Findaway Voices - Hiring A Voice Actor or Narrator for Audiobook Publishing

About this video

In this interview from Findaway Voices’ headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, Dale speaks with lead casting director Ren Kraus, described as the service’s ‘audio matchmaker’ who pairs rights holders with narrators. Kraus explains how narrators are vetted: they submit samples that the post-production team checks against Findaway’s specifications, plus an extensive questionnaire covering languages, accents, performance experience, and awards, and the team verifies claimed accents against the samples. She says iPhone recordings would not meet those specs. Narrators set their own per-finished-hour rates, which update live on casting lists and are generally not negotiable, because rates reflect equipment, outsourced post-production, and training. The hiring process is: create a project and complete a casting questionnaire (age range, accents, tone), receive a curated list of typically six to ten narrators, request auditions using your own text, and assign a narrator, with Findaway coordinating timing and contracts on the site. Auditions should be 500-700 words (about three to five minutes), ideally a dialogue- or character-specific scene; a full 15-minute extended sample follows before production. On cost, she argues audiobooks are worth it for indie authors — listeners may consume two to three books a week — cites rates from around $150 per finished hour up to $250-$300 or more for SAG-AFTRA narrators, and describes Voices Share, which halves the upfront cost in exchange for the narrator taking 20% of royalties for ten years.

Key takeaways

• Findaway Voices vets narrators through spec-checked samples and a detailed questionnaire on languages, accents, experience, and awards — phone recordings do not qualify
• Narrators control their own per-finished-hour rates, rates update live, and negotiation is generally not allowed on the platform
• Hiring flow: submit a project and casting questionnaire, get a list of about six to ten matched narrators, request auditions, then assign one narrator
• Keep audition scripts to 500-700 words (three to five minutes), choosing dialogue- or character-specific material; a 15-minute extended sample comes before full production
• Voices Share can halve the upfront narration cost, with an opted-in narrator taking 20% of royalties for ten years instead of the other half of the fee

Episode details: published November 2, 2019 · 11:41 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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