Auditioning for an audiobook

Just spent a fascinating few days listening to auditions sent in by prospective narrators for an audiobook version of my book SPEECH! How Language Made Us Human -- which I hope will be released in mid-December (just in time for Xmas 😉). I've not done this before, and was astonished both at the range of voices sent in and the very different ways they chose to read the script I'd chosen for the audition -- the introduction to the book. As a writer, you inevitably hear your own voice as you write, so it's a rather odd experience to hear your words being read aloud not just in another voice, but even in a different persona. It must be even more extraordinary for a playwright or a scriptwriter, as their words are not only translated into different voices, but are literally brought to life in ways they may never have imagined. 

They say a work of art no longer belongs to the artist once it is finished, because people will interpret it in different ways. It certainly felt like that listening to all the voices, and realising that my choice would hugely affect the way the book is heard and listened to. I even auditioned myself at one point, just to see how that would sound -- but I quickly discovered that (like most things) there's a huge difference between an amateur and a professional. And that's just the reading part. To actually record the whole text cleanly, with no mistakes, no stutters -- no breathing sounds or other unwanted noises -- is an art in itself, one that can take many hours for each finished hour once you've done all the editing, proofing and mastering. So I'm happy to leave that to a professional, even if it doesn't really sound like me. To listen to my book read by a smooth, clear resonant voice (thank you, Mike Fraser!) is a much pleasanter experience than hearing me fumble through it...