Book Journey

I admit, there are not a lot of narrators that I recognize by name on the audiobooks I listen to. Xe Sands is the exception.  Xe Sands is also (so far) the only narrator that I have looked up and picked audio not by book title or author… but because she narrated it.  Please welcome to Book Journey, Xe Sands. ~Sheila

Hello!  My name is Xe Sands.  I started narrating in 2010 and just passed the 100 audio books I have narrated mark.  Oh gracious!  Let’s cull that a bit.  LOL!

Most recently I have worked on literacy and historical fiction including Wonderland, by Stacey d’Erasmo, Euphoria (with Simon Vance) by Lily King, The Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland, and The Witch of Truro (from Blackbird House) by Alice Hoffman.  I have also just completed Vision in Velvet (6th in the Witchcraft Mystery Series) by Juliet Blackwell, Motherless Child by Glen Hirsberg, Something Sweeter by Candis Terry, Forged by Jacqueline Frank, and Never Marry a Viscount by Anne Stuart.

I do also enjoy listening to audio.  I spent years listening to them with my daughter during our morning/afternoon commute.  These days I find them especially wonderful to listen to while I am doing something I *really* don’t want to do, such as dishes, exercise, folding laundry… well, CHORES of any type actually.  🙂  I find them incredibly distracting in the very best of ways.  There have even been times that I’ve dragged a chore out just so I could finish a particularity well-delivered scene.

I find audiobooks incredibly distracting in the very best of ways. ~Xe Sand

My topic today – is to tell you what I think a listener should pay attention to when choosing audiobooks.

First, I think a listener should figure out what type of storytelling they enjoy.  Do they enjoy a full storytelling experience, with differentiated characters and appropriate rise and fall in emotion, or an “audio theater” type of experience with sound effects and different voice actors, or perhaps a more straight forward read, naturally delivered, but with little variation of voice?

Then, within that preferred type of experience, they might think about how enunciation is to them vs. a very natural delivery, whether or not they can tolerate shifts in volume, etc.  For example, Neil Gaiman, one of my favorite authors and narrators, tends to be a fairly quiet and intimate narrator, and that suits his books perfectly.  So although I might fiddle with my volume control while listening, I wouldn’t have him deliver it any other way – it’s perfect for the material.  However, having to tweak the volume can prove frustrating for some listeners and adversely affect their experience.  Good to know what you can tolerate going in.

Sometimes it is also helpful to consider whether the material is going to be appropriately served in audio.  There are books that simply work better in print, or that lose something in the translation to audio…  books with extensive charts, graphs, etc., or those with very clever or entertaining illustrations or maps.  Those types of books are excellent candidates for a tandem read – having the print version handy for reference as you move through the audio.

Next, listen to the first chapter (or at the very least the full sample available – better yet, several) to get a feel for the delivery style and cadence of the narrator.  Are you able to sink into the story and essentially forget the narrator, as a separate entity?  Do you find their voice pleasing (you’ll be spending a good number of hours with it!).  If yes, then it is a good sign that you’re in for an enjoyable ride.  Basically you are listening for a delivery that melts away and leaves just you and the story.

Basically you are listening for a delivery that melts away and leaves just you and the story. 

If you have a few narrators who have led you into amazing journey’s in the past, you can always start to look for books based on the narrator.

Sheila asked me what makes for good (and great) listening.  That’s such a tough question to answer in a broad sense because each listener brings their own preferences to the listening experience.  So I’ll just offer what makes a listen compelling to me.  Here’s what I’m looking for:  a natural delivery.  I want narration that makes me believe that if I closed my eyes, it would be just me and the narrator, sitting somewhere, them telling me this really odd/cool/weird/amazing series of events that happened.  Just that.  I don’t give a fig about their enunciation – I just want them to sound like they do when they’re talking to me in person, telling me a story, with dialog that sounds as if I was in the room when it was originally exchanged, and with emotion that feels real to me, as if I was witnessing the scene myself.  That’s what makes great listening for me – natural, connected to the emotion, PRESENT.  The rest, such as enunciation or consistent volume, etc?  That can all go by the wayside if the storytelling is solid and they are truly present with it.