Welcome Package for Rights Holders New to RSVA

 Thank you for choosing Robin Siegerman, Voice Actor (RSVA) to narrate your book! As the Rights Holder (RH), whether you are the author or the publisher, this book has been a labor of love and I view this as a collaboration. It’s important that you know my process and procedures, so you know what to expect and you can feel comfortable that your book is in the hands of a professional who will take as much care in narration as you took in writing and publishing it.

The Offer

Once you have made an offer for narration, please BE EXPLICIT IN DESCRIBING THE CONTENT OF THE BOOK. Advise if there is anything in the book that someone might find objectionable such as racism, sexism, animal cruelty, an explicit rape scene, child abuse, etc.  Before I spend time reading the book and prepping the manuscript, I will then be able to make an informed decision about whether I am the right narrator for your book. It is helpful if you rate the graphic content on a scale from 1 – 10, with 1 being least.  My primary concern is to turn out a product of which we will both be proud, and if I encounter content that I was not expecting, I may not be able to do that.

I will skim your manuscript before we sign the contract, again, to ensure I feel I am the best fit to do justice to your book. If the manuscript has not been adequately copy edited and has many typos and grammar mistakes that will make it difficult to follow the plot, it is not ready for narration. In that case, I would be happy to recommend a copy editor before we proceed.

Compensation

If we have agreed on a Per Finished Hour (PFH) fee, each distribution platform has their own contract that outlines how and when that amount is paid. If we are working outside one of the major platforms, half the estimated amount is payable before I begin narration, with the balance due when the actual finished hours have been calculated before I click “I’m done”. When I am paid in full, the files are released.

If we have agreed on a hybrid deal, I will share my engineer’s invoice with you so that you are fully aware of the final amount based on the actual finished length of the book. Since I send each completed chapter to the engineer as I complete it, a 50% deposit of the estimated amount is due before I start narration, with the balance due on presentation of the final invoice prior to the upload of the edited and mastered chapters to ACX, or whichever other platform we are working with.

Preparation Phase

Once I have the manuscript, I read it through twice before beginning narration. The first time is to understand the story arc and get a feel for the characters and their interactions.  The second time is to mark it up with my notes and any research I’ve had to do for pronunciations, foreign languages, cultural or historical context as well as character traits/peculiarities/mannerisms which will affect my narration choices.  When researching pronunciations, if I am not able to find them, or if my research turns up conflicting variations, I will e-mail you with a list of words after I have finished the first read-through. Please respond promptly so I can keep the process momentum going.

I will also mark up the script with any grammatical or typographical errors I find.  This is assuming the errors are only occasional.  I would be happy to send you a copy of my marked up script after the narration is complete, so you can make any copy corrections that may be required. If you would like me to produce a list of the errors, my editing fee is $250/finished hour with a $250 minimum.

Before I start to narrate, I will produce a 15 minute (more or less) sample for your approval.  If there are any parts that are particularly important for you to hear to be able to issue your approval, now is the time to let me know that, so I can prepare a sample that will provide what you need to hear. This sample will include examples of the artistic direction I plan to use, any dialects, accents and character vocal quality, which includes pitch and timber, as well as overall editing and mastering which will be representative of the final product.  To ensure I cover all the characters required, the sample may not be one continuous piece of the text.

It is important that you pay close attention to this 15 minute sample. This is our only opportunity to fix artistic issues.  The nature of the way we undertake this process, makes it unreasonable to give “line direction” for any particular part of the script after the 15 minute sample has been approved.  If you are concerned about a particular characterization from the outset, please let me know what you have in mind and we can review it before the narration begins. Once the book is done, changing a character’s voice would involve re-recording much of, if not the whole book as well as re-engineering.  Since I work with an engineer to professionally proof, edit and master the book, when doing a Royalty Share book, this is a hard cost and unless I have made an error that was specified in the text or in the notes after the 15 minute sample, I can not make artistic changes once the book is complete.  An average 8 hour book can take as much as six to eight working hours to produce each finished hour. So it’s vital that the 15 minute sample be the sole approval mechanism for the RH.

The Narration

If you have a particular excerpt you would like me to read for the retail sample, please let me know during the 15 minute approval process.

There will be breath sounds in the narration. I only edit out the breaths that I feel interrupt the pacing and intent of the characters and soften the ones that interfere with the mood or flow. An audio book without breaths becomes extremely distracting for the listener, and many people actually either hold their breath or gasp for air while listening! Breathing is a normal part of life, so it must also be part of the audio book.

I will not be uploading the book chapter by chapter as I narrate. You will receive the finished files for the entire book after it has been edited and mastered and the balance of the hybrid invoice has been paid. I have found that trying to analyze the narration when in progress, leads to second-guessing artistic choices and causes a major interruption to the flow of the work.  Since I am often working on more than one book at a time and I need to respect everyone’s deadlines, I develop a schedule of narration and engineering which can not be interrupted once it is in progress, unless unforeseen circumstances arise such as acts of God, extreme illness affecting vocal health, death or medical emergency in my family or that of my editor.  These are the unforeseeable circumstances which may delay a deadline. If any of these should unfortunately occur, I will alert you as soon as I can and will appreciate your understanding for a potentially delayed finished product. This will be communicated by e-mail as well as the ACX platform (or whichever platform we are using) to ensure your agreement to a deadline extension has been properly documented, as the ACX contract requires.

Once the audio book is complete, I will upload all the chapters, the opening and closing credits and retail sample for your approval.  As the RH, you do have the absolute right to request changes if I have made an error, either in pronunciation or word order (other than fixing copy mistakes). The narration is proofed twice for errors, so this is a rare occurrence, but it does occasionally happen.  I will provide you with an editor’s spreadsheet to document changes and the information I need to efficiently do the work is:

1. The Chapter number

2. The page number

3. The audio time stamp

4. A few words before the error

5. And the nature of the error i.e. Added the word “and” or missed the word “and” or “mispronounced x word”

Corrections in the body of an e-mail will not suffice because they can be open to interpretation and can lead to more mistakes.  If I find minor grammatical or copy errors in the text, I will automatically correct them in the narration. If there are any grammatical issues that are passable but not absolutely correct, I will narrate them as written. If there are any copy or grammar issues that are debatable, I will consult with you before I narrate them.

If, during the narration, I have questions that were not resolved during the preparation phase, I will contact you by e-mail.  Please try to respond promptly, since a delay in your response may delay the progress of the narration, for which I can not be held responsible.

Characterization

Regarding my interpretation of the material, please remember, you are very close to this book.  You may “hear” the characters in your head, but I am unlikely to ever be able to match that exactly, because as an experience actor, I bring my own artistic vision and interpretation to the project that will lend dimension and richness to the work, but which will likely differ from yours.  I will make artistic choices with pacing, emphasis and characterization that you may not have been expecting.  This is all part of the process and no two artists, or listeners, will interpret the material in the same way. The best thing to do in this case is “sleep on it” and re-listen to an excerpt the following day. You will likely find that it has grown on you!

PLEASE NOTE: If you have song lyrics in your book from an established piece of music from any genre, unless they are in the public domain, I can not sing them or even recite them unless you have purchased the digital rights to the lyrics and tune. If you haven’t purchased those rights, you will need to remove them from your e-book and the manuscript for narration, as the narrator as well as the author, become liable for copyright infringement. This also applies to book excerpts, TV or film quotes or poems.

If you anticipate this book may be one of a series, please be sure to let me know which characters are likely to be in subsequent books.  This may affect my narration choices. I always make character audio files for reference throughout the narration, but I will be sure to keep the ones that will appear in future books after the current one is complete.

If you would like me to narrate subsequent books in the series, before I am able to commit to that, I will have to ensure that sales of the first book have covered or look like they will cover, my costs. If not, I would be happy to narrate subsequent books at my per finished hour rate of $250 USD.

I’m very excited to work on your book and look forward to a positive collaboration and working relationship! Let’s go make an audiobook!

Robin Siegerman, Voice Actor