I recently surveyed hundreds of Narrators and asked them what their top challenge was when they first started to create audiobooks. Their responses flooded in. As I read through their comments, I found myself nodding in agreement. I had felt these things too when I first started narrating! Now I look back and am a little amazed that I got through it. That we all did!
So first, I would like to say to all the audiobook narrators and author/narrators that find this post, “Congratulations. I’m so proud of you. You did it!”
Some of the stories were amazing, like the Narrator who tackled “The Holy Bible: King James Version” for his debut audiobook! To say that was a “baptism by fire” was no joke. He showed great patience, tenacity – and dare I say, devotion – in tackling that project. Not only is it 783,137 words long, but think about the preparation needed for proper pronunciation!
What I found when I finished reading was that the response boiled down to 5 major hurdles each Narrator has to overcome in one way or another. Let’s take a look…
#5 – Self Doubt
Here’s some of the comments that were left.
- “Am I doing this right? I don’t seem to ever like the way I sound?”
- “I find myself doing this [insert word, sentence, phrase, or paragraph] over and over again. What’s wrong with me?”
- “I know I shouldn’t be the one to judge how it sounds because I’m too self-judgmental but I worry about what kind of experience the Listener will have.”
Self-doubt is universal. Everyone feels it. But, how do you overcome it? How do you push those doubts away and move forward? Henrik Edberg published a great article on The PositivityBlog on November 4, 2020 on this topic, 13 Powerful Ways to Overcome Self-Doubt (So You Can Finally Move Forward in Life). I’ve found many of these principles to be very helpful throughout my life. Check it out!
And come back next week and I’ll provide some advice for getting past the hurdles the Narrators addressed in their comments above; and – I’ll tell you what the Fourth (#4) hurdle was in the survey.
In the meantime, what are your tips for moving forward through self-doubt.