Anne Flosnik is an accomplished British actress with lead credits on stage, television, commercials, and voice-overs. A seasoned narrator, she has garnered two AudioFile Earphones Awards, an ALA Award, and three Audie Award nominations. Her narration of Little Bee by Chris Cleave was chosen as one of the Best Audiobooks of the Year by AudioFile magazine and one of the Top 40 Best Audiobooks of 2009 by Library Journal.

Anne can be found on the web at:  www.anneflosnik.com

About Audiobooks:

JP: Anne, how did you get your start in audio books, and what made you interested in the genre in the first place? Were you yourself an audiobook listener?

AF: I have always been fascinated by words, books and sounds. Listening to songs with a story can make me cry. I’m thinking particularly of “In The Ghetto” sung by Elvis Presley. The power and immediacy of that song just churns me up. Another one is “Two Little Boys” by Rolf Harris. Give it a listen and see what I mean.

I got interested in audiobooks in earnest when I had a lengthy commute to work as a nurse. I listened to mostly British narrators and authors. I love mysteries especially. I enjoy the  format of these kinds of books, in which there is usually excellent character development, strong plot, clues to keep me focused, a beginning middle and end, with order being restored at the end. In the back of my mind I thought maybe I could do this, but it stayed as a dream for a long while as I had no idea of how to pursue it.

As I started to make movement towards a career change I joined a business women’s networking group. Here I met a lady who made occasional appearances on a local Public Access TV program. She knew of a show starting that was looking for Host/Reporters. I auditioned, got the job and met other actors. Through them I learned about the business of acting. I took voice lessons as my first acting classes. A local organization called the Actors’ Center was instrumental in my journey. Every week auditions of various kinds were listed. One week there was a casting call for people to send in taped auditions to the Library of Congress for the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Challenged.

I had my voice teacher help me put a tape together following the specs, and crossed my fingers. I sent it in, and after some time I got a call from the LOC asking me if I would like to go to their studios and record live, what I had sent in on tape. I did that, and after about 7 months got a call to say I had been approved by the library for narration and that they had a book for me. I worked there for 13 years, and learned pretty much everything I know about audiobooks there, as I read all kinds of fiction, and nonfiction including magazines. It was excellent training for the commercial world.

While working at LOC  I also recorded some books for other companies, and my first commercial book won an ALA award, and was recorded in their studios. It was The Wheel On The School by Meindert DeJong.

JP: What kind of things do you do to prepare for recording an audio book? Is there a great deal of preparation, or do you do the technical stuff–word lists, etc. and let the flow of the narrative and characters become more organic?

AF: I spend a good deal of time in preparing my books. This is a result of my LOC training, which was really a gift. I read the book through and make 2 lists, one of words to look up ( and keep track of for consistency of pronunciation), and the other to make notes about the characters, where they are from, age, size, general disposition etc, anything that gives a clue as to how they speak. I may investigate or brush up on accent to prepare myself. Once recording starts, whatever comes, comes, and then my job is to keep it consistent from day to day while recording is in progress.

JP: Do you have a favorite narration, or a favorite author or series?

AF: As to audiobooks I have narrated I have especially loved the ones that have been recognized, but also many others, such as “Wait For Me”, “The Churchill’s In Love and War,” Who Fears Death,” The Robin Hobbe books, the Jacqueline Carey series which involved a complex alternate Europe. Many Romances!

Nowadays, in my own listening, I still love the mystery vehicle, and always watch for the latest by P D James, Ruth Rendell, Tana French and many others.

JP: You mentioned to me that you have been a life-long devotee of books in general. Can you tell us a little about this passion?

AF: I am a true bibliophile so have to make mention of where my love affair with books began.

I can remember loving English class when Miss Thompson would read to us from Radiant Readers The Gleaming Road and other books in the series. This text book contained some gems! Extracts from poems such as The Pobble Who Has No Toes by Edward Lear, plays such as The Biter Bit by T. Kelly, and stories such as The Ungrateful Larch by Compton Mackenzie. These extracts from all forms of the written word fired my imagination at a very early age, along with some glorious illustrations.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Famous Five mysteries series by the incomparable Enid Blyton. This series and its characters are with me still, and were an early spur to my imagination and sense of fun, along with “lashings of ginger beer.”

JP: The Pobble Who Has No Toes, sent me off to Google, pretty much immediately. However, I must know. What is a “lashing of ginger beer”?

AF: Ha! This phrase is always linked in my mind to happy times. Lashings of ginger beer is LOTS of ginger beer! The 5 children in the “Famous Five “ books, were always having picnics comprised of the most delicious foods and washed down with lashings of ginger beer.

JP: Which audiobook or books so far, have been the most challenging and why?

AF: There have been many! Some of the most challenging crossed my path at the LOC such as “The Norton History Of Chemistry,” read by me, who has never had a chemistry lesson. My brother in law helped me with that one, which involved putting diagrams into words and other wonderful, and to me, incomprehensible things. Another would be the mammoth “Constantinople” (lots of Turkish). 0n a personal level “Wait For Me” a memoir written by the current Duchess of Devonshire who is 90 years old, was all absorbing as it covered such a broad swath of history, and the challenge of  getting the tone for an older lady right.

“Little Bee” has been in a class all on its own. The challenge here was to sound believable as a 15 year old from another land, with a mixture of innocence and world weariness.

JP: Is there a review or award or nomination you’ve received that has made you feel the most professionally satisfied and why? Is there one that has made you feel the most personally satisfied?

AF: My very first award was an ALA award for the first commercial audiobook I ever did “The Wheel On The School” by Meindert Dejong. After that my  AudioFile Earphones Award for The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox for Blackstone Audio was groundbreaking for me, and was as important to me personally as professionally, as it was another  first. This book was also my first Audie Nomination. The other book is Little Bee for Tantor Audio. This book won an AudioFile Earphones Award and 2 Best Books of the year awards for both AudioFile and Library Journal. This book meant a great deal to me personally, as it was such a gut wrenching challenge, and I really didn’t know if I would be able to pull off.

JP: As a voice artist as well as a narrator, what training was the most beneficial to you, and what would you recommend to someone trying to break into the voice and narration market?

AF: I have to credit my voice teacher John Burr. He gave me the tools and the confidence to be a successful voice artist. He helped me put together the demo tape for the LOC that got me my start.

Really, after knowing the basics of voice over, I would say that the best way to learn is to do it. Experience truly is the best teacher in my opinion. I think listening to other narrators all the time is very helpful and listening to yourself if you can stand it. I think reading customer comments on my work is vastly helpful in a general sense, though extremely painful. If I see a common thread of criticism concerning something I can change I will work on that. I am always striving to improve, and that keeps things healthy and growing. I have also found the thoughtful comments gleaned from the All About Romance column on Goodreads, has been immensely important to me, by discussing what the Romance listener is hoping to hear in a good read.

JP: What are you working on right now?

AF: Right now I am narrating a sweeping saga of love and adventure set mainly in New Zealand. The ground this book covers is impressive. I have also enjoyed researching, and finding out about the Maori language and how the Maori travelled to New Zealand. This is one of things I most love about my work, there is constant discovery of so many things that I would otherwise be unaware of. The book is called In The Land Of The Long White Cloud for Brilliance Audio. I’m loving it!

About Production:

JP: Anne, in our phone conversation you mentioned you often work outside of your home in a professional studio environment with an engineer.  What is it about this type of situation or relationship that most appeals to you?

AF: I work in 2 main venues. I work at home on my Tantor projects, which makes it possible for me to record myself, and I am so grateful to have this opportunity. I also do work for several studios with the help of a local engineer. I direct myself, and he watches for misreads, noises etc, and is my sounding board. In these two environments I feel I am at the helm and have the opportunity to do things to the very best of my ability.

JP: If you were to change into a solo recording style exclusively, a  completely at home situation, do you worry that the constant  lack of benefit of another “ear” might hamper you?

AF: I am very comfortable with self directing. I sometimes think it would be nice to do a combination of being directed, versus being alone. I am always eager to learn more and to do things with a different approach.

JP: Since the trend, whether we like it or not, is clearly marching toward the narrator having their own studio, and in truth, becoming chief cook and bottle washer, do you feel any pressure from publishers to  adapt?

AF: I don’t feel pressure from the publisher’s to adapt, at this point. Once I saw that it was necessary to find a way to engineer my narrations in order to work with most publishers I set about finding someone with those qualifications. I was very lucky to find an engineer par excellence, who can record, edit, and master, and as I have access to a LOC trained proofer, I am able to offer a complete product of the highest standards, at whatever level of production is required by a publisher.

Tantor deserves a special mention here for making it possible for me  to work with many differerent publishers through the Tantor Studios program, all the way from auditioning, to narrating the finished product, without having a lick of technical training. I really enjoy the level of involvement I have with this format.

JP: Do you think this trend, home studio vs. professional studio, influences the performance quality of Audiobooks in general?

AF: I don’t think my performance is much affected by whether I record on my own, or with someone recording me. The only difference would be that I feel I can go over more things more times when I am on my own, and I am scrupulous re the quality of output. In effect the buck stops with me. In a world where more and more things are beyond control, I like having this opportunity.

ABOUT YOU:

JP:Anne, you have had an amazing ability to cross lines in your life, both in places you’ve called home, and career wise. The career changes, I find truly amazing in their wholly fascinating and seemingly eclectic nature, but more on that in a minute. I know you were born and raised in England, studied nursing in Ireland, eventually came to live in California, and now reside in Virginia. What brought about all those changes in latitude?

AF: I think I have always been a passionate, rather impulsive person, and my passions and desires, are what have propelled the changes in career and geography. It would seem as if I take a lot of chances, but really I am very steady, and try to proceed with a backup plan, but live my life knowing that change, when desirable, is possible and necessary.

My first career was nursing, which was a very uninspired choice as my mother was a nurse and my father a doctor. This was a pragmatic choice, as I knew with this qualification I would always have a job, and it’s a career that you could do a lot with, such as travel. I never intended to stay in one place, and close off all possibility of change. The reason for training as a nurse in Dublin, Ireland is that my mother had trained there, and it would be a “safe” move from England. I was seventeen when I began my training, and wanted to branch out with a safety net in place!

The move to California came about when I met my husband at a disco in Manchester, England. After meeting him we corresponded pretty much every week by letter, (seems so antiquated now but one of the best ways to get to know someone deeply I believe) and he called me every week. We visited each other about three times that year, and when he asked me to marry him I said yes! That was the very BEST decision I have ever made.

I lived in California directly after we got married. My husband was working with the California Goodyear Blimp at the time. That first year we traveled by road as part of his job, following the Blimp to Vancouver, with lots of stops on the way, as the Blimp was covering The World Fair.

Living in Virginia came about because my husband and I decided that would be the best spot for us to live in, and raise a family. The reasons being a proximity to his family, geographic location and climate.

JP: Now this is the area that really peaks my interest. Let’s call this the changes in attitude part (I humbly apologize Jimmy Buffet).  Before becoming an actor, and subsequently a narrator, as you’ve mentioned, you were a nurse, a mid-wife, an obstetric nurse, and  somewhere in-between, a stewardess for Laker Airlines, and you also sold make-up as a sideline. What was the progression and impetus for such a myriad of careers? This feels a little like one of those multiple choice questions where there are many objects in a line, and you must pick the ones that don’t fit!

AF: My reasons for becoming a nurse involved choosing a sound “spring board” that would allow me to change directions, either within that profession or without. I don’t think I ever intended it to be necessarily permanent, and I didn’t want to be frivolous, or end up in a career rut. After nursing I decided to further my education and make the very best of that career choice for me, by studying to become a midwife. I thought that working in that aspect of nursing would be more uplifting. Once I obtained both my nursing and midwifery qualifications, I felt it was safe to branch out and see the world, thinking I could always return to midwifery if things didn’t work out.

So, I applied to various airlines and was accepted by Laker Airways, in Manchester, England. This was a six month temporary position, which also had the possibility of becoming permanent if you were considered to be doing a good job, as each flight was assessed by an In Flight Director. After the six months I went back to my job as a staff midwife, in Manchester. I loved Manchester. To my mind it had the busy, exciting cosmopolitan feel of London without the sprawl.  It turned out that I was offered a permanent position at Laker Airways, but the company very soon went under, so I was happy with my choice to be back on safe ground!

This was the point at which, I met my husband to be, married him, and went to live in America. After a while I became a nurse in America and this involved taking the American Nursing Boards exam. I studied very hard for this, as it was a long time since I had studied to become a nurse in Ireland, and some medical ideas had changed. Luckily I passed the exam the first time, in San Jose, California. I then became an American obstetric nurse.

The following years were the nesting, generative ones, where I worked throughout, and had my son and daughter, who are two years less two days apart. Once they were born I could see the shape of my life, and began to look up and out, and began to think about what I wanted to do with my working years. By now I worked twelve hour night shifts as an obstetric nurse.

The first thing that happened was that a flyer came in my mail box advertising CEUS, Continuing Education Credits, which were necessary to have in order to be allowed to practice as a nurse. This flyer concerned the “transferable skills” that nurses have, and how to possibly transfer those skills to other careers! Lateral thinking at its finest.

I took the class, which was run by a very dynamic lady, Clarissa Russo who set me on fire to the possibilities of building on my existing skills, and using them as a basis for other careers. One of the books she suggested to me was about home based businesses, and in it I came across information about a Swedish cosmetic and skin care line called Oriflame. I felt it was something that I could do as a step into the business world, and might be a vehicle to learn about things that were appealing to me. In trying to broaden my sphere of acquaintance I joined a businesswomen’s’ networking group, and here met a fellow English woman who became a mentor and great friend, Judy Larkin.

Eventually through one of the group’s members, a hypnotist, I was introduced to acting. This lady did a show on a local public access TV station, and told me about a new women’s magazine show called Eye On Beauty, which was auditioning for Host/Interviewers.

JP: Sorry! Have to interrupt for one second. She was a hypnotist?

AF: Yes, a hypnotist! She spoke on a local TV show, among many other  things. Another fascinating Renaissance woman!

I went for an audition, got the gig, and there began meeting actors, and through networking found out how to become an actor. This introduced me to the extraordinarily helpful Actors’ Center, which is an organization which provides audition notices, holds classes, and provides all kinds of information to aspiring and established actors.

My first lessons I decided should be with my voice, not only because of my accent, but also a lifelong love of words, books, and language. John Burr was the teacher I picked out, and he taught me about voiceovers, put together my demo and gave me information about marketing myself. I also took all kinds of acting lessons, after I’d spent about six months training with Mr. Burr.

Through following the Actors’ Center hotline weekly audition notices, I came across a casting call for Library of Congress studio narrators. My voice teacher helped me complete the requirements and demo for the LOC, and then I was called in to do the audition live in the LOC studios. This was July 1995. In February 1996 I got a call to say they had a book for me, and there it all started! Pretty much everything I know about the art and craft of audiobook narration, I learned in my time there. There were no directors, and a huge variety of books. We were recorded by “monitors” who followed along in the text, and recorded the books.

While at the LOC I did some short stories and Romances for commercial companies, and then, as mentioned previously, had the opportunity to narrate The Wheel on the School for Listening Library in 2000, which won an ALA award. I sent out demos to audiobook production companies of which Brilliance was my first regular client, and to whom I am eternally grateful.

The next huge break came when I started working with Tantor Media. This meant after a few months that I didn’t have to travel to the LOC to work regularly, and could concentrate my efforts in the commercial arena. The trip to record for the LOC took four hours round trip, and I did it gratefully, for thirteen years.  It was a gamble, as there are no guarantees in life, but luckily it worked out. In 2008 I recorded Little Bee which was a huge success, and I won three awards with that very special book. It is still a best seller to this day.

JP: Even more intriguing is that through all of this, you have found the time to maintain a marriage, and be a wife and mother. How do you find the time to make all the pieces fit? What effect has your family had on your artistic progression?

AF: I’m so glad you asked this question! None of this would have been possible without my husband! How DO I find the time to make it all fit?

Time is a non negotiable, you manage it, or your life is gone in a blink. I have always had a huge respect for time. I do not subscribe to the belief that you can have it all. I don’t want IT ALL, because that’s not realistic or desirable to me. Wherever you put your focus things will happen…

I have been blessed with my husband in innumerable ways. I really believe no one achieves anything on their own, especially if there is a family involved, and I could not have achieved anything without his love, support and practical help with the children, and just day to day “stuff.” We have been married 27 years this September. That’s a lot of changes, challenges and joy to have traveled through, and it wouldn’t be possible without him.  I think we have made a very good team through the years.

Life is about choices. My children never knew anything different. I worked a lot, but was always there for them, and also they had the benefit of having a very full relationship with their father. I think we have done a good job of providing a stable loving home, and given good example of the importance of following your dreams in a realistic way, and the importance of a good work ethic, and a loving partnership. A kind of balance in life.

I don’t know that any of this would have happened if I hadn’t come to America. Things are possible here, even to this day, and being here got into my soul to such a degree that I wanted to make my mark in a lasting way.

JP: Are there any other careers lurking out there from your past, or anything that intrigues you beyond what you are doing now? Is there something else, possibly another career change, that  you’d like to see yourself doing  5 or 10 years from now?

One thing I didn’t mention concerning the time when I was learning and growing business skills with my cosmetics venture, is that  as I was painfully shy, and had to present my cosmetics via a demonstration, I looked around to see what might help me with my presentations. I had heard wonderful things about Toastmasters International to help in this regard, and found the nearest club and joined up. Doing this was extremely helpful, and I learned a great deal about the nuts and bolts of speaking.

In a very fortuitous twist many years later, my friend of the original networking group, invited me to a networking event hosted by another group that she was attending. I went, and heard that a new Toastmasters Group was starting very close to my home. Fate had struck again! I joined and was able to pick up where I had left off with my original speeches. So now I am a “Competent Communicator” and the current President of my local club. I have a great deal to thank this organization for, and am continuing down it’s interesting and ever challenging path.

My plan is just to keep on keeping on, and being open to, and aware of opportunity, and to keep trying to improve in everything I do. Stagnation is death 🙂

JP: Do you have any closing advice for aspiring narrators out there? Any suggestions for women like yourself who have had to juggle family, career and circumstances, often simultaneously?

AF: My advice to aspiring narrators is mainly to be aware of options. I think having a good day time job is essential in the early days. Looking ahead is vitally important. Time slips by so quickly, and with it your hopes and dreams.

Having said that I don’t think it’s ever too late, and never limit yourself. Manage your life and your time as best you can. That means doing a lot of small things regularly, which can amount over time to a thriving career.

Specific advice as regards narration includes finding opportunities to read aloud outside of your home. Maybe do an online search for “reading for the blind.”

Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Seek out good teachers, such as the uber talented and savvy Johnny Heller, and Paul Ruben director/teacher extraordinaire. Scott Brick and Pat Frayley are also excellent resources. I don’t know if there were specific audiobook teachers when I started, but it always helps to study for the specific thing you want to learn.

Respect time on a daily and long term level, and take a long term view of your career, while you take daily steps to make it a reality.

Join the Audio Publishers Association, and go to APAC annually. This is an annual meeting consisting of classes concerning audiobook related topics. There is also the opportunity to meet decision makers, face to face, in the person of audiobook producers. The power of meeting people in person is inestimable, and networking is vital.

Get a good demo, and send it to all the publishers on the list you’ll get from joining the Audio Publishers Association. Keep in touch with the publishers, but don’t be a pest. I think twice a year should do it.

Subscribe to AudioFile magazine, this is the “bible” of the audiobook industry. Read the reviews, and listen to audiobooks constantly.

Read your own reviews wherever you find them, painful as it can be, and act on negative appraisals that are fixable, such as overall tone and pace.

Keep it fresh never stop striving!

Just for the Hell of it:

JP: What was the best thing BEFORE sliced bread?

AF: Best thing before sliced bread has to be electricity. No audiobooks without that!

AA/JP: Many thanks to the lovely and lively Anne Flosnik for taking part in our Abbreviated Audio interview. By generously allowing me the chance to peek behind the narrator curtain, I found a wonderfully intelligent, warm, thoughtful and funny human being. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to any of Anne’s myriad audiobook narrations you owe it to yourself to do so; I promise she brings all the aforementioned qualities and more.