Tips for Audiobook Recording: The Role of Professional Courtesy
A pretty short post this week in two sections: one professional, one personal.
At any given moment, our team deals with a lot of audiobook projects. The present count on our Trello board is 47, and that’s not an especially busy workload. We assign staff, set up workflows, keep materials coming and going via Dropbox, check submissions for technical viability, and communicate with all the stakeholders, from the publishers to the narrators to the various members of our post-production team. All of this requires attention to organization and scheduling— and occasionally, unforeseen events create a little chaos. Keeping that chaos in check can be challenging, but certain behaviors can help make the job easier for everyone involved.
Tips for Audiobook Recording: the Role of Professional Courtesy by @EljinProductions
In the last couple of weeks, two narrators had health issues that threatened their meeting deadlines. One person acted with collegiality and professional courtesy— and the other? Well, not so much. Rather than dwell on the negative example, I want to draw attention to why the other one is worth emulating.
How to Act Professional When Trouble Arises
When personal problems inevitably get in the way of a professional deadline or commitment, there are three ways to ensure professional courtesy. Here’s what makes life easier for all us in a production crisis:
Early communication - As soon as the narrator knew that something was amiss, the performer reached out and let us know. Key move. We were able to begin shifting our resources and setting new expectations with the publisher.
Continued communication - We set regular checkpoints to assess where the narrator stood. Getting better or not? This helped us and our client keep a finger on the project’s pulse. Are we going to make the deadline or not? Do we have an alternative if the narrator cannot finish the project? Again: These are basic operational concerns that turn on keeping us informed in a timely way. Score another one for the performer.
Willingness to recommend alternatives - The performer suggested that we move on if we needed to. There was nothing the narrator could do, so it was clear, as far as the narrator was concerned, that we might want to find another person to do the job. By the way: At this point, we were still ahead of the original due date and shifting the schedule to make room for the narrator’s recovery.
The Importance of Communication in Audiobook Recording
Our story of these two narrators highlights the importance of open communication in audiobook recording—and in any professional project, for that matter.
The upshot: We were able to accommodate the narrator’s recovery, get a great performance, and meet a somewhat extended deadline that still got the program to market on time. That’s a solid outcome. And it all turned on timely communication—lots of it. We couldn’t make decisions without information, and the narrator kept us in the loop.
The negative example? In short, no communication, then late communication, then misleading communication. The result: paralysis followed by crisis management. We had to recast at the eleventh hour, and we were left with a damaged relationship between the narrator, us, and the publisher. Totally avoidable. (Upside: My team helped to get the project back on track fast, and the publisher was grateful. A win! Phew!)
The lesson: Communicate in a timely, effective way when you know that there’s trouble brewing. There’s no such thing as unwelcome information. Painful information? Disappointing information? Sure. But collaborators need to know what’s happening. Period. Failure to communicate? It’s rude. It’s damaging. It’s to-be-avoided at all costs.
In Memory of Mac
Mac looking out the window for rabbits and dogs
Sad news last week: We lost our friend of ten years, Mac. He was a great companion—always willing to take a ride down to Orchard Beach for a walk, run wooded trails in Vermont, chase rabbits. We really loved him. And I’m guessing that he loved us.
Funny story: I never had a dog before (I grew up in an apartment in Manhattan where dogs were verboten). So, in my ignorance, I resisted, talking my way around getting one when my two boys were small. Shame on me. But when my daughter Elsa was about eight, the push was on. And I knew I was going to lose this one.
What dog to get, then? That was settled when Hachette Audio sent me out to the Hamptons to record Julie Andrews. A thoroughly great experience. (Yes! She’s exactly the lovely person you think she’d be.) We spoke about my daughter’s doggie drive, and Ms. Andrews had a solution. “You really must get a Westie. A wonderful dog. You won’t be sorry.”
Indeed, we weren’t sorry. Mac was an amazing character. No regrets, except that he’s no longer with us. I can’t believe how much we miss him!
