Let’s Talk About Pigeonholing

Members can watch the recording of our panel discussion with producers Khai Dattoli (Podium), Almeda Beynon (Sourcebooks), and Esther de Araujo (Macmillan) on how producers think about narrators as part of their talent roster and ways narrators can better collaborate with producers to be cast in projects we’re excited about.

Members must be logged in to view the video below:

We can’t control all of the industry around us, so these writing reflections are designed to help you look inward and maximize what you can do to change the casting trends in your career. Write your responses on a piece of paper or follow along in another document as you take time to reflect.

June Is Audiobooks Month, and narrators are looking for social media prompts to post about! Explore platforms like Instagram and TikTok to see what other narrators are doing, and here are some suggestions of things you can post this month:

– Create a video that features your “theme song,” a piece of music that represents you. (Original prompt, example, #NarratorThemeSongChallenge)

– Create a carousel (slideshow of images) showing that different parts of your life that people may not always see. (example)

– Share a Day-In-The-Life video of what it’s like working as an audiobook narrator that reveals what you’re like. (example)

– Re-introduce yourself with a sound-bite from social media that shows some component of your personality. (example)

– Show yourself in action behind the microphone! Get creative with the music on the video or pick a script you can share to the internet. (example)

– Recommend some titles that you loved listening to or narrating yourself. (example)

– Team up with other audiobook narrators and share a prompt so you can share visibility. (example)

– Follow along with prompts shared by other narrators, like this JIAM prompt calendar created by narrator Emma Faye!

As you post, remember that social media platforms love to see videos of people in action versus still templates, as well as creative and eye catching still images when they are used that prominently feature faces (such as yours)! Use JIAM as an opportunity to get clear on how you want to represent yourself and ask for the things that you want in your narration work. Other narrators are going on similar journeys, so don’t be afraid to connect with each other!

This month, PANA is launching a campaign to shift how we talk about audiobooks and make sure we acknowledge the work of narrators. When labor is invisible, it’s easy to imagine replacing it!

If you are on social media and see that someone has posted about an audiobook but hasn’t mentioned that narrator, we invite you to comment #NameThatNarrator to bring visibility to the people who worked on the project.

Additionally, people working in the audiobook industry are invited to think about whether they put narrator names on covers and how their opening and closing credits are structured, and if there are more opportunities to bring visibility in credits to everyone from proofers and preppers, to engineers and producers, as well as marketing and acquisition. Audiobooks are a team effort! An initiative around pigeonholing in casting wouldn’t mean much if we didn’t think 3-dimensionally about how our colleagues are credited for their work.