How an Audiobook Gets Made (with Julia Whelan!)

12 snips

Jan 28, 2026

Julia Whelan, audiobook narrator, author, and founder of Audiobrary, talks about how audiobooks are made and performed. She covers vocal technique, production roles, pronunciation research, and pacing. The conversation probes narrator pay, royalties, union protections, and the risks of synthetic voices. Julia also previews Audiobrary’s plans and the mechanics of turning books into audio.

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ADVICE

Decide What To Narrate With A Simple Filter

When Julia chooses work she now refuses scarcity-driven yeses and filters offers by whether the flap copy would make her buy the hardcover.
She also diversifies genre and prioritizes relationships and taste.

ANECDOTE

Recording Your Own Book Feels Impossible

Recording your own book proved miserable for Julia because she became hyper-critical and tried to edit on the fly.
That experience reinforced why authors are usually poor narrators of their own books.

INSIGHT

Narration Speed Has Shifted With Listening Habits

Audiobook pacing has accelerated as listeners consume more audio at higher speeds.
Narrators must balance natural speech rhythm with listener habits, but performers can't safely match extreme sped-up playback.

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How does an audiobook narrator know how to pronounce everything? Do they have editors? How many books can they do a year? What differentiates the live voice from AI — and how do they get paid (vs. how should they get paid)? And why are so many beloved books read by Julia Whelan? WELP, FRIENDS, GOOD NEWS, WE GOT JULIA WHELAN TO COME ANSWER ALL THESE QUESTIONS. This is a conversation about mechanics and production flows and vocal health... but it's also a conversation about how we conceive of and compensate artistic labor. This one's gonna stick with you — it's certainly stuck with me.

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Show Notes:

Follow Julia Whelan on Instagram here and find out more about Audiobrary here
An interview with Julia about the Audiobrary model
The episode of romance podcast Fated Mates featuring Julia
Julia Whelan named Spotify's Top Audiobook Narrator for 2026
To give you a sense of how many books Julia has narrated, you can see 432 of them listed over at Audible (she's narrated more than 500)

We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

New trends you've noticed in the world of MOMFLUENCERS
Dark academia-- the trends, the themes, the popularity, whatever you want
How to process all the STUFF accumulated from relatives (we have a really helpful organizer with a bunch of mental health training for this one!)
What would LIFE AFTER CARS look like?? (With the hosts of the War on Cars pod!)
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As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here
For this week’s discussion: What did you learn about audiobook production from this ep — and how are you going to think differently about audiobooks moving forward?