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Audiobook Narrators, Authors, and Production: a Virtual Fireside Adventure series featuring (Episode 1-AudioBook Production) Erin Spencer, Amy Rubinate, and Travis Baldree
March 2, 2023 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm PST
Free
About the Fireside Series
Twenty years ago, Amazon developed its first idea of an audiobook player. Today, on Audible alone, there are over 200,000 titles available to enjoy in audiobook format, and the audiobook narrator business is thriving and includes a host of impressive talents. However, how many of you have ever interacted live with an audiobook narrator to meet them face to face, ask questions about the books they read, the authors with whom they work, and how the industry works? If you’re like most of us, probably hardly anyone.
Thanks to our new 5 part free Fireside virtual series, Audiobook Narrators, Authors, and Production, you will have a chance to meet some of the nation’s best audiobook narrators and learn about the industry that has taken books to a new level. Just in time to celebrate the annual Audies Awards (March 28), join us for this exciting 5 part series in which you will meet over a dozen prestigious, fan-favorite, and award-winning narrators, authors, and producers, whose voices you have likely heard.
Each week, Adventures by the Book founder Susan McBeth will chat live with different speakers to discuss their audio book(s) on the innovative interactive storytelling platform, Fireside, that allows you to join the conversation live.
To join all (or part) of this series on Fireside, simply select the Audiobook Series Registration option below. Prior to the event, we will send you a private VIP link to attend the virtual event. If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can be part of the virtual audience to chat live with the authors. With other devices, you can still listen live to the broadcast HERE.
Upcoming Series Schedule
- PART 1 (Audiobook Production) – featuring Erin Spencer, Amy Rubinate, and Travis Baldree: Thursday, March 2, 2023, 4:00pm Pacific/7:00pm Eastern
- PART 2 (Indie Audiobook Success Stories) – featuring Neil Hellegers, Teri Schnaubelt, Joe Arden, Andi Arndt: Thursday, March 9, 2023, 4:00pm Pacific/7:00pm Eastern
- PART 3 (TikTok Sells Books) – featuring Jayne Rylon, Lila Dubois: Thursday, March 16, 2023, 4:00pm/ Pacific7:00pm Eastern
- PART 4 (Diversity in Audio Books) – featuring Ronnie Butler, Gabra Zackman, Emily Woo Zeller: Thursday, March 23, 2023, 4:00pmPacific/7:00pm Eastern
- PART 5 (TikTok for Books) – featuring Nancy Peterson, Kelsey Navarro: Thursday, March 30 2023, 4:00pmPacific/7:00pm Eastern
About the Speakers
PART 1 – Audiobook Production
Erin Spencer is the owner and executive producer at One Night Stand Studios, an audiobook production company based in Los Angeles, California. A passionate and accomplished storyteller, Erin’s love of the arts has been nurtured across her 20-year career in entertainment. From screen to stage to voicing over 400 audiobooks, Erin continues to seek meaningful ways to connect with audiences.
Amy Rubinate is an award-winning audiobook director, producer, and narrator. Her Los Angeles-based production company, Mosaic Audio, has recorded and produced nearly 3000 audiobooks for major publishers. Amy casts and directs hundreds of books a year, specializing in directing authors and celebrities. Amy received her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University, and her first middle grade graphic novel, Kate and the City of Fire, will be released this year.
Travis Baldree is a full-time audiobook narrator who has lent his voice to hundreds of stories. Before that, he spent decades designing and building video games like Torchlight, Rebel Galaxy, and Fate. He also writes books and is the author of Legends & Lattes, a low-stakes cozy fantasy novel. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his very patient family and their small, nervous dog.
PART 2 – Indie Audiobook Success Stories
Neil Hellegers is an actor and award-winning audiobook narrator who lives in Brooklyn, NYC with his wife, son, and mutt. As a narrator, has has read over 350 titles for numerous publishers and producers including Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Hachette, Harper, Audible Studios, Blackstone Audio, Tantor Audio, Aethon Books, Podium Audio and more. He is very grateful to have been awarded a few Earphones awards from AudioFile Magazine, a Society of Voice Arts & Sciences (SOVAS) award, and multiple Audie Nominations, for his audiobook work.
Teri Schnaubelt is a Chicago-based stage, on-camera, and voice actor as well as oil painter and photographer. She has voiced over 100 books for New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors, in addition to helping independent authors get their stories heard.
Joe Arden has narrated over 600 audiobooks in the romance genre, been featured in Men’s Health magazine, and won multiple industry awards. His debut novel, THE CHAMELEON EFFECT, was shortlisted by Audible’s Editorial Staff as “one of the best audiobooks of 2022”.
He is an advocate for consent and equality and a proud dog dad to a rescue blue nose pitbull.
Andi Arndt is a storytelling scholar who has become a favorite of audiobook listeners, authors, and publishers alike. Andie is a 2-time Audie Award winner, Audible Narrator Hall of Famer, and the recipient of several Voice Arts Award nominations. She is a top selling narrator of contemporary romance as well as popular non-fiction and fiction books, such as Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik, and The Hazards of Time Travel by Joyce Carol Oates.
PART 3 – TikTok Sells Books
Jayne Rylon is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, who has sold more than two million copies of her books. She has received numerous industry awards including the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best Indie Erotic Romance and the Swirl Award, which recognizes excellence in diverse romance. She is an Honor Roll member of the Romance Writers of America. Her stories used to begin as daydreams in seemingly endless business meetings, but now she is a full time author, who employs the skills she learned from her straight-laced corporate existence in the business of writing. She lives in Ohio with her husband, the infamous Mr. Rylon, and kittens they foster for a rescue organization. When she can escape her purple office, she loves to travel the world, avoid speeding tickets in her beloved Sky, SCUBA dive, and–of course–read.
Lila Dubois is a multi-published, bestselling author of erotic, paranormal and fantasy romance. Her books have been nominated for many awards including RT Book Reviews Erotic Novella for Undone Rebel and the Golden Flogger. Having spent extensive time in France, Egypt, Turkey, Ireland and England Lila speaks five languages, none of them (including English) fluently. Lila lives in California with her own Irish Farm Boy and loves receiving email from readers.
PART 4 – Diversity in Audio Books
Ron Butler is a Los Angeles-based actor with credits in film, theater, and television. As an audiobook narrator, he’s received two Audie nominations and won eight AudioFile magazine Earphones Awards. He is a member of the Atlantic Theater Company and an IFP award-winner for his work in the HBO film Everyday People. Originally from the Bahamas, he grew up singing calypso onstage with his father before touring (and recording) in Europe with his own jazz band. He has written, produced, and directed short films and independent features, and currently has several audio dramas and television scripts in development.
Gabra Zackman has been in the audiobook business for over 15 years, beginning when they were still called “Books on Tape.” To date, she has recorded over 500 audiobooks in all genres. She’s an Audie and Earphones award-winning narrator who is equally at home recording romance, memoir, sci-fi, and fantasy. She works in a home studio as well as studios all over New York City. Gabra is sometimes referred to by the handle “Audiobook Goddess.”
Emily Woo Zeller is an American voice actress and audio book narrator. She voices Panam Palmer in CD Projekt Red’s 2020 videogame Cyberpunk 2077. In the Star Wars canon, she is Dr. Aphra in the audio drama Dr. Aphra and narrated in the 2020 audio production of FROM A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.
PART 5 – TikTok for Books
Nancy Peterson, winner of the prestigious Audio Publishers Association Audie Award, is a veteran actor and voice-over artist. Nancy has a penchant for dialects, diving deep into the study of language. Her narration style, summed up by AudioFile magazine, “creates the sense of listening to a play instead of a straightforward reading.” She began her narrating career with petty theft. As a precocious eleven-year-old, the allure of her dad’s brand-new cassette recorder she was strictly forbidden to touch, was too tempting to bear. With an Encyclopedia Brown paperback and the recorder, she began a journey she continues to love.
Kelsey Navarro grew up in Las Vegas with a background in film, singing, and acting. She narrates anything from self-help to erotica. In her spare time, she reads voraciously and enjoys listening to a good podcast or audiobook. She worked in management for over nine years and nerds out over personal development, superheroes, and really great food.
About Fireside
Fireside is the new podcast platform founded by billionaire entrepreneur and Shark Tank TV star, Mark Cuban, and Falon Fatemi, former CEO and Founder of Node.ai. This innovative, technological format allows YOU to actively participate in live discussions, debates and meaningful conversations.
Adventures by the Book, as one of many content creators, hosts a literary series that includes regular book discussions, author talks, book clubs, special presentations, and much more.
