of real world people that we both know. He's a long-time devotee of Dr. Demento, and works tirelessly on FUMP (http://www.thefump.com/), the Funny Music Project. He's just great to listen to, enthusiastic, and an all-around great guy. If your book is humor based, I would check out Tom first.
Shandon Loring - (Six Stories Short & Sweet - https://www.amazon.com/Six-Stories-Short-Sweet/dp/B009AFJ3KE/, Poetry: A Love Story - https://www.amazon.com/Poetry-A-Love-Story/dp/B00B0HYNKK/, Six More Short Stories - https://www.amazon.com/Six-More-Short-Stories-Sweet/dp/B00BXQ7JLS/)
Shandon is also a great guy, and an early supporter of mine. He's the master of the southern drawl, and can read with a good deal of emotion. That's why he works so well on my poetry book and romantic short stories. His delivery of Big Top, by far my most popular short story of all time, is a big reason why it was so well-received. He's super supportive, and great to work with.
Kenneth Lee - (Hurricane Regina - https://www.amazon.com/Hurricane-Regina/dp/B00AU5SDNQ/)
Just wow. The amount of thought and work that Ken put into Hurricane Regina boggles my mind. HR is an old school Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel, and required someone who fit that vein of writing. He delivered in spades. Damn if he doesn't make me feel like a decent writer. If you like Clive Cussler, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, this is the voice of that style of writing. But, better yet, not only did he nail the hell out of this novel as a narrator, he actually looked up The Sugarcubes' "Hit" and sang the lyrics correctly, all on his own. I love this guy.
Molly Elston - (Perfect Me - https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Me-Perfection-Labs/dp/B00BSX9CJI/)
Oh. My. God. Perfect Me is my Americanized tribute to Douglas Adams, whom I grew up reading. Turns out, people were terribly offended that I would dare even make reference to his universe. But the first second I heard Molly's audition, I was sold. British! Her accent is so lovely, and her wit so dry, she transformed my novella into a fairly spectacular audiobook. I sincerely hope to work with her again on the sequel, no matter the cost. She's just that good. I would propose to her, provided my wife is okay with that...
So, there you have it. Four incredible narrators, and all I had to do was bleed onto some paper. Now that I have a bit of crypto-investment money, I plan on sending them each a little bonus this year for the work they did, all for some royalties that really didn't amount to much. But, by all means, if you have a narration project in mind, consider these four. They're probably the brightest point in my career as an author.
