Page Three with Samantha Norbury, Audiobook Narrator/Actor

Welcome to Write to Read podcast,

a page in the life of an author.

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I'm Liv Macy, and these are my pages.

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Page three.

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I always adore having

people come onto the show.

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and have conversations with me.

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for several reasons.

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, one of which is.

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I am meeting people.

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That I've either interacted with.

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Or engaged with or

followed for a long time.

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on social media.

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And the best part is.

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literally being able to sit

down and chat with these people.

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In person, well, not in person.

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, via video.

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Um, but in real life, in real time, And be

able to just have a, have a conversation.

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Instead of a prerecorded, you know,

32nd, or one minute, two minute clip.

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that you're watching.

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I do feel like I know people,

like they're my friends, my

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colleagues, my acquaintances,

, that I've become close with.

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It is a strange phenomenon for me because.

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I'm of the era.

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that.

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really didn't have these

kinds of, uh, technological

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capabilities when I was a younger.

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But with time.

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Which we're not discussing.

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And with COVID.

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These capabilities have become.

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Um, no more normalized,

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but I guess more common.

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And it's amazing to be

able to do that, when.

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You're talking to someone across

the world or, um, you know, On

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the other side of the country.

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I am particularly looking

forward to this conversation.

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with Samantha Norbury, who

is an audio book narrator.

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She lives in the UK.

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She's a fun.

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Amazing incredible person.

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I could not wait to record

the conversation and it was

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everything I thought it would be.

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Go check it out.

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in my conversations around the laptop.

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Today's bit of randomness.

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Um, One of my favorite things to do.

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Which of course often happens

more often during the holidays.

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Is.

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A lot of cooking and baking.

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Almost a ridiculous amount of cooking

and baking that goes on in my kitchen.

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And my kids.

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Always help out.

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They helped me with prepping

the food or chopping the food.

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But.

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The best part of that portion of it.

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Is the dance parties that we have.

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So.

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It's almost Christmas and we're cooking

in the kitchen, my kids and I, and.

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Yeah, we turned up the music

and we turn it up about.

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And we're dancing and grooving

and jamming to all sorts of music.

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And it just makes it so fun.

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And it's one of my favorite.

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Parts of the holidays.

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Is just hanging out.

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With the added pressure of cooking

the food before people come over.

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Um, But also just.

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Kind of hanging out with my

kids and having a great time.

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It's one of those experiences that I wish.

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Everyone could experience at

least once in their lifetime.

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We have reached the beyond the blurb

segment of the podcast, which is one

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of my favorite parts of the show.

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Here I can have the best of both worlds

to give my listeners the opportunity

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to hear about books that may otherwise

not have crossed their path and also

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to give authors a space to share their

book on a wide platform for zero cost.

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But unfortunately it comes with a caveat.

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There's just no way that I can read every

single book that has been highlighted.

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Or ensure that the authors or the

works aren't problematic or offensive.

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I simply don't have the time.

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And as such, I must say that I do not

endorse any of the books within this show.

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However, I do hope that

you find something amazing.

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Happy reading.

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Hi, I'm Bec Erickson.

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I write rom com, chick lit um, speculative

women's fiction with a humorous tone.

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My books focus on found family and

on positive female relationships.

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My book, Feeling Ballsy, um, is

part of the Love is Awkward series.

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The book is about two people who

just can't seem to get away from

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each other because they're just kind

of destined to be with one another.

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They are childhood friends to lovers

and The theme of the book is balls and

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ballsy and any way you think can think

of being ballsy on the soccer field or

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just kind of exploring on how to break

out of who you thought you were and

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really go for what you want and allow

yourself to go after it and what the main

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character wants is to be happy with her

best friend but first she's got to figure

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that out and figure out that her best

friend has been pining for her forever.

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And understand that cues, social cues, not

always the easiest thing to figure out.

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And so for me, it's just

a super relatable book.

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It's light.

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It's fun.

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It's a quick read.

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It's a read for when

you just want to relax.

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And while there may be a couple of small,

heavier themes in it, it is just a book to

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go through and remind yourself that there

is good things that can happen and that

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friendship is at the core of everything.

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And it's good to be ballsy.

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Cheers!

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Hi, I'm Carly Pike, and I'm here

to talk about my book, To Potement.

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It's a romance suspense book.

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It is about a massage therapist who

owns her own massage parlor, and

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she's having a surveillance system

installed because she has a little

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bit of a difficult Passed with an X.

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So if he does it for her protection,

and when the owner of the

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surveillance company comes in, they

kind of hit it off and immediately

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they're pretty much inseparable.

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And as she gets to know the

guy, she realizes that he.

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doesn't just work in surveillance.

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There's a lot more to him that

he doesn't tell her about.

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And so secrets start to unfold and she

kind of has to roll with the punches

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as well as the drama with her ex.

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And it's, it's a wild ride.

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Hi, I'm Liv Macy.

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And I'm the author of

the infinite universe.

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The first book in my

series is becoming justice.

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Which is Cassie's story.

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Each book is a standalone adult

fantasy romance, a paranormal romance,

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urban fantasy with romantic elements.

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Depending on who you're talking to.

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This book has everything you could want.

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A bad-ass woman who may or

may not be morally gray.

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A protective man, who's

determined to keep her safe for.

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Um, reasons of his own.

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You've got enemies to lovers,

a hot boss and a magic cabin.

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Not to mention a list of

suspects and they secret society.

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When Cassie goes undercover

for purely vengeance reasons.

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She finds all sorts of things.

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She had no idea existed.

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She's tough.

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I mean, you've got to be when your

family is taken from you and you're

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determined to make someone pay.

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But maybe finding a soulmate,

isn't something she can handle.

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You got to read it to find out.

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Check out becoming justice.

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I kind of feel like I shouldn't even have

this segment in this show, this episode.

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This week.

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Because, you know, It's a

couple of days before Christmas.

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I have not done.

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Hardly any?

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No, I D I did do some writing,

um, not enough for it to

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actually be worth an update.

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I've done a lot of holiday stuff.

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I've done a lot of.

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Um, sending out PR boxes, uh,

Um, Mailing out Christmas cards,

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wrapping presents, buying presents.

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Buying food.

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Uh, for our, our Christmas Eve meal.

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And.

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Yeah, my author type of stuff

has kind of taken a back seat.

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This week and.

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Yeah.

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That's it.

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That's all I have.

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, Next week we'll hopefully be better.

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It has to be better.

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I have a book due.

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I have a deadline.

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So.

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Check back next week.

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See how far I've gotten.

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Keep me accountable.

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Make me write these words faster.

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Well, unfortunately,

nobody can do that, but.

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Keep me accountable.

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Make these sit down and

write these stories.

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So I don't feel bad

when I update next week.

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This episode is sponsored by.

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Me myself and I.

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Because I still do not have any

pain customers who would like to.

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Have ad space in my episode.

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And that's okay.

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I do not expect to have.

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Anybody who wants to pay for a spot?

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On a show that is only three weeks in.

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And probably a handful of listeners.

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One day.

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And one day soon.

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People will be.

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Flooding my email.

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My inbox wanting ad space on this episode.

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And I will be thrilled to pieces to

no longer have to sponsor it myself.

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Like everything else in the author world.

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It takes time.

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It takes consistency and dedication.

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And a lot of humor because nobody wants to

cry about things that they cannot control.

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So, if you would like to have ad space

right here in the middle of my podcast.

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Have links.

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On my website on my link tree on

social media . For Google forms

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For you to fill out if you would like to.

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Pay for ad space there

are also Google forms.

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If you want to be part of

beyond the blurb segment.

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If you want to interview.

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For conversations around the laptop.

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Reach out, email me, go on my

website, which is live macy.com.

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I am live Macy author

on all social medias.

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Come on onto the show.

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It's fun here.

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I cannot promise you cookies

because it's virtual.

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But.

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I can promise my smiling face and my.

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Wonderful company.

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I'm humble.

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Very humble.

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And now please join me for a

conversation around the laptop.

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Hi, thank you so much for joining me.

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It is my pleasure to be here.

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No, no, it's my pleasure.

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You know why?

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Because I have been looking forward

to this conversation all week long.

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So for those who have not, um, heard

of you, this is Samantha Norbury, of

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course, who is the wonderful narrator.

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Um, she had done a human voices

only movement a couple of weeks

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ago that was quite a success.

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You want to talk about that?

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Yeah, that was, I'm still sort of

in shock about that whole movement.

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That was really great.

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It was, it started out as like a, an

idea that sort of stemmed from, it's very

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similar to like the Femme audio takeover

for those who are familiar with that.

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Um, but, I wanted to show what humans

are capable of emotionally, what we

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can bring to the table that AI can't.

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And I just thought, I'll just ask

some authors to send me a line, you

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know, because everybody has that

line in their book that they're like,

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oh, I wrote that and it was good.

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It was so good.

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And I was like, you know, it's

just like, ah, that, that feeling.

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And I was like, send me that line

and I'll record it and I'll bring

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that feeling that I get from it.

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And then I was like, oh, wouldn't it

be great though, if some narrators,

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if we could all just do this.

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So I put out this video just

like, a call to arms sort of.

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Um, and I honestly, I didn't expect

more than maybe 10 narrators,

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maybe a dozen authors to reach out.

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Um, but as we stand now, we've

had over half a million views on

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that hashtag, hundreds of authors.

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Dozens of narrators and just

the passion that came through

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from both authors and narrators.

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It was just, the merger was beautiful.

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I made loads of new friends and my TBR.

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quadrupled because there's

just so many good books out

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there and that's another thing.

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It was like seeing all the indie authors,

like authors you don't, you know,

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their books aren't promoted as readily.

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Um, and we got to see those and

it was, yeah, it was, it was

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extraordinary and I'm still doing them.

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I know other narrators are

still doing human voices only.

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Lines here and there.

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Cause it was, it was hard.

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I got hundreds of authors in

my inbox and I couldn't do

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them all in this like one week.

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So I was like, well, we'll

just keep doing them.

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We'll just stagger them out because

I don't like to say no to anybody

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when it comes to their writing.

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Um, so yeah, we're

just, we're still going.

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And it's, it's just, yeah, it

was unexpected and beautiful.

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And I'm thankful that

so many people did it.

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It was across.

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All my feeds on every social media

platform, just about, um, and of course

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I was lucky enough that you did a line

of mine, which I, it was wonderful.

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It was, that one was a favorite

for a lot of people too.

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Well, I kind of picked it too because,

um, I feel like everyone does like.

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Everybody wants to have like that

sappy, like, Oh, kind of moment.

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And I'm all like, no.

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No, I loved it.

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It was such a good change of pace too.

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Like when I was putting all the videos

together, I would always like, they

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would usually start with quite a sad one.

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And I was like, I've got to put

lives up front because it is like,

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it kicks some butt and I want that

to like capture people's attention.

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And yeah, it was, that one

was a favorite for sure.

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Mine too.

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Shockingly.

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No, but I mean, you're a

proponent of practicing anyway.

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Um, I know you do like the five.

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I'm not even going to attempt it.

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You five ways Friday.

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I love Friday.

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I always imagine that nobody watches

those, but me, because I just, I

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pretty much sit in my little room.

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And I say this one sentence five different

ways, depending on the book genre and

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emotion, and I just, it cracks me up.

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Like, each time I say something,

I then laugh hysterically

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and move on to the next one.

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And I hope nobody sees it.

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Um, but people do, obviously.

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But it's great because more

narrators are hopping on that

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too and doing it, which is great.

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Because it is, it's good practice.

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Um, but Mostly it's just fun.

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It's just like, it's a chance to sort

of not take your job too seriously,

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unwind, and yeah, I don't know.

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I love it.

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Well, and I mean, I think I kind of

feel like practice in general would

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be good for your profession because

I imagine you have a lot of Not maybe

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the same thing, but kind of in the

same lane, maybe, uh, I mean, do you

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have like a wide variety or is it

like, I, I always feel like it's people

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kind of get, it's almost like actors

get stuck in that same kind of cast.

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Yeah, yeah.

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I mean, I've probably not

been doing it long enough.

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Um, but also, you know, you have

to know what you're good at.

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And for me, I tend to sound quite young.

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In audio form.

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So I know that I'm not great for.

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nonfiction or like, you don't

want me reading you out a textbook

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or anything overly serious.

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Cause it just, you're like,

I don't believe this girl.

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Cause she sounds like she's 17.

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Like that's not going to work.

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I wouldn't say that sound reliable.

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Um, so I do, but I tend to

audition mostly for fantasy

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books because that's what I love.

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I like YA, fantasy, romance, like

I tend to audition for the types

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of books that I like to read.

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Um, cause I feel like you can just

get, I feel like you're better at your

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job if you're passionate about it.

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Right.

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So it's a lot easier for me to

get passionate about something.

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that I like.

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Um, so I pretty much only audition.

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I'm choosy about what I

auditioned for, for that reason.

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Um, and people might, yeah, get

typecast in that way, but the cool thing

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about audio books is you get to play

every single character in the book.

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So you get to play the damsel

and the villain and the hero.

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All in one go.

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So even if you get typecast

with, say, a genre, you still

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get to play all the characters.

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So, you know, it's never, it's never dull.

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That's for sure.

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Did you have a hard time switching

between, like, like the villain and

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the heroine when you first started?

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Or did that come naturally to you?

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Um, no, I think that does come,

that came pretty naturally to me.

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What I do find is when you have

a bad guy who is very bad when,

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especially when it comes to like

assaults or something like that.

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And usually these I've voiced this a

couple of times and usually it's pretty

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brief in a story where you have a

guy who's trying to do something bad.

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And I.

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I'm not comfy with that.

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Um, so that, like getting into that

headspace, I don't particularly like.

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Um, but that's probably the extent

of finding it hard to switch

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between characters, is when you

have to get into the head of

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someone who you really find vile.

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Then you're like, you

know, that can be a bit.

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I don't really like that.

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Um, but you know, it is part of the job.

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So, you know, you can step in

and then just step right out.

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Um, so that's kind of similar

to like method acting, which a

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lot of people are familiar with.

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Yeah, that's right.

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Yeah.

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And I think that's for me.

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And I think for most narrators, when

you're reading the book, you really,

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You're searching for how these

characters think and how they feel.

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And I think because each voice has

to be unique, it doesn't necessarily

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mean you have to change your voice,

but the tone has to be unique.

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You really have to know who they are.

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So your posture changes and your

attitude changes and therefore

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your voice and tone changes.

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And I think you have to get

to know characters even.

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Deeper in voice than you do, say

in film, when you're just doing one

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person, because you can rely on your

face and your movements a lot more.

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Whereas an audio, it's

just, it's so subtle.

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So you really have to get to know

each and every one of them so

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deeply in order to pull that off.

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Because otherwise they'd

all sort of sound.

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It's funny.

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I actually watching you, uh, on like

your Tik Toks and your Instagram

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and stuff, I, I didn't realize.

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that you guys actually

do like bodily move.

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Like I'd heard before, and I, I, I

noticed obviously when I started doing

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this podcast that when you smile, for

example, you, it changes your tone.

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Like I just didn't realize how much you

guys need that movement and how much you

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guys actually move to make your voice

like do the things that you want it to do.

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I didn't know that either.

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I really didn't.

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I remember the.

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first time I like plucked up the

courage to film myself doing it

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for one of those and I was like,

What am I doing with my eyebrows?

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Because I do it all tends

to be like right here.

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But yeah, you do you get like

you do it is a lot of movement.

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And I know with With audiobooks,

we tend to sit down, right?

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Because we're recording for so many hours.

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With, um, commercial voiceover or

something like that, you actually stand

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because you, like, they want it so big,

especially radio commercials where you

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have to, like, and the movements that

they're telling you to do are just,

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they're flailing all around like crazy.

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Yeah, it is.

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It is nuts.

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The amount of, you know, yeah, you do it

and you don't even know you're doing it.

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It's just, you know, you're

getting, you're lost in it.

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I'm doing it right now.

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Giving new definition to

talking with your hands, right?

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So expressive.

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Um, but back to the,

uh, human voices only.

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I mean, we've had.

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So many changes coming up and starting and

it feels like it's been a domino effect.

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It was like, uh, the last one that's

come out now is Spotify, which is such

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low because they were find a way voices.

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I mean, most people who are familiar with.

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Making an audiobook, you've got

ACX and Findaway Voices were like

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the two really easy go to places.

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Um, and Findaway closed down the

narrator profile section recently

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and they really tried to sell it

like, no, this is a great thing.

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We're going to be doing Kickstarters

for authors and it's just going to

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make it so much easier for everybody.

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And we're all like, no.

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And then a week, two weeks later.

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Oh yeah, we're doing, I

forget what they called it.

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They don't, they try not to call it AI.

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The digital, yeah.

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Digital, that was it.

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Yes.

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Yeah, that's right.

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So Kindle was calling it virtual voices.

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They're calling it digital voices.

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It's all AI.

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It's all, um, pretty frustrating

because Not only, you know, does

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it hurt potentially our jobs in the

future, but the voices that have been

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used to train these AI were not given

necessarily with the voice actors consent.

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The amount of voice

cloning that goes on is.

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insane.

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And it's, yeah, it's maddening.

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Even programs, we use these things called

DAWs to record our audio and Adobe,

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who's like a really big one, right?

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And Adobe Audition is something

that a lot of voice actors use.

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And you actually had to, they started

using your voice that you were using

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to record for machine learning.

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And you actually had to

go in and turn it off.

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And it's like, that is just.

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It's so sneaky.

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There's so many of these

sneaky little things.

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You're stealing people's voices and then

using it to put them out of business.

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And it's just frustrating.

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Um, yeah.

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I mean, honestly, though, I can't, I,

on one hand I keep thinking myself.

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There's no way, there's no way that it's

going to stay with digital narration.

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Like I cannot stand my word document.

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And I mean, and I have used programs.

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So like I was, I was, um,

subscribed to natural readers.

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com because I needed.

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Like as an author, um, in order to catch

like spelling errors and grammatical

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errors, I need it read aloud to me because

you know, you just skim over and you're,

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you're just naturally, you just replace

what you know is supposed to be there.

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And so I have to listen to it.

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And even I pay for the premium,

which is still, it's nowhere near,

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they're not using human voices, I

don't think yet, or maybe they are, I

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don't know what their thing was, but

this was, you know, for my own use.

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And even the premium, I'm like, there's.

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You can tell it's a machine, like it's

never going to be, you know, huge.

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I know.

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And you know, I want to say also,

like, when it comes to AI and voice

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that using it for accessibility

or as a tool is more than okay.

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It's fantastic.

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And I don't think anybody should

ever feel bad about that because

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it's useful and should be used.

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And so I have no issues

with that whatsoever.

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Um, the.

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The thing about it is

the AI is not great yet.

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They sound so much more

human than I was expecting.

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Like the first time I heard it,

I was like, Oh, that sounds good.

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But then the more you listen, the

more you're like, Oh, but actually no.

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Cause they're not

emphasizing the right words.

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Their pacing's weird, whatever.

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But I think I keep hoping that if

we can agree as like a community

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of creatives, that even if it

does, Transcripts, sound, good.

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We choose not to because

we support each other.

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Right.

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And, but I don't, it's hard to imagine

it will ever sound as good because how

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can you really express feeling when you

can't feel like what we draw from is

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our past experiences and our feelings.

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And that's why we're able to

make you feel is because I feel,

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and obviously AI can't do that.

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So I keep, you know, I, I hope

for that, but I also know.

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Technology advances and it advances

quickly and I could see five years from

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now it being able to do something that

sounds very similar to what we do and

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without the missed deadlines and mistakes

that happen, you know, cause we are human

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and mistakes do happen and it terrifies

me that people would want to do a cheaper

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option that way, but ultimately I think

it will come down to the listeners and

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I think listeners will not connect.

484

so much.

485

The same to AI as they will to humans.

486

And I think the sales of audio books

in general would plummet if humans

487

were no longer in the picture, but

I don't think that will happen.

488

I'm really, really hopeful that we've

got good unions in place and we can

489

continue just to band together and not.

490

not allow AI to take over the creative

space because, you know, we just can't.

491

Well, I know.

492

I mean, there's lots of jobs.

493

That's, I mean, that's

your guys livelihood.

494

And, and as a reader, I mean, I

definitely don't connect to the AI

495

and the digital versions at all.

496

I.

497

I keep thinking it's going to happen

because there are people who don't care.

498

Um, yeah, they do consume books that way.

499

Um, you know, and I, I definitely

think it's going to go that way.

500

I kind of wonder if it's going to be

along the lines of like, You know, back

501

you had like the cheap little pamphlets,

502

but then the people who were like rich had

like these nice bound, you know, guilted.

503

And I just kind of feel like that's

what it's going to be is that the

504

people who can afford to consume.

505

More than a book a year at that price are

going to are going to go that route, but

506

you're going to have this cheaper version.

507

That's the quality is what you pay for.

508

Right?

509

I mean, it could.

510

And the other thing about AI generated

content is it can't be copyrighted.

511

So if you were an author and you

did have your audio book done

512

by AI, you can't copyright it.

513

So literally anybody could

just do it again and again

514

and again, your book with AI.

515

So it just, it doesn't even, I don't know,

it doesn't make sense to me why you would.

516

Why you would do it at this point in time.

517

But yeah, I imagine they're gonna have,

there's gonna be so many rules and

518

regulations that have to be in place

too before I think it's acceptable.

519

Hopefully.

520

Yeah.

521

You know?

522

Yeah.

523

I dunno, it's so, yeah, it feels

like AI is such a big thing and it's

524

weird to me that like there's no

sort of public voting or no anything

525

because I feel like it's so powerful

and it's so easy to misuse and when

526

people's careers are being threatened.

527

You would think at some point.

528

I think it's one of those things where,

you know, first of all, a lot of people

529

are like, well, it doesn't affect me.

530

So they're not worried about it yet.

531

And I think, yeah.

532

Yeah.

533

And I think also that it's,

AI is like you said, so huge.

534

It's on so many different fronts.

535

So there are people that are over

here focused on, you know, art and

536

people are over here focused on,

on the audio and here they're, the

537

authors are like, you know, there's

a Everyone is so divided and split up

538

as far as what they're concerned with.

539

And even like, not in the creative

space, but like in medical or,

540

you know, chat GPT, like portion,

like there's just so much division

541

that nobody is focusing overall.

542

That if you allow this here, it's going

to affect here, here, here, and here.

543

And like, Yeah, and

that's absolutely right.

544

And again, I think AI as a tool is fine.

545

And I think it has its

uses, uses and a purpose.

546

In our society.

547

I do.

548

I think AI could be a good

thing in certain areas.

549

I'm not like anti AI entirely.

550

Um, but it's just, I don't know.

551

It's really weird to me.

552

You know, there's that old quote.

553

I can't remember who it's from now,

but it was, um, I was a warrior.

554

So my son, do you know

what I'm talking about?

555

Right?

556

Yes.

557

Shop owners and his son could be a

poet that like, because the ultimate

558

dream I think for people is to be

able To do what they're passionate

559

about, not what they have to do,

but what they're passionate about.

560

And I feel like when you're somebody

who's making their living in the

561

creative space, it is because

you're passionate about it, right?

562

Cause you don't get, you, you don't

usually make a ton of money at it.

563

So you have to be pretty

passionate about it to do it.

564

And so these passion jobs,

which make life life for people.

565

For that to be taken away by

AI is such a problem to me.

566

Like, I want AI to do my house

cleaning, that would be great, but

567

please don't take my dream job.

568

That's not how this was supposed to go.

569

Yeah.

570

Why?

571

Um.

572

I mean, I know why and it always comes

down to money, but yeah, I don't know.

573

I'm just trying to remain hopeful.

574

Maybe if we keep mentioning

Terminator over and over, people

575

will start to take notice.

576

I know.

577

I'm trying.

578

I'm not trying to make light of the

situation, but like, you know, it's.

579

I mean, you know, you can

only do what you can do.

580

And it's, it's kind of depressing when

you think about like all the ramifications

581

of AI and in all the spaces, like it's

just, I mean, you know, you already see

582

people before who were all, you know,

Oh, Hey, the self checkout is great.

583

And then people started losing their

jobs and they're like, wait a second.

584

Yeah.

585

What happened?

586

Yeah.

587

I mean, it's just the same thing people

are just not until they realize it's

588

unfortunately might be too late already

for them, but hopefully, like you said,

589

we can band together and stick together

and authors can support narrators

590

and narrators can support authors.

591

And, you know, we can support

cover designers who aren't

592

using AI and things like that.

593

Like, if we just keep making it

an effort, I think we can really.

594

At least for a little bit longer, hold

on to that until there's some regulation.

595

That's right, and I think the banning

together has been, you know, at

596

least, I don't know, it's given

me a lot of hope, I would say.

597

Yeah.

598

I know.

599

I, I just, I loved that whole

human voices only was wonderful.

600

Uh, besides the fact that, you know,

a lot of authors can't afford anything

601

right now as far as like audio books go.

602

So for us even, it's like, it's

like a little gift, you know,

603

to hear our words narrated.

604

I love that.

605

You know, when I narrate a book always,

I, I'm always reading it to the author.

606

Always.

607

Like I don't, I think in my head

if I thought people were listening

608

to it I probably wouldn't be able

to do it to be honest with you.

609

Um, so for me I'm always focused on

reading it to the author because I know

610

how Special, that is, when an author

hears their characters come to life.

611

It's hands down my favorite part

about this job is like the messages

612

I get of authors just in tears

because they're, their characters

613

are alive and it's just, it's great.

614

So when I'm reading it, I'm always

like, I'm doing this for you.

615

I'm reading this right to

you because this is for you.

616

And it's just, it's a really special.

617

thing.

618

And then, you know, then

listeners get to hear it.

619

And I think they can feel that, you

know, and it's that connection from

620

author to narrator, to listener

that I think is super special.

621

It is.

622

It's incredible.

623

And you're very gifted.

624

Of course, I listened to a lot

of your, your, um, post show.

625

Um, and you're incredibly talented, so you

definitely have a, a knack for doing that.

626

Thank you.

627

Me, on the other hand, I can

barely pull out a, you know,

628

British accent or something.

629

British accents are tricky.

630

I live in Yorkshire.

631

And I can't do a Yorkshire

accent to save my life.

632

Like, there's no way I

would not be able to do it.

633

It's so hard.

634

But I can do, like, uh, an RP.

635

Like, I can do a posh English accent.

636

And I can do a Cockney English accent.

637

But I could not do, like, a Liverpudlian.

638

Accent or Yorkshire, not, no, no way.

639

Yeah, I can't like, yeah, for like the U.

640

S.

641

I can't do a Boston accent.

642

I can maybe pull off like a New

York, but I can't, I maybe Southern a

643

little bit, but I, yeah, it's so hard.

644

I don't know how you guys do it.

645

Like, we generalize, we generalize

all the time and that's.

646

It's something that I think probably

most people know, like the amount of

647

Southern accents there are, right?

648

There's tons, like

Texas alone has so many.

649

Right.

650

If I'm going to do a Southern accent,

I'm just going to do the one that

651

everybody's expecting that I do.

652

And I don't even know, like I

couldn't pinpoint it on a map, but

653

this is what they're expecting.

654

So it's like, you know,

that's just the broad general.

655

Southern.

656

And it's the same for New York.

657

Like when they do the New York

accent, it's just a caricature.

658

It's not like, you know, it's just

very broad and that it irritates

659

people who are local to the area

you're trying to sound like, but to

660

the rest of the world, they're like.

661

It's the Hollywood version that they're

expecting, so they're fine with it.

662

Yeah, they're like, oh yeah,

okay, that's New York, yeah.

663

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

664

It's like, they don't really walk

around saying, I want a Twolk wafi.

665

Like, that's just like,

that's way too over the top.

666

But at the same time, if you're

watching a cartoon or something, that's,

667

you're like, oh yeah, okay, that fits.

668

That's so great.

669

You're just like in and out of accents.

670

It's fine.

671

Not very well, but that's all right.

672

No, no, it's great.

673

I'm amused over here, believe me,

and impressed because I just, yeah,

674

I couldn't slip in and out like that.

675

So how did you get into it?

676

Into audiobook?

677

Well, um, so I always

wanted to be an actor.

678

Always.

679

From the time I was about four, I

think, is the time I did my first play.

680

And I just always was like,

I'm going to be an actor.

681

That's just it.

682

I'm going to be an actor.

683

Uh, and I really believed that until

I was probably in my mid twenties.

684

Um, and then I no longer

believed it anymore.

685

Um, but I did a lot of theater and, um,

yeah, I sort of slowly let that dream go.

686

And I, you know, when I was I was doing

theater and wanting to be an actor.

687

I was a bartender and a barista

and like anything I could do

688

while saving room for auditions.

689

And then I got an office job.

690

I went into accounting, um,

which sucked my soul dry.

691

I was just going to say, I

don't see you doing accounting.

692

Yeah, no, I did accounts

receivable, even worse.

693

I did like collections.

694

I mean, it was just like, and it would

be amazing because I'd call people.

695

Hi, yeah, you owe us 20, 000.

696

And they're like, you

sound like you're 13.

697

I'm a grown up.

698

I swear.

699

It was so awkward.

700

I was not great at it.

701

Um, but that's what I did.

702

And then I had kids and

I was a stay at home mom.

703

And then it was time

to get back into work.

704

Um, And you're like, please, no, I

knew I did not want to go back to that.

705

Um, but I desperately wanted

to go back to work and I was

706

listening to tons of audio books.

707

Just, I was consuming them with every

free minute I had, which wasn't a lot.

708

But if I had a free minute, I was

like, I'm listening to my book.

709

I'll be like knitting

and listening to my book.

710

I'm like, I'd wake up at 5 a.

711

m.

712

before my kids.

713

would wake up just to listen to

my, it was like my special time.

714

And the more I was listening to

these audio books and realizing

715

that the performances were so good.

716

And I was like, they're, they're actors.

717

They're not, they're not just reading.

718

These people are actors.

719

I was like, I wonder if I,

I wonder if I could do that.

720

And I didn't even want to let myself

believe that maybe, maybe I could,

721

maybe I could get back into acting.

722

Maybe this could be my thing.

723

Um.

724

So I had a friend who was,

uh, who's a voice actor.

725

He does, um, like trailers and things

and he put me in touch with a coach and

726

at that point I wasn't fully ready yet.

727

And then this thing called COVID happened.

728

I don't know if you've heard of

it, but the whole world shut down.

729

Um.

730

And that gave me time to

sort of research stuff.

731

So I spent, from that minute on, I

spent a year and a half studying.

732

I took like every online class

I could get my fingers on.

733

I just Lurked in like the narrator

Facebook groups, watching everybody's

734

questions and then watching all

the answers come in and just like

735

absorbing all this information.

736

And then I finally, um, plucked up

the courage to buy the equipment.

737

So I did that and then I practiced a lot.

738

I would sit in here and I would just

read books on Kindle out loud to

739

myself and I'd practice with like

the different DAWs and software.

740

And then I hired a vocal coach and I

worked with her over a few weeks, um.

741

And then I hired an engineer and

learned the tech more thoroughly.

742

And then I was like,

okay, I'm finally ready.

743

I'm going to audition for a book.

744

I'm just going to audition and it's fine.

745

I'm sure I won't get it.

746

And I auditioned and like an hour

later, she offered me the book.

747

I was like, Oh, well, I'm in it.

748

Okay, let's go.

749

And then, yeah.

750

And then from there.

751

It all just sort of happened.

752

Um, and then it took me like a few

months before I wanted to, I took the

753

step into social media, um, which I

wasn't a fan of in my personal life.

754

I don't, I was always sort of

anti social media, but I hadn't

755

discovered BookTok or Bookstagram.

756

And that was a game changer because

it was, yes, it's social media,

757

but it's like this nice little

corner of like minded people.

758

Like, they all like books.

759

Like, I didn't know.

760

I didn't know that existed.

761

Right.

762

Um, and it was just this kind

of happy, supportive space.

763

And I met all these other narrators

and I couldn't believe how uplifting.

764

Everybody was and so

supportive of one another.

765

, and yeah, it's just from

there, it's been just growth.

766

And it's been, it's been amazing.

767

Yeah, I, when I first stepped

into the author spaces, uh, I

768

too was really impressed with

how, um, I was shocked, honestly.

769

I, I kind of felt like I was not a

good, um, I didn't have a good idea

770

of humanity and I, I did, like, I just

kind of was very jaded and cynical

771

and I, and I stepped into these spaces

and I was, I was, I was shocked about

772

how welcoming and supportive and

they're willing to answer questions.

773

And you're just like.

774

Wow.

775

What have I stepped into?

776

What planet have I landed on?

777

Because I wasn't used to that.

778

I wasn't used to people just

offering to help for free.

779

Like, we'll give you advice.

780

Like, yeah, it's normal.

781

Um, so I'm glad you guys also have

that kind of like that narrators

782

have that community and it's amazing.

783

Books in general kind of bring

us all together, you know, you

784

know, I feel like book people.

785

are good people.

786

I feel like, I mean, for me, and I feel

like a lot of people have a very similar

787

story where it's like when books were a

way to escape and enter into this world

788

that was maybe happier than what you

were experiencing in your daily life.

789

And, So I feel like book people have

some things in common that make us

790

want to be, and a lot of books have

all these morals and ethics, right?

791

And I think that bleeds into who you

are outside of that and that's part of

792

maybe why the book community is so great.

793

Um, it's really funny to me

every time I see like all these

794

I'm like, is it though?

795

But, oh, it's just cause I'm on book talk.

796

I don't know what's going on.

797

Cause my space is quite nice over here.

798

Yeah.

799

Yeah.

800

I don't know.

801

Yeah.

802

Cause there is some drama on

book talk, but I feel like those

803

are the people that are kind of.

804

They get involved in drama regardless.

805

Yes, yeah, I know.

806

That, that, that is true, isn't it?

807

That you're kind of just

like, whoops, swipe, nope.

808

Exactly.

809

And training that

algorithm is really hard.

810

Oh my gosh, every time TikTok logs me out.

811

I have to log back in, but they're

just showing me these things before I'm

812

like, no, that's not me, that's not me.

813

I don't want to see that.

814

You're afraid to do anything

but hurry up and swipe.

815

Like if I linger too long,

it'll think I like it.

816

Exactly.

817

You get sucked into something and then you

realize what it is and you're like, no.

818

I don't know if it's just my age, but like

half the time it's like cleaning products.

819

Wow.

820

Okay.

821

That, that might be a you thing.

822

I don't know.

823

Why?

824

But I still have, yeah, I still have

the weirdest things sometimes I come

825

across and I don't know how it got there.

826

It's kind of like the

search history of an author.

827

You don't want to go in there either.

828

I don't know.

829

I would love to see the search history.

830

We do some weird, weird things.

831

I think my first book, one of the

first weirdest things that I had,

832

it wasn't even that it was weird.

833

It was just, I was, I just kept

thinking to myself, if somebody

834

searched through here, they'd really

seriously be wondering what am I doing?

835

Because I have in my first book, I, or not

my first book, my second book, I have a

836

character who gets shot and has a bullet

and tears lung and they're trying to see,

837

and they're not taking him to a hospital.

838

They can't.

839

And so I'm Googling ways on how to

save a lung from collapsing without

840

taking someone to the hospital.

841

That's not, that's not, the

police just show up on your door.

842

Why are you not taking

them to the hospital?

843

What are you hiding?

844

And I just, you know, I don't, ah,

yeah, I probably should have put

845

a trigger warning on that before

I saved that on the podcast.

846

I'll put that in the front.

847

But yeah, I just, some of the search

history is pretty, pretty interesting.

848

Well I like it.

849

This is what we do to get these

beautiful words to you that you

850

then turn around and make so viable.

851

So I love it.

852

But, um, I know it's really late for you

and I don't want to keep you on so long.

853

You and I could just

talk to you for hours.

854

I feel like this is so nice.

855

It's so nice to finally like

just talk with you after.

856

I feel like we're friends already

just from social media, but yeah,

857

this is great for kindred spirits.

858

We're going to open up

our library with our cafe.

859

Yes.

860

Yes.

861

And for my listeners that

we both have that dream.

862

So Sam and I are definitely

going to open a joint and if not

863

a joint we'll have, we'll have

separate, uh, We'll have sister.

864

Oh, yeah.

865

They'll have to have like

a cute twins name somehow.

866

Well, I'm going to say thank you

for joining me and, um, real quick,

867

where can people find you if they

are looking for a narrator or if

868

they just want to follow you or?

869

Oh, well, um, yeah, okay, you

can find me, I've got a website,

870

which is just samanthanorberyvo.

871

com, and that's pretty much my handle

across all social media, um, I'm on

872

ACX, of course, um, Or, but I'm also

with like other publishers who probably

873

cost a bit more, but are well worth it.

874

Um, so I'm with places like Audiobook

Empire, Pink Flamingo, Audio Factory,

875

um, Dreamscape, places like that,

which produce really epic audiobooks.

876

So yeah, you can find me there, but

thank you so much for having me.

877

This has been a delight.

878

Of course.

879

Thank you so much.

880

You make this rather snappy, won't you?

881

I have some heavy thinking

to do before 10 o'clock.

882

Industry information, or maybe

the anti gatekeeping section.

883

Either way, this is a segment of the

show where I talk about the things

884

that I've done in this industry,

the paths that I've taken, things

885

I've learned as a new author.

886

Basically, my opinions, my choices,

my knowledge passed on to you.

887

And remember, every author

and every story is different.

888

This week's tip is.

889

About leaving enough time.

890

We're giving yourself a buffer.

891

For when you are launching a book.

892

No matter how.

893

Much time you need.

894

Always give yourself an

extra week or two or three.

895

Or maybe even four here and there.

896

You could ask me how I know.

897

Or I could just tell you.

898

Every book that I have launched,

I have progressively gotten.

899

Um, better at.

900

Kind of figuring out what my timeline is.

901

But no matter how much time I have

given myself, it is never enough.

902

I always shortchange myself

and I am bound and determined.

903

Two.

904

Sometime very soon.

905

Actually have a accurate timeline.

906

So that some of the pressure at

least is eased off of my shoulders.

907

, Don't forget that if you want to

hear about something specific.

908

In this section or you have a question.

909

You can fill out the Google form linked in

the show notes and I will get back to you.

910

I give you my opinion, answer it.

911

Whichever it may be.

912

Thank you for listening.

913

If you'd like to follow me,

my handle on all social media

914

platforms is Liv Macy Author.

915

You can also sign up for

my newsletter at livmacy.

916

com to stay up to date on things like new

releases of the Write to Read podcast.

917

This is the end of a

page in my author life.