Amanda Stribling

What was the first audiobook you performed?

Delinquent by MF Lorson

What title or series are you best known for?

Anatomy of an Alibi by Ashley Elston.

If a listener wanted to get to know your work, which of your audiobooks would you point them to?

Anatomy of an Alibi by Ashley Elston
Little Miss Petty by Sally Kilpatrick
A Likeable Woman by May Cobb
When the Bones Sing by Ginny Myers Sain
Hat Trick: A Hockey Romantic Comedy by CoraLee June & Carrie Gray

What do you always have in the booth?

Vaseline, a pencil, hand sanitizer, water, my dog Mini, a booth plant, and probably a Celsius.

How did you come to performing audiobooks?

“I still can’t believe I became an audiobook narrator. I wasn’t an actor—I didn’t know a single thing about the industry. I was closing my Nashville boutique when I realized the narrator of a bestselling audiobook probably wasn’t a celebrity. I’d always assumed famous actors narrated books! So I thought, ‘Maybe a new author would let me read their book.’ I bought a $30 microphone from Wish.com (the Temu before Temu), hid in my closet, and Googled everything: ‘What is a WAV file?’, recording software, editing, and literally how to plug in a microphone. I kept it secret until I’d booked 11 audiobooks.”

Anything else you’d like a listener to know?

“I believe everyone starts somewhere. I wasn’t an actor. I didn’t know anyone in publishing. But I believed expertise could be learned if I was willing to outwork my inexperience. This career isn’t easy, and not everyone sticks with it. I scratched and clawed my way in. Don’t wait until you know everything to begin—but once you begin, never stop learning.”