Our Audiobook Q&A returns with Jo Anna Perrin — audio narrator, actor, writer, photographer, and co-creator of Abbreviated Audio. We caught up with Jo Anna earlier this summer and chatted about everything from flying under the radar and APAC to #JIAM 2012 and dream projects.
You and Johnny Heller run Abbreviated Audio. Can you tell our readers a little about the site and how it came about?
The idea for a blog had been germinating between us for quite a bit of time. We both write professionally, and the urge for a space that was ours, where we could do just that, write, at our leisure and with complete control over content and time, largely appealed to us. We would have complete autonomy, therefore no deadlines and no one to object to content. Slowly, the idea of a website that encompassed audiobook-ish information as well, such as reviews, interviews, commentary, and of course, humor, became factored in, and that idea intrigued us. On a cold December day, I opened my email to find a hosting site had made me an offer I couldn’t refuse and voila, for better or worse, Abbreviated Audio was born.
In your June Is Audiobook Month video with Robert Fass, you say that you’re going to expand Abbreviated Audio—can you give us a preview of that expansion?
Our goal, which we hope we can fulfill, is to largely widen the look and purview of the original site. We hope to take it beyond its humble beginnings. To that end, we are in talks with a site designer regarding adding more inter-active media, and bells and whistles, such as classes and podcasts to the site.
We’d like to make Abbreviated Audio more encompassing in terms of the audiobook world and create a location where other narrators and/or reviewers feel comfortable contributing. We already are gifted to have Jennifer Conner of Literate Housewife fame, who occasionally guest contributes on our site, and we’d like to extend the invitation to other narrators, reviewers, and bloggers as well.
Also, and this is certainly riskier on our part, we are hoping to dip our toes into audiobook production…A prospect that both terrifies and excites us!
Speaking of June Is Audiobook Month, how was it for you? What were some of your #JIAM2012 highlights?
I always enjoy Audiobook Month! The first weeks are especially hectic since they include obvious highlights such as APAC and the Audies, BEA and the Bloggers track. It is in effect, a social extravaganza, where I get to visit with many people in the short span of about seven to 10 days, that because of disparate locations, I only see during that time.
Getting to visit and photograph the Listeners Lounge this year was a particular delight, as was checking in with Robert Fass’s daily video journal in honor of the month, not to mention being in one myself.
I was especially pleased to see that this year, more than any other previous one, there was remarkable media coverage of many of the events of Audiobook Month, along with commentary on the art form itself, and public recognition of many amazing narrators. The serious nod to audiobooks in the press has been a long-time coming, but unquestionably better late than never.
How did you get your start in audio narration? And what tips would you offer aspiring narrators? Continue reading
