Bestselling Author Lisa Wingate Book Chat

We’re almost two weeks into the August round.

If you picked a group selection (The Night Swim, Happy and You Know It, and/or Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine), how is it going? Thumbs up or down?

If you moved and listened to Megan Goldin’s latest mystery, The Night Swim, please leave a review on Goodreads so we can grow our relationship with Macmillan and (fingers crossed) get access to more previews.

The week ahead:

Monday — Total your miles, active minutes, steps, or kilometers to add to our virtual walk around the world, #milesandminutes.

Our symbolic walk started in NYC and we’re just about to virtually visit our members in New Zealand.

Let’s see if we can get there this week. Every single step counts.

Tuesday — Stay tuned for the book extra for Happy and You Know It. I’ll be posting some interesting information on the vitamin and supplement industry.

Wednesday — Midweek check-in, time for a group picture! People, places, and pets of The Walking Book Club — snap a picture and share with the group for a week’s end collage.

Thursday — Based on your votes, our Healthy-Body Happy-Mind topic for the next several weeks will be focused on the science of weight loss and weight maintenance. 

Friday — Let us know how your week went. Take a minute to reflect on Cupcake Moments, the little bite-size successes, happiness, and positives occurrences received or given that deserve to be savored.

Want to get a jump on September?

Download any Lisa Wingate book. She’s joining us for our third Heart and Soul Book Chat in support of Feeding America. We ask you to make a small donation to participate.

To date, we’ve raised about $3,500 in support of The International Rescue Committee and Whitney Plantation Museum and Foundation.

As you’re probably aware, many families are facing food shortages during the pandemic. Together, we can make a difference. The Walking Book Club is good for body, mind, heart, and soul.

Mark your calendars, open dialogue on group selections begins August 23. If you’re not done and don’t want spoilers, scroll by the discussion. If you’ve completed the audiobook, this will be when we can talk freely and not worry about “letting the cat out of the bag” on plot details.

Finally, a great big thank you to Sarah Sheckells, who gave us a peek inside the world of audiobook narration. 

Here’s the final segment of our interview:

What would you like audiobook fans to know about narrator/narration? 

There is so much that goes on behind the scenes when bringing a book to audio format. On average, it can take upwards of six hours of work — and quite often more — to generate one hour of finished (retail-ready) audio. There is a whole prepping process that occurs before narration wherein a narrator will read the book, develop character profiles, and/or research unfamiliar terms or pronunciations. Some of us mark up our scripts with notes or create spreadsheets to refer to while recording.

Fiction and nonfiction can be equally as challenging, as both require the ability to engage the listener in a manner that conveys a full familiarity with the text and yet does not offer unintended spoilers or a disconnect from the material. It can take quite a bit of energy to maintain a consistent sound that keeps things fresh and inviting to the listener. 

While some narrators will handle the technical aspects of recording and producing an audiobook, many of us (myself included) will hire someone to proof, edit, and master (prepare the audio for retail) our recordings. These partners are especially helpful when multiple narrators are working in different locations. The sound of each studio recording must be matched to offer listeners a seamless experience. 

Productions recorded in large commercial studios may also include a director and sound engineers along with a narrator. 

Any funny/interesting anecdotes? 

When I receive what we call “pickups” (passages we need to redo due to errors) from my editing partner, there is almost always some pronunciation gaffe or word flub to laugh over.

One novel I worked on had several French and Hebrew phrases; I somehow managed to get them all right, but flubbed up common everyday terms instead. Narrators will frequently bemoan authors’ use of terms such as “clasped” or “grasped” — there are so many words that are a challenge to articulate (I have a grudge with the term “texts”) when enunciation counts! 

P.S. Sara is a huge fan of walking while listening with her boxer, Marvin. 

Until next week,