Hello peeps!
So, turning a novel into an audiobook is a long process, and there are lots of horror stories. The first audiobook I ever produced went sideways real fast. While I enjoyed the endeavor, I learned a valuable lesson… Some narrators are just better than others.
And that’s true of everything! Quality differs between hair stylists, artists, and even chefs with the same recipe.
So, when I went to hold auditions for Knightmare Arcanist, I was a little fearful, but also hyper vigilant. I wanted to find a narrator who was amazing, and who I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to everyone I know.
I received dozens of auditions, but only two really stood out. The first was perfect in every way, except… the voice sounded too old. The narrator was an older man, obviously (not the 15 year old boy that Volke was) and his voice carried a lot of that maturity.
Brian Wiggins has a great range of voices, and his natural speaking tone just has that youthful energy I imagined in my head whenever I thought of Volke speaking. His audition was amazing. The only “mistake” was that he pronounced Volke’s name as “volk-ee.” When I sent him a note about correcting that, he apologized several times. I didn’t think much of it (because it’s a weird name, not gonna lie) but apparently narrators get passed over a lot during the audition process if they mispronounce things.
Fortunately, that didn’t much matter to me! Brian has been AMAZING. He’s exactly the type of professional I love working with. Super talented, hard working, and all around a good guy.
He’s even made several videos detailing the process of how to make audiobooks, or even just his time in own personal sound booth. Here are a couple clips of him reading my latest novel, Master Arcanist.
Shami Stovall 