New in Florida

[carolestewart]

I just finished my first LibriVox book, The Life Story of a Russian Exile, narrated by Expatriate, and truly enjoyed it. In fact, I reviewed it earlier tonight. (Sorry I called us VoxLibri!)

I'm a 62-year-old retired professional in Ocala, Florida. I've been looking for an interesting volunteer opportunity for quite a while now, and the LibriVox concept is amazing. I love reading old books, especially short stories; I can't afford my current audiobook habit; and I like good, clear narration. (Expatriate was really good at capturing the character without being melodramatic.)

I already want to nominate a few especially prescient short stories (SciFi, Fiction, and Horror) from the 1900s and 1910s, and I'd eventually like to do solo narration, preferably of the stories I suggest (though I realize that's not a guarantee). I'm also open to "audio editing," because I love listening to audiobooks and I have prior editorial experience. I usually cringe at a word or two that's mispronounced, and occasionally a word or two isn't clear. Good, clear, moderately-paced narration isn't guaranteed, even in $20 audiobooks, so I would value the opportunity to recommend a few tiny tweaks that could perfect a good narration.

Is there a database where I can see if a book has already been recorded? Or do volunteers simply submit titles and someone else researches the public domain, etc.?

Thanks for your service.

[carolestewart]

Me again: I am not at all adept at these forums, but I will try to keep up as this is such a worthy cause!

[Cbteddy]

I just finished my first LibriVox book, The Life Story of a Russian Exile, narrated by Expatriate, and truly enjoyed it. In fact, I reviewed it earlier tonight. (Sorry I called us VoxLibri!)

I'm a 62-year-old retired professional in Ocala, Florida. I've been looking for an interesting volunteer opportunity for quite a while now, and the LibriVox concept is amazing. I love reading old books, especially short stories; I can't afford my current audiobook habit; and I like good, clear narration. (Expatriate was really good at capturing the character without being melodramatic.)

I already want to nominate a few especially prescient short stories (SciFi, Fiction, and Horror) from the 1900s and 1910s, and I'd eventually like to do solo narration, preferably of the stories I suggest (though I realize that's not a guarantee). I'm also open to "audio editing," because I love listening to audiobooks and I have prior editorial experience. I usually cringe at a word or two that's mispronounced, and occasionally a word or two isn't clear. Good, clear, moderately-paced narration isn't guaranteed, even in $20 audiobooks, so I would value the opportunity to recommend a few tiny tweaks that could perfect a good narration.

Is there a database where I can see if a book has already been recorded? Or do volunteers simply submit titles and someone else researches the public domain, etc.?

Thanks for your service.

Hi Carole! You can search the Librivox catalog by author, title or subject. From the forum screen, click on "Search the Catalog" under the Librivox Forum header. Or, if you start from librivox.org, you'll see the search option towards the upper right I believe (may vary slightly depending on your browser).

Multiple recordings of the same book, poem, essay, etc. are always welcome, but some volunteers prefer to read items that haven't been recorded yet. I've also included some tips below for both proof listening and recording


For Proof Listening (PL) - Check out the Proof Listeners or Editors Wanted forum for links to more information about PL. The most common method is Standard, but some projects do have stricter guidelines.

Then check out the New Projects Launch Pad. This is where any readers post ideas for books they'd like to start as projects, either as a solo or group project. Any projects that have a tilde ~ in front of it means the project is in need of some one to PL. Being brand new, you may want to consider asking if you can start with a chapter or two, just to make sure you understand the process and that it's something you like. It may also be easier to start with PL for a solo project since it'll just be one reader you'll be listening to.

For recording

If not already submitted, be sure to complete your one minute recording test so we can make sure your audio specs are good to go. Once you get that approved, check out the Readers Wanted forums, There's one for readers of other languages, and the rest for mostly English.

There is one forum for poems and shorter works, as well as a forum for longer books. If plays and dramatic readings are more your speed, check out the dramatic works forum too! Click into a post to see a summary of the book/poem/play. If it's something that sounds interesting, scroll down a bit more and look at the Magic Window (MW). You'll see a list with chapters or characters broken down into sections. If there is no name by a chapter, that means it's open and you can put a post in the thread to request that chapter. Once you've gotten the OK from the Book Coordinator (BC), you can then record the chapter.

A best practice that is recommended is to just sign up for a chapter or two to begin with so you can get a feel of the whole process and not be overwhelmed. Be sure to also read the information near the MW about how to access the text, the format the file needs to be saved as, and how to upload once it's ready for review.

When in doubt, don't hesitate to ask any questions. Someone will chime in and provide some assistance

Hope this helps, have fun, and welcome to Librivox!

[carolestewart]

Thank you!!!

[Rapunzelina]

I usually cringe at a word or two that's mispronounced, and occasionally a word or two isn't clear. Good, clear, moderately-paced narration isn't guaranteed, even in $20 audiobooks, so I would value the opportunity to recommend a few tiny tweaks that could perfect a good narration.

Welcome to Librivox! Excited to have your help producing audiobooks! When proof-listening please take the following tips and policies under consideration:

https://wiki.librivox.org/index.php?title=Forum_Policies#No_Unasked-For_Criticism

Regarding recommendations, make sure you offer your constructive criticism only if the reader asks for it.
Regarding what you perceive as mispronounced words, languages are fluid and pronunciation may vary by location.

[carolestewart]

Great advice, thank you