As I was beginning my voice-over career, I couldn’t help but wonder, “What type of voice acting would I be most successful at?” We all have strengths and weaknesses as voice actors, what were mine and where would they lead?
Well, it turns out that narrating children’s books is a great fit for me. Considering my background in live theatre, stage performance, and working with kids, I guess it should come as no surprise.
Oh, and also, I love it! So, here I am.
Why I Enjoy Narrating Children’s Books
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t know of anything more satisfying than entertaining and enlightening children. Narrating children’s books, I get to do both.
The importance of the job impresses me. Books were important to me as a kid, and they were important to me as a parent. Books are part of how we introduce new humans into our cultures. It’s an important mission, and I take it very seriously.
Additionally, this genre allows me to really lean into my background as an educator, a performer, and a parent
It requires a broad, performative acting style that comes naturally to me, and it’s a fun break from all of the “conversational read” work we do.
The Upsides of Children’s Book Narration
Is this a genre of voice-over that you should consider for yourself? I’m happy to talk about the why – and the why-not, and let you decide if this is a path you might be interested in.
First of all, it’s satisfying and fun. So many of us get into voice-over wanting to “do voices” Narrating children’s books certainly can scratch that itch. You’ll be taking children on adventures, teaching them about STEM and social skills, and sharing the world with them. It’s really rewarding.
Additionally, there’s a lot of room for you in this market. There are so many children’s books being published right now, most of them by the authors themselves, that there’s just a lot of opportunity. There are Facebook groups just chock-a-block full of kid’s book authors looking for new ways to get their books in front of kids.
It’s an underserved market in our industry, as well. You won’t even see “Children’s Book Narration” listed in the GVAA Rate Guide, for example. It’s a great place to carve out a little space for yourself.
And finally, rates for producing children’s books are quite a bit better than for traditional audiobooks. Instead of a Per Finished Hour rate, you’ll be looking for a rate per 150 words. As I mentioned, the GVAA Rate Guide doesn’t list a rate for it yet – but at the low end, it’s usually in a range similar to e-Learning.
Why You Might Want To Avoid It
Though it’s a market very open for growth, it can be hard to find the work. There isn’t an open platform that specializes in kid’s books, and the exchange at ACX really isn’t a good fit.
There’s a lot of market education that needs to be done, as well. Traditional authors understand that having an audiobook version of their book is critical, but, kid’s book authors don’t seem to have gotten the memo. Or, they simply don’t understand the benefits of having an audio version.
We’re doing a lot at As I was beginning my voice-over career, I couldn’t help but wonder, “What type of voice acting would I be most successful at?” We all have strengths and weaknesses as voice actors, what were mine and where would they lead?
Well, it turns out that narrating children’s books is a great fit for me. Considering my background in live theatre, stage performance, and working with kids, I guess it should come as no surprise.
Oh, and also, I love it! So, here I am.
Why I Enjoy Narrating Children’s Books
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t know of anything more satisfying than entertaining and enlightening children. Narrating children’s books, I get to do both.
The importance of the job impresses me. Books were important to me as a kid, and they were important to me as a parent. Books are part of how we introduce new humans into our cultures. It’s an important mission, and I take it very seriously.
Additionally, this genre allows me to really lean into my background as an educator, a performer, and a parent
It requires a broad, performative acting style that comes naturally to me, and it’s a fun break from all of the “conversational read” work we do.
The Upsides of Children’s Book Narration
Is this a genre of voice-over that you should consider for yourself? I’m happy to talk about the why – and the why-not, and let you decide if this is a path you might be interested in.
First of all, it’s satisfying and fun. So many of us get into voice-over wanting to “do voices” Narrating children’s books certainly can scratch that itch. You’ll be taking children on adventures, teaching them about STEM and social skills, and sharing the world with them. It’s really rewarding.
Additionally, there’s a lot of room for you in this market. There are so many children’s books being published right now, most of them by the authors themselves, that there’s just a lot of opportunity. There are Facebook groups just chock-a-block full of kid’s book authors looking for new ways to get their books in front of kids.
It’s an underserved market in our industry, as well. You won’t even see “Children’s Book Narration” listed in the GVAA Rate Guide, for example. It’s a great place to carve out a little space for yourself.
And finally, rates for producing children’s books are quite a bit better than for traditional audiobooks. Instead of a Per Finished Hour rate, you’ll be looking for a rate per 150 words. As I mentioned, the GVAA Rate Guide doesn’t list a rate for it yet – but at the low end, it’s usually in a range similar to e-Learning.
Why You Might Want To Avoid It
Though it’s a market very open for growth, it can be hard to find the work. There isn’t an open platform that specializes in kid’s books, and the exchange at ACX really isn’t a good fit.
There’s a lot of market education that needs to be done, as well. Traditional authors understand that having an audiobook version of their book is critical, but, kid’s book authors don’t seem to have gotten the memo. Or, they simply don’t understand the benefits of having an audio version.
We’re doing a lot at KidsBookNarration.com (which I run) to educate the market, but anytime you have to create a new market, it’s going to be a challenge.
This is a genre that is challenging technically, as well: you have to be able to nail your ACX specs, and have pristine audio. Developing these skills can be a real challenge.
If you’re already narrating audiobooks, or if you intend to, then this is something you’re going to have in hand, anyway. But, I’m not joking around. If you are interested in narrating kid’s books, get the ACX specs down, and make sure your booth sounds amazing.
Finally, you’ll need to learn your DAW really well. More than most other genres of voice-over, you are going to have to act as a sound designer. Adding background music, and sound effects is just a part of the job for most books. This is outside of what most voice-over professionals are ever expected to know, but you’re going to have to learn. And you’ll want to be really good at it.
Performing Children’s Book Narration
Let’s talk about the performance style a little bit, as it’s unique in the world of voice-over. I’ve noted above that that’s broader, and more performative than other genres. It’s less conversational, for sure. That may sound easier, but it’s deceiving.
Performing children’s narration still has to be grounded in reality, and must relate to the internal emotional life of the characters. It’s fun to do silly voices, for sure. But to perform silly voices that come from a place of honesty, and spring from the core of the silly characters – that’s a challenge.
I listen to demos that folks submit to join our roster. The question I always end up asking myself is, “Are they telling the story, or are they living the story? Are they outside of the story reading the words, or are they living in the world of the story, sharing it from their heart?”
I can hear it. And If I can hear it, the kids can hear it. Children are the most discerning, insightful and honest audience you will ever perform for. They know when they are listening to insincerity, and will quickly tune it out.
If you want to read books to kids, that’s fantastic! Start a YouTube channel and go for it. But if you want to be a professional narrator producing audiobooks for kids, put as much thought as you can into the performance.
Finding Work
So, how do you find work, if you want to pursue children’s book narration?
As I mentioned earlier, finding work can be tricky. Authors and publishers often aren’t aware of the benefits of having an audio version of their book.
But they all want one thing: to sell more of their books.
So I’ve found that reaching out to authors and connecting with them directly is a great approach.
Explain to them why you think their book would make a great audiobook, and how having an audiobook version may open up new sales opportunities for them. Then share a link to a landing page of your website, tuned to show off your services as a kid’s audiobook producer. On that page, share samples, a demo, reviews of previous work, a list of audiobooks you’ve produced with links to them on Audible – anything you can do to show off your work.
Speaking of a demo – you’ll want a well-produced genre-specific demo. You aren’t going to use your commercial demo for this. You’ll want a high-quality professionally produced children’s book narration demo, with background music and sound effects, to best showcase what you can really do.
Narrating children’s books is a rewarding genre of voice acting, and could be a great addition to the types of voice-over work you do. It’s certainly challenging – both technically and in performance – but the rewards are well worth it, and you’ll never perform for a more important audience. (which I run) to educate the market, but anytime you have to create a new market, it’s going to be a challenge.
This is a genre that is challenging technically, as well: you have to be able to nail your ACX specs, and have pristine audio. Developing these skills can be a real challenge.
If you’re already narrating audiobooks, or if you intend to, then this is something you’re going to have in hand, anyway. But, I’m not joking around. If you are interested in narrating kid’s books, get the ACX specs down, and make sure your booth sounds amazing.
Finally, you’ll need to learn your DAW really well. More than most other genres of voice-over, you are going to have to act as a sound designer. Adding background music, and sound effects is just a part of the job for most books. This is outside of what most voice-over professionals are ever expected to know, but you’re going to have to learn. And you’ll want to be really good at it.
Performing Children’s Book Narration
Let’s talk about the performance style a little bit, as it’s unique in the world of voice-over. I’ve noted above that that’s broader, and more performative than other genres. It’s less conversational, for sure. That may sound easier, but it’s deceiving.
Performing children’s narration still has to be grounded in reality, and must relate to the internal emotional life of the characters. It’s fun to do silly voices, for sure. But to perform silly voices that come from a place of honesty, and spring from the core of the silly characters – that’s a challenge.
I listen to demos that folks submit to join our roster. The question I always end up asking myself is, “Are they telling the story, or are they living the story? Are they outside of the story reading the words, or are they living in the world of the story, sharing it from their heart?”
I can hear it. And If I can hear it, the kids can hear it. Children are the most discerning, insightful and honest audience you will ever perform for. They know when they are listening to insincerity, and will quickly tune it out.
If you want to read books to kids, that’s fantastic! Start a YouTube channel and go for it. But if you want to be a professional narrator producing audiobooks for kids, put as much thought as you can into the performance.
Finding Work
So, how do you find work, if you want to pursue children’s book narration?
As I mentioned earlier, finding work can be tricky. Authors and publishers often aren’t aware of the benefits of having an audio version of their book.
But they all want one thing: to sell more of their books.
So I’ve found that reaching out to authors and connecting with them directly is a great approach.
Explain to them why you think their book would make a great audiobook, and how having an audiobook version may open up new sales opportunities for them. Then share a link to a landing page of your website, tuned to show off your services as a kid’s audiobook producer. On that page, share samples, a demo, reviews of previous work, a list of audiobooks you’ve produced with links to them on Audible – anything you can do to show off your work.
Speaking of a demo – you’ll want a well-produced genre-specific demo. You aren’t going to use your commercial demo for this. You’ll want a high-quality professionally produced children’s book narration demo, with background music and sound effects, to best showcase what you can really do.
Narrating children’s books is a rewarding genre of voice acting, and could be a great addition to the types of voice-over work you do. It’s certainly challenging – both technically and in performance – but the rewards are well worth it, and you’ll never perform for a more important audience.
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