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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

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My plans were to post a post-Audie Awards blog today, to share some memories, photos and video of the gala held here in Los Angeles this past weekend, but sadly, life has intervened.

Frank Muller passed away yesterday. I received the call last night and spent a very sad evening, wishing I had had the chance to know him.

For those of you unaware of Frank’s work, he was a legendary audiobook narrator, the first real giant of the industry, whose talents brought the medium new attention and the respect it deserved. This was back in the days when the idea of walking into your local bookstore and actually finding anything you were looking for on cassette was a virtual impossibility, when most people assumed audiobooks were done for the blind, not the general public. Frank lent his voice to numerous literary giants and helped convey their words to an entirely new audience, and for that, he should always be remembered, respected and revered.

Sadly, Frank suffered a debilitating motorcycle accident in 2001, which left him unable to work further in the industry that so embraced him. Sadder for me personally, I never had the chance to meet Frank until after his accident. It was a quick meeting, I was one of many people crowding around him at the 2003 Audie Awards in Los Angeles, when he made his first public appearance after his accident and was on hand to receive an award he won that night. It was a lovely moment, and I was honored to be present, but it was nearly impossible for me to convey to him how much I appreciated his work in so little time.

In any industry, any discipline, there is an inherent respect and admiration that must be present for the generation that came before, for the trailblazers who helped lead the way and establish opportunities for those who come later. Any African-American baseball player should have a deep-seated gratitude toward Jackie Robinson for breaking the color barrier, any modern-day actor should thank God for Charlie Chaplin having run the gauntlet of international celebrity years ago, and if any modern-day NASCAR driver has no respect for Richard Petty, he should be kicked out of the sport. Similarly, anyone who makes a living recording audiobooks as I do should kneel down and thank God for Frank Muller. I know I do. I just wish I could have conveyed that to Frank in person.

Another person we should give thanks to is Stephen King. Stephen wrote lovingly about Frank and his work in Dark Tower V: Wolves of Calla, the first novel in the series he wrote after Frank’s horrible accident. He dedicated the novel to him and wrote a moving description of their friendship in the Afterword. He also, with fellow authors John Grisham, Peter Straub and Pat Conroy, held a reading of their work in order to benefit Frank’s recovery in 2002. He helped create a charitable foundation, WaveDancer, to help Frank’s family through the long and arduous process. Damn decent of him, a truly extraordinary thing to do.

For those of you, like me, mourning the loss of such an extraordinary talent and wishing you could hear him talk about the business he loved so much, I encourage you to check out this rare gem: in 1999, Frank recorded John Grisham’s THE TESTAMENT, and as a bonus feature, voiced a six-minute discussion of the process that went into its creation. He talks about everything from the research he did, to the joys of voicing each character in the story, to the very state of the industry as he saw it late in the 20th century. It’s altogether too brief, only six minutes long, but it’s a gift he gave us, a rare insight into the mind of someone so amazingly talented. Its official title is FRANK MULLER ON READING THE TESTAMENT, and you can find it at Audible.com by doing a keyword search under “Frank Muller.”

If you have problems downloading it, you can click the listen icon and hear it in its entirety. You can also hear Stephen King’s Wavedancer benefit on Audible by going to their site and plugging in the keyword “Wavedancer.” I hope you’ll give them both a listen.

If you knew Frank or knew his work and are moved to make any kind of charitable contribution, I hope you’ll visit his website and do so. You can find it at www.frankmullerhome.com.

I wish there were more to say, but given our loss of so great a voice, silence seems more appropriate.