----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Recording time generally took twice author's estimates, despite my more
realistic predictions. Only
a professional reader can get through more than a few paragraphs at a time
with no gaffes. I saw a
C-SPAN show once that was basically a videotape of Bill O'Reilly recording
one of his books to audio
at the publisher's in-house studio. Being recorded directly to DAT.
O'Reilly nailed chapter after
chapter with barely a gaffe and no stops. I do not envy the guy keeping
take sheets because this
went so fast, it was almost all real-time. I imagine the editing took much
longer than the
recording. The notes after the video said O'Reilly was in and out in 5
hours for a 4.5 hour final
product. I think some of the actors who do higher-profile books can work
that efficiently, but
certainly not 99.99% of authors.
Since I'm (fairly) good at it, I can attest that reading printed
material of ANY sort and producing a useful audio version is a
skill not common to all who try it! Remember that it was no more
than half-a-century ago that people earned substantial salaries
as actors on radio...!
Steven C. Barr