Elizabeth Wiley

What was the first audiobook you performed?

Cry Wolf by Angela Campbell

What title or series are you best known for?

Too Old For This by Samantha Downing

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

Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin by Sue Prideaux
Under a War-Torn Sky by L.M. Elliott
Eternal Guardians series by Elisabeth Naughton
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Five-Part Invention by Andrea J. Buchanan

Where else have we heard your voice?

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation: The Idea of America History e-textbook (multiple voices); Paul Meier Dialect Services, Inc.: Voicing Shakespeare e-textbook (Lady Macbeth)
In A Manner of Speaking podcast with Paul Meier: Episode 45: Read Me A Story

What do you always have in the booth?

Ganesha statue, cleaning cloth for my reading glasses, lip balm, essential oil, throat spray, face spritz. A squishy mat for when I stand, and a nobby cushion to rest my feet on for when I’m sitting or perching. Water bottle, of course.

How did you come to performing audiobooks?

My career as a Theatre Professor (teaching Acting, Voice & Speech, Dialects, Shakespeare) evolved quite naturally into narrating audiobooks. I do owe narration rock star Scott Brick a huge thanks for hosting a narrating contest back in 2011 where I placed in the top three (along with Amy Rubinate and Jennifer Dixon). That led me to a workshop with Scott Brick, Pat Fraley, and Katherine Kellgren at John Marshall Media, with Zane Birdwell as our engineer. And then it was all about attending the annual Audio Publishers conference, reaching out, making connections, doing the work, listening and learning always, persisting, and catching the wave at a fortunate time.

Anything else you’d like a listener to know?

I used to say to my theatre students that vocal communication was not a completed loop until their sound reached the audience’s ears. Although performing to a mic is different from performing on stage, the idea remains. My narration isn’t completed when I send in my recorded sound files; it must reach the listener’s ears, it must carry the author’s story or message. There is a whole team of people helping to make that happen, wanting optimize the listener’s experience. I am grateful to be part of a greater collaboration. And YOU, listener, you are essential!