Ink, Coffee, and Making Reading a Habit Again
Samuel admits he didn’t read the assigned book and uses this short episode to tackle a bigger issue: the decline of reading in modern life. Referencing a Corbett Report video, he explores how phones and short-form content have replaced visible, social reading.
As promised in the episode, here is the link to the Corbett Report episode I talked about. I encourage you to give it a listen and subscribe to his show.
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I hear you, Samuel, even I, a want-to-be writer, read less each year. I do have a substantial library of audiobooks, though. When I jump in my vehicle to run errands, go to the gym, or especially when heading down the highway, Audible is on. It’s expensive to produce an audiobook; the top narrators charge $200 to $400 per finished hour. An 80,000-word book could cost 2 to 4 thousand. AI is getting better, but it’s not as good as a professional narrator. And then, you have the situation of displacing humans. Oh boy, that’s for another day. Keep up the good work and see you soon.
Look for people just getting started in voice work. I have heard that you can find people who what to get their foot in the door, and who have a good voice, that will charge lower rates because they are not a well known name or quantity. It helps them out by getting them started and helps you out by provided that voice you need.
The problem is that people look for the celebrity style voices, and those are the ones that charge the most. But if you can find some college drama student, who wants to start somewhere for no other reason than to begin building a portfolio, it might work out and you might build a relationship that spans multiple books and builds both your careers!