Quote:
Originally Posted by darryl
Does anyone know what the usual practice is in paying narrators, whether or not actors? I would not be surprised at all to find that such narrators receive a once-off payment for their work and do not share in the Copyright at all.
Edit: Well, a quick search and I've answered my own question. A narrator who does work for several publishers and Audible writes:
He also said he made less than he did in a previous career in IT.
This is from a Reddit where he answers questions about his profession. It makes for interesting reading:
Reddit Q&A |
Very interesting read thanks for posting.
At the beginning or end of most audiobooks, they give the copyright. Most of the time, the word copyright is the author and the performance copyright is the production company (audible inc for many of the books that I listen to). It makes sense that it's paid as work for hire.
One of my former girlfriends was a voice over actor (local commercials for the most part). She considered herself mostly a stage actor who did voice over work on the side. I suspect that most voice over talent falls into that category. Certainly when I look at the bio's of most of the readers that I listen to enough to recognize, it seems to be a common thread and acting is mentioned in the link you posted. People would be surprised how hard it is to make a living as an actor.
To take the figures listed in your link, the voice talent for a 13 hour book (most audiobooks in my library run between 12-14 hours) gets between $2,600 and $5,200. That gives you a ball park idea of how many copies need to get sold to make a profit.