C is for Choosing a Narrator

Paula has had to make an important choice!

Since early December, my publisher has been sending me ‘auditions’ for possible narrators for an audio book of ‘Irish Inheritance’ (and eventually the other two books in my ‘Irish’ series too). It has been fascinating listening to the different voices, and also the different interpretations of one of the scenes in my story.

The scene my publisher chose for the audition required an American accent for the hero, and a British accent for the heroine. One ‘British’ accent reduced me to giggles as my heroine sounded more like the Queen than an ordinary British 26-year old, and another narrator gave the heroine a really high-pitched voice, almost squeaky!

In the end, out of all the auditions, we managed to select two possibles, but I said I would like to hear how they each did an Irish accent before making a final decision. I’ve heard both of the second auditions in the past 24 hours, this time a scene with the Irish lawyer as well as the hero and heroine. The first was very ‘vaguely’ Irish – just a slight hint of an accent, but not really enough to define the speaker as Irish. The second audition which I received this afternoon? Well, that was the loud ‘Yes!’ from me and an air punch! The Irish accent was a real delight – not too strong, but with an unmistakable Irish intonation and vowel sounds.

So now it is ‘all systems go’ as my publisher gives the contract for ‘Irish Inheritance’ to the one with the better Irish accent – and also the contract for ‘Changing the Future’ to the other narrator (as there are no Irish accents in that story!).

I’m not sure yet when the audio books will be available – but I’m already so excited about this new opportunity for my books to reach a wider audience!