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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ANECDOTE

How She Accidentally Became A Narrator

Julia Whelan moved from child acting into audiobooks after a friend’s mother suggested it and she made a demo tape.
She landed early YA work because the industry needed younger-sounding narrators during the genre boom.

INSIGHT

What Makes A Book Work In Audio

Books that are voicey, with strong first-person or lively dialogue, translate best to audio.
Julia matches narration to voice and will not acquire audio unless she can imagine a narrator for it.

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.

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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)

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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?