Frequently Asked Questions

It was on my way home to Idaho on a school break from Cornish that I listened to my first-ever audiobook: a novel narrated by Davina Porter. When I popped in the first audiobook cassette in my Dodge Neon as I drove out of Seattle and Davina’s beautifully textured voice filled the car, my eyes filled with tears and I was overwhelmed. I thought, “I want to DO that!” It would be nearly another decade before I would begin my career as a narrator, but that wonderful listening experience planted the seed.

After college I moved to Portland, Maine, to study documentary radio at the Salt Institute, and I fell completely in love with Maine, where I would live for the next 12 years. New England was — and IS — home, and for several years I juggled my day job as a litigation paralegal with commercial work, feature films, and professional theater, including productions at Portland Stage Company (where I earned my first Equity points). I started investing in commercial voiceover training — taking the Concord Coachlines bus from Portland to New York for workshops, coaching remotely with a teacher in LA — but my goal was mastering the craft of audiobooks.

In 2006 I had yet another major foot surgery, and I used my slow recovery to study everything I could about the audiobook industry. I read AudioFile Magazine, researched audiobook publishers and titles, scoured profiles of working voice actors, and listening deeply. Part of my dedication to the pursuit of audiobooks was the knowledge that my physical limitations might not be temporary. I’d been told by my surgeons for decades that I simply could not be an actor — it was too physically demanding for my feet — but I realized that despite virtually any physical setback that might come my way, I could be a great voice actor.

(Just a note: I’m devoted to my fitness and strength, and though I definitely have continuing hard times, I am capable of far more than my surgeons could have ever imagined. So just because someone in a position of power might present a message to you as Ultimate Truth does NOT mean they are correct. Before transferring to Cornish, I was also told by my master teacher at UW that I had absolutely no talent and no future as an actor. I ignored that message, too.)

During that long study period I realized that home recording studios were beginning to be used in the audiobook production process, and I was excited by the possibility of continuing to live in a state I loved and having the opportunity to be an entrepreneurial, self-employed, professional actor. I set up my first bare-bones recording studio (a closet treated with egg-crate foam from JoAnn Fabric and packing blankets from U-Haul). In the spring of 2007 I attended my first Audio Publishers Association Conference, where I met a number of publishers and producers, with whom I shared my audiobook demo. By the fall I landed my first audition, and booked my first job. By 2009 I was working steadily, and had won my first Earphones Award and been nominated for my first Audie Award.
My professional accomplishments are meaningful, but what matters most to me is what my work means to listeners. I myself have been comforted, entertained, and transported by stories told to me by narrators whose work I adore, so I know how deep and personal that bond is. I’m also proud of the tenacity I showed in forging this career and in being relentless in figuring out how I could achieve my goals despite great challenge.

Lots of people begin their narration careers auditioning on ACX.com, but I don’t necessarily recommend it. ACX is a space where one often begins by working for free, and on titles that are not always well-written or well-edited. That means that there is the possibility you will put in a huge amount of labor to develop someone else’s project, and never earn, or learn, much of anything. Better to get individual coaching and potentially take workshops (though this can also be wheel-spinning territory, so buyer beware), develop stellar demo reels, and then approach publishers who hire directly.

If you do list at ACX, you should not believe (wrongly) that you MUST start as a royalty-share narrator. If you want to do one or two titles to get them under your belt, fine, but you shouldn’t invest valuable time there for long.

Where ACX is incredibly valuable is in its resources and guidance for setting up a home recording studio, self-recording, self-directing, and all the technical requirements. Most audiobooks are now produced by narrators with home studios. If a narrator is in NY, NJ, or LA, they may not have to take this path, but more often than not the ability to self-record, self-direct, and self-engineer is key.

Setting up a quality home recording studio doesn’t mean one has to invest in a professional recording studio to start, but you will need a treated, sound-dampened space that is appropriate for audiobooks, as well as the ability to manage audio files (importing/exporting/punch and roll/uploading, etc.).

You can explore ahabtalent.com (Penguin Random Houses’s audition portal) and findawayvoices.com.

Audiobook narrators don’t need agents, and they don’t need to query agents with audio clips. You should consider joining the Audio Publishers Association (audiopub.org), through which you can explore the skill-building webinar archives, attend APAC and the member socials, and connect to audiobook coaches. I occasionally coach one on one, as do a number of skilled narrators (I can recommend coaches). Narration is its own craft, and one needs to develop that skillset before they directly solicit auditions from audio publishers. NarratorsRoadmap.com is another very valuable resource.

The industry is growing ever-larger, but it’s still a relationship-driven industry. Meeting people is key. You will benefit from subscribing to AudioFile Magazine, the trade publication for audiobooks, which will introduce you to who the players and companies are in the audiobook community.

AI voices are a real threat to the industry, and AI will become a bigger concern in the coming years. We’re not sure how it will eventually fall into place, but I suspect it will really negatively impact the lowest-level narration tier — those voices who aren’t deeply skilled who narrate(d) the lowest-level books. And I think it will have some impact on the middle-class narrators, as well — the good but not exceptional voice talent who narrate(d) mass-market, self-published, backlist catalogues. That’s the tier where a lot of talent cut their teeth, so I think today, to enter the industry, one really does have to be a stand-out talent.

A narration career means running a small business, so standing out means being great at the acting craft and a great business-person, as well. There’s absolutely more diversity than there ever was before, though, which is exciting — people of color, younger voices, and non-binary have more space today than in years past. If you have language skills, niche knowledge such as science or ancient culture, ability to do dialects…these are all still valuable and in demand.

And the line between audiobooks and podcasts is blurring, so the podcast industry is another opportunity for income, opportunity, and satisfying work.

Listening deeply to audiobooks is an absolute must. You must listen through the entertainment to the technique, and critically evaluate how the narrator breathes, the pacing, the observation of punctuation, the rhythm, tone, character differentiation and distinction from the narrative voice, section and chapter endings. And reading out loud for long periods of time daily to build stamina can be a fantastic practice.

You shouldn’t leap before you’re ready, or skimp on skill-building and preparation. If you’re great, you should present herself as a new pro ready to be a great performer and a reliable source of professional services to audio publishers. You also need a website specific to audio work, where they can post sample demos/clips.

These leading ladies of audiobooks can also help! Check out Lorelei King’s Storyteller, and Barbara Rosenblat’s Audiobook Narrator: The Art of Recording Audiobooks are print resources that you might look at, as well.

I’m glad you asked! Yes, I do “also” act! Voice acting behind the mic is as much an actor’s craft as a film or a play — it’s the same skill-set focused for a different medium. The same week I won the Best Female Narrator Audie Award I won Best Actress in a New York theater festival, which was totally exciting. You can see my performance resume here, which lists my theater and film credits, and I train regularly with Josh Pais in Committed Impulse, which I highly recommend for actors, creatives, and entrepreneurs.

Tell me all about your project!

From time to time, I do take on individual students by audition. If you’re interested in working together, get in touch and share a link where I can listen to your work.

Yes, I occasionally cast voice actors for narration projects. If you would like to be considered, please complete the voice acting submission form.

I’ve become a trusted and sought-after actress for work across every conceivable genre, from children’s picture books to middle grade and young adult titles, to work for adults. I’ve performed contemporary and literary fiction, mystery/thriller, humor, self-help, narrative nonfiction, memoir, biography, romance, cozy mysteries, philosophy, science, sci-fi, religion. You name it, I have performed it. It’s been a blessing to never be pigeonholed, and to have the range and flexibility to perform virtually any genre with ease.

I first knew I wanted to be an actor when I was about four years old — before I knew what an actor was, certainly before I knew any actors myself. I was born and raised in rural Southern Idaho, and grew up with one older brother, Cy, an accomplished flutist and now a successful photographer. My wonderful, funny parents, Terry and Carolyn, started their careers as public school educators. My mother, the daughter of a talented oil painter, has always been wildly creative: a musician, singer, elegant interior decorator, seamstress, accomplished stained-glass artist. My father has always been a deep reader with a large, eclectic library of books, and for 35 years served as an organizer for the teacher’s union. (And now I’m a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and Equity.)

The Gilberts were definitely not the typical family, and we felt somewhat isolated from the community around us (we were Christian Democrats in a Mormon Republican community), though my mama forged deep family friendships that sustain today. Part of the feeling of disconnection for me was being born with deformed feet; at seven months old I had the first of what would be more than a dozen corrective foot surgeries. I grew up feeling quite lonely, with traumatic hospitalizations and long stretches of painful recovery time. My self-soothing escape was in story — making up elaborate narratives in my head, reading voraciously, and immersing myself in the television series I adored (“Remington Steele,” “Airwolf,” “Little House on the Prairie,” “Crossbow,” “21 Jump Street”). I also escaped in music, playing guitar and piano and singing in choirs starting in elementary school.

I skipped 5th grade and graduated from high school when I was 16, leaving Idaho for Seattle, where I majored in English and Drama at the University of Washington. When I later transferred to Cornish College of the Arts, where I earned a BFA in Acting, I developed a passion for voice studies, and was fortunate to study under gifted, expert voice teachers. I had thought I might become a surgeon or an attorney, but acting felt like a calling: it was an artist’s path that could spark social transformation, deepen empathy, and offer audiences pleasure and relief.

I do! As with my audiobook narration projects, I’m very selective what work as a director, but my specialty as a director is working with children and emerging audiobook talent, writers narrating their own work, and full-cast and multi-cast projects in need of an experienced producer. Here’s my directing resume (TK).

When I’m offered a book project (or an audition), my first step is to do a little due diligence. I will not narrate a book that I think makes the world a worse place, so that would include work that includes racism, bigotry, misogyny, homophobia or transphobia, violence for entertainment, or sexual violence for titillation. My publishers and producers are very clear about this line, and I’ve not been offered such a title for years, but sometimes things can slip through the cracks, so I’m still careful to do a word or phrase search so that I double-check to ensure the book is one I can embody with a willing heart.

Once I’ve taken on the project, I read the PDF script in iAnnotate on my iPad and lightly mark it in the following way:

Yellow:
Yellow denotes chapter headings, simply so that I can quickly jump from chapter to chapter if I choose to.

Red:
Red calls attention to any unfamiliar word or phrase, alerting me to those terms I need to look up. An essential part of my job is attention to detail and accuracy. There are terms that are quite obvious upon first glance, such as foreign languages. But I must be rigorous and thoughtful in marking everything that could trip me up. A perfect example is Houston Street in New York City, which is pronounce HOUSE-tn, not HYOOS-tn. But because I try to be overly inclusive, so I leave nothing to chance, I’ll include words I believe I know how to pronounce, but which I could have been saying wrong all along (i.e. wizened, agoraphobia, emaciated), because I’ve only read it on the page and never heard it in real life, or words I’ve mispronounced all my life because of a regionalism (baptize, diamond, blanket).

Pink and Orange:
I use pink to mark the names of every character in a work of fiction that is introduced into the narrative, and I don’t assume that because a character that has been referenced is deceased they won’t come into the narrative later, or because a character is mentioned in passing they won’t become a major player later on. I mark them all. Next, I use orange to highlight all the information that the book contains about that character, including physical description; habitually-used gestures; socioeconomic class details; any details about where that character was born and raised, what their lineage is, who their parents or communities or origin were; and what characters say about themselves and other characters (a classic script analysis technique for character-making in theater).

Blue:
I mark all details the author has offered about the character’s particular voice, including speaking style, dialects, or vocal qualities.

Green:
Green marks draw my attention to post-dialogue attributions, to alert me to the imperative to perform a line of dialogue with a specific inflection or tone (i.e. “he hissed,” “she squeaked,” “he said with a sneer,” “she added in a flat tone”).

I’m also obviously clocking the tone of the book overall. Magical realism calls for a different vocal energy or vocal environment than does comedy, or philosophy, or memoir, or contemporary epic novel or historical romance. That’s not something I think about a great deal, because it should be obvious or intuitive. A great narrator should be a lover of literature, and I have always been so. I’m sure there are many things I do intuitively and automatically as a narrator that come from my lifelong commitment to reading.

Yes, I do perform all the character voices, and I record them all at once, not record one character at a time edited together.

I have a particular love for work that focuses on social justice, so I’ve been proud to voice work such as Eleanor Roosevelt’s autobiography; lyrical remembrances of a child’s perspective of the Holocaust, Yellow Star; a young Muslim immigrant’s perspective of September 11th, The Day of the Pelican; and Let Me Stand Alone, the extraordinary collection of writing by Rachel Corrie.
I earned an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Vermont College of Fine Arts, so I particularly love recording nonfiction, particularly memoir. I feel deep commitment to the author of any book I perform, but when I’m voicing someone’s personal story of transformation, the task and the privilege are even greater. I also love literary fiction and great mystery/thriller. But really, if the work is well-written, thoughtful, and heartfelt, no matter what the genre, I’m delighted to work on it.
More than anything, I am committed to strengthening human connectedness, equality, justice, and peace. I want to tell stories that enlighten, uplift, inspire, move, educate, and encourage transformation.

Great question. Let’s talk! Get in touch.

I hang out with my love and pet the kitties, drink coffee, write or avoid writing, train in Committed Impulse with Josh Pais, read books, talk to my beloved family, miss my friends, yearn for Maine, take singing lessons, admire the willow tree outside my library/office window, watch kitties watching birds at the feeder hanging on my fire escape, do yoga, drink rye, and listen to music.

I have been an alto with the magnificent Choral Society at Grace Church since 2014 (and for ten happy years sang with the wonderful Renaissance Voices in Maine).

I take pictures that inspire peace, goodwill, and joy in my heart, and hopefully the hearts of others (check out Juniper Street Photography).

The daughter of a labor union leader father and a musician/artist mother and raised in southern Idaho, Tavia began her actor training at age 17 at the University of Washington before earning a BFA in Acting and Original Works at Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts. After college, she moved to Portland, Maine to study documentary radio at the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies (now Salt at MECA), and remained in Southern Maine for twelve years, performing on stage, in film and commercials, and as a voice actor. Upon completing her MFA in Creative Non-fiction at Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2013, she relocated to Brooklyn, New York, to expand her career as an actor and producer.

Tavia was born with foot deformities and has endured more than a dozen major corrective surgeries starting at seven months old, a story she shared in a popular TEDx Talk: On Surrender. Her vulnerability in discussing pain and “failure” exemplifies the vulnerable, courageous, inspiring speaking and teaching that she now skillfully offers in communities and classrooms. Since 2016 she has led a variety of workshops in voice, performance, and writing as a faculty member in the VCFA’s Writing & Publishing MFA and as a guest lecturer at VCFA’s Writing MFA, as well as at Long Island University. She has spoken to students all over the United States on craft and the intersection of art and entrepreneurship.

A guitar and piano player and a skilled alto singer in choirs from Idaho to Seattle to Maine to New York, in her “off hours,” Tavia is a fine art photographer and a lover of flowers, yoga and meditation, and her crazy little zoo, including two dogs and two cats. She lives with her family in a historic rowhouse on the Hudson River in Nyack, 30 miles north of Manhattan.