Unless you are narrating your autobiography, your listener doesn't want to know anything about you. He has no interest in finding out how you feel. He doesn't want to know anything about your personal preferences, your attitudes, your interests, or your hopes and expectations. When you interject yourself into the narration, you are telling your listener to stop listening to the story, stop listening to the Narrator.

The Narrator is a fictional person, as made-up as any character in your book. Fix that concept firmly in your mind. The only voice your listener wants to hear is the Narrator.

Here are just some of the ways you are different than the Narrator: The Narrator doesn't stop talking when the phone rings. The Narrator doesn't get sleepy and stop talking to take a nap. The Narrator doesn't get hungry and go get something to eat. The Narrator doesn't get mad at one of the kids and take it out on another one. The Narrator never gets a cold. The Narrator doesn't get frustrated by how long it is taking to tell the story.

If you feel the need to be yourself for a while, stop recording your audiobook and go find someone to talk to. Make a phone call or jump in the car and go somewhere. But don't bring yourself into the recording.

Lock in this message: when you are behind the mic, it can never be you talking; it must always be your Narrator talking.

You have something more important to do than be the voice talking. Your job is to provide the imagination and inspiration which drives the Narrator's voice. You are continually challenging yourself to discover the best interpretation of the words as you read them and as your Narrator speaks them. You are consciously applying the techniques discussed in this book for making a good recording.