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Join Scott at Comic-Con this weekend!

This is probably my favorite week of the year, the year when my two biggest passions — comic books and audiobooks — collide in San Diego at the San Diego Comic-Con.

For those of you who aren’t aware, long before I narrated my first audiobook, I spent three years writing for the comic book press, turning a lifelong passion into a great way to make a living. I had a blast during those three years, during which I wrote about 300 articles for various comic book and science fiction related publications. (You may remember that the subject of a previous blog from last year was my favorite comics-related article I ever wrote, “Who Killed Gwen Stacy?” If not, you can check it out by clicking right here.)

Well, imagine my surprise when I saw that audiobooks were making their way into this here comic book-centric experience.

Makes sense, actually, since the Comic-Con has long since become more of a pop culture event than merely a comic book convention. Those who’ve braved the convention floor have seen everyone from role-playing gamers to steampunk costumers grab booth space. And around five years ago, the major print publishers started showing up as well — folks like Random House, Penguin, Del Rey and others. Before I knew it, audiobooks had made their way into the hallowed halls of comicbookdom.

And believe me, I couldn’t be happier.

The great thing is that there are actually times I get to combine my two passions at work, as well. I’ve been able to do a handful of audibooks that are comic book-related, including IT’S SUPERMAN! by Tom De Haven, and the novelization of SUPERMAN RETURNS by Marv Wolfman. While narrating those titles, I couldn’t believe my good fortune, getting to talk all day long about my favorite heroes, I mean how cool is that? Then you add to the mix a book like THE BOOK OF LIES by acclaimed novelist and comic book writer Brad Meltzer, a murder mystery that centers around Jerry Siegel, the man who created Superman, and my joy is complete. In many ways Brad was born to write that book, and I felt like I was born to narrate it. Getting to combine my passions that way was a dream come true.

Well, the reason I bring all this up is that I’m going to be doing a few panel discussions in San Diego this weekend, so if you’re going to be in the area, I hope you’ll stop by.

The aforementioned Brad Meltzer has put together an amazing panel, the sequel to a panel we did two years back, one that actually made the list of this “10 Don’t Dare Miss Comic Con Panels” by the Washington Post, of all places. I’ll be shameless and reprint the panel description from Comic Con’s website:

Comics Across all Media (Saturday, July 24, 12:30-1:30 PM, Room 24ABC

Paul Feig (creator of FREAKS & GEEKS), Chip Kidd (SHAZAM!: THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE WORLD’S MIGHTIEST MORTAL), Whitney Matheson (USA TODAY’s Pop Candy blog), Brad Meltzer (THE INNER CIRCLE), and Michael Uslan (THE DARK KNIGHT) are five superstars who make headlines in television, the graphic arts, journalism, novels, and film. But they all have comics in common. As they reunite for another visit, join them for a discussion of all things nerd. It’ll be like a 21st century Breakfast Club — but with even better references. Moderated by audiobook star Scott Brick (THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT).

(I didn’t write that bio, by the way, so I didn’t put in that “star” line, that was all them. And God bless them for saying so.)

And just about an hour later, I’ll be doing another panel, this one specifically about audiobooks. Again, I’ll refer to Comic-Con’s website:

Comic-Con How-To Session: Scott Brick (Saturday, July 24, 3:00-4:00 PM, Room 18)

Award-winning audiobook voice artist Scott Brick will present information on the acting and audio narration process, which will include how to break down a page of script into a narration format.

And just for good measure, it looks as though I’ll even be moderating a panel on Friday, when I interview legendary comic book artist Jim Lee in Room 18 when he spends an hour doing another how-to session.

So if you’re like me and want to spend a weekend hanging out with other fanboys, I hope you’ll make sure and stop by the panels I’ll be on and say hello. I’ll have copies of those two Superman novels I mentioned earlier that I’ll be signing, and I’ll even be offering a special 20% discount for the various audiobooks I’ve got for sale here on my website, such as THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT and THE PHOENIX LEGACY trilogy.

But for those of you who can’t make it to San Diego, or who are too intimidated to face a hundred thousand comic book fans — you know who you are — you too can get those self-same Superman audiobooks or the coupon code for our titles for sale here at Scott Brick Presents. If you’d like signed copies of either IT’S SUPERMAN! or the SUPERMAN RETURNS novelization, just email me here at the website
and we’ll shoot you the details, or if you’d like to take advantage of the Comic Con discount code, you can plug in the word “comiccon2010″ (without the quote marks) into the coupon field and receive your 20% discount for any book we sell. And even though the Comic Con only runs this coming weekend, that coupon code will be good through the end of July.

Well, that’s it for now. Got to head back to the studio so I can finish up PLAY DEAD, Harlan Coben’s very first novel, before I head south to the convention. Hope to see you there!

Thanks for listening,

Scott Brick

Hello! Den Shewman here, Scott’s CCO. If you, like me, weren’t able to catch Scott’s live online interview via Audible.com when it went off a few weeks ago (Tuesday, April 6, to be exact), boy, do I have a link for you! Lucky for all of us, Audible has archived Scott’s chat. It’s like TiVo…on the Internet! What will they think of next?

So click right here for Scott’s interview, then click the big gray box. You’ll see a selection of photos pop up below it. Scott is the handsome devil who has more hair than Harlan Coben.

Audible’s FaceBook page seems a bit touchy tonight when it thinks about loading, so don’t be afraid to reload it, or just give it a breather and come back later.

Thanks for, um, reading/viewing/listening!

Den Shewman

Why's a looker like that with such a shifty-looking character?

It’s a class — it’s an audiobook — it’s two great tastes in one!

The brainchild of Pat Fraley, world-renowned audiobook narration instructor, this unique experience affords students the chance to not only learn the skills necessary to participate in a multi-voice narration, it also allows them to appear in a fully-produced audiobook, starring opposite Pat and myself, and directed by Stefan Rudnicki.

This has never happened before, it’s completely unique to this industry, and I’m thrilled to have been asked to participate.

Check out Patrick Scott’s Smokin’ Mysteries Event — you’ll be glad you did. Oh, and make sure to click the sound icon at the bottom, it’ll definitely help set the mood. Coming your way on January 16th.

NOTE: Only twelve cast members will be in the class, so if this sounds like something you’d like to do, my advice would be to hurry. Don’t miss out!

Thanks for listening (and, hopefully, narrating as well),

Scott

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Okay, this is big, so pay attention:

Ever wanted to become an audiobook narrator? Ever had someone tell you you’re an amazing storyteller, that you’d be a natural at reading books for a living? Ever listened to an audiobook and thought, “Hell, I can do that”? Well, if so, then this is your chance. I’m officially announcing the beginning of my new contest: Share The Experience. The winner will find themselves plucked out of book-reading obscurity and dropped into the world of audiobook employment.

The reason for my doing this is fairly simple. See, it’s my tenth anniversary in about a month. That’s right, I did my very first audiobook gig back on June 10th, 1999, two short stories for Dove Audio that led me down the path to a wonderful new career. Well, in order to celebrate, I thought I’d do my best to help someone else get the same opportunity. That said, I’ve been working with the Audio Publishers Association to put this contest together, where, upon completion, we will have located – and employed – our industry’s newest audiobook narrator.

How does it work? Simple. Put together a demo — a recording of you reading one of your favorite books, no longer than three minutes — and email it off to me here at my site in mp3 format. On June 10th our judges, who represent the biggest audiobook publishers in the entire industry, will begin assembling the top contestants. The winner will be chosen from a final pool of twenty-five, and a total of five winners will be named. Our runners-up will receive free training in audiobook narration skills by Pat Fraley, one of the greatest teachers this industry has ever seen. If you drop by his website, www.patfraley.com, you’ll see he has a number of products available, videos, and DVDs devoted to teaching audiobook skills, and these will be handed out to our top contestants. Our second-place winner will also receive a personal session with Pat, invaluable hands-on instruction by a true master of the art.

But our Grand Prize winner…ah, that’ll be truly special.

First of all, the Grand Prize winner will get a personal instruction session with me in the studio. I know, I know. There’ll be a slight pause while everyone says, “That doesn’t seem truly special to me!” Well, that’s not the special part. See, when I said our judges represent all the biggest publishers in the audiobook industry, I truly meant it: they’re the folks who do the actual casting for the audiobooks you listen to. And as a result, a number of them have graciously volunteered some work on projects they’ve got coming out soon. Some will be short stories, some will be portions of novels that will be done as multi-narrator reads, and all of them will be offered to our Grand Prize winner.

That’s right: our winner will not only get free personalized instruction in the art of narration, but will immediately find themselves employed by our judges, working for publishers like Random House, Harper Collins, and Hachette.

Now there are a few caveats, some small print (or smaller, shall we say; definitely not tiny!). For instance, we’ve got two studios that have volunteered to host our recording session, one in New York, the other in L.A. Our winner will be expected to travel on their own dime to either location in order to claim their prize. (No free travel here, folks, sorry.) Another is that the contest is open only to true newcomers: nobody who’s received monetary compensation for audiobook narration in the past will be eligible to participate. Sorry, but that’s a sticking point. Now, if you’ve narrated in the past but have never been paid for it, that’s fine; if you’ve done work reading for the blind on a charitable basis, for instance, no worries, you’re still eligible. But no pros will be accepted. None. And submissions will only be accepted during the contest’s official dates; no early or late submissions will be accepted. (Which means please don’t email me any MP3s until June 10th: they’ll likely just hit the spam filter.)

Now, although the contest doesn’t officially begin until June 10th, there is a unique opportunity if you’re planning on attending this year’s Audio Publishers Association Conference on May 28th, 2009 in New York. APAC attendees will be able to do early, in-person auditions in front of all our attending judges. This is a truly rare opportunity: to have your voice assessed by all the major casting people in this industry, all at the same time. I highly recommend you take advantage of this opportunity if you’re able. You won’t regret it. You can click here to learn more about APAC, or email scott@scottbrickpresents.com with “APAC AUDITION” in the subject line to schedule your audition. Our contest page will always have the latest updates, and we’ll notify our mailing list when there’s news you can use (click here to subscribe). Official rules are currently being argued over by a gaggle of lawyers; we’ll email the mailing list once they’re up.

If you’re interested in all the contest details, I’ve got them posted here on the site on the Share the Experience contest page. I encourage you to read them over before entering, but don’t delay: submissions will only be accepted for three weeks, from June 10th to June 30th, 2009. If you’ve been itching to join the ranks of professional narrators, then now is the time. Or if you know someone who wants to become a narrator, then please, forward this information to them and tell them to enter. Our winners will be announced here on my site in July.

Trust me when I tell you, this is a rare opportunity. The world of audiobook narration is a tough one to crack, but once that door is open, it can be immensely rewarding. And everyone who enters, whether they wind up in our top five winners or not, will have their voice heard by the people who do the actual casting for audiobooks. That’s gold, people, pure gold. Do yourselves a favor and enter.

And lastly, one personal aside, something I find really special. Remember that first gig I mentioned earlier, the two short stories at Dove? Well, I met two amazing individuals that day: Stefan Rudnicki of (a partner in Skyboat Road), who hired me that first time around, and Dan Musselman, who left Dove soon thereafter and became Executive Producer at Books on Tape. Well, both of those men not only became valuable mentors, but close friends, and I’m honored that when asked to judge this event, they both accepted. It’s truly special to be working with the guys who had so much to do with my early development, here in a new and unique context. Then again, a number of our judges have been responsible for many of the blessings in my career, and it’s humbling to get to work with them again here. I’m truly grateful to all of them. It’s awesome, just awesome.

Okay, that’s it for the moment. Keep watching this site for updates. Thanks for all the support you’ve shown me over the years, it’s been a tremendous help. Here’s hoping I can return the favor here.

Thanks for listening, and good luck!

Scott Brick