Jill Shalvis and Karen White – both are eternal favorites at AudioGals. We have reviewed ten of Jill’s books which means reviewers are choosing her titles. Karen’s narrations have been reviewed ten times as well and her average grade from our AudioGals reviewers? An A. Talk about an in demand narrator around here!
Jill’s latest entry to her Animal Magnetism series, Still the One, releases today and it’s time to celebrate with a chat and a giveaway! You’ll find Melinda’s review of Still the One beneath our chat/giveaway.
The Giveaway is now closed
Chatting with Jill and Karen
LEA Welcome Jill and Karen to AudioGals! We’re thrilled to have you with us today.
JILL Thank you for inviting us!
KAREN So fun to be here and talk to you both about audiobooks!
LEA Jill, Still the One releases today simultaneously in print and audio formats. Although it’s the sixth in the Animal Magnetism series, some of our listeners may be new to the series. Can you give us a look into the series’ setting?
JILL Hot guys and funny animals, I figured they were a good mix. :)
KAREN Sounds like my house :)
LEA Good one Karen. :)
KAREN Well, just one hot guy.
LEA It’s AJ and Darcy’s story this time around. What is the setup for Still the One? Will listeners know either from previous books in the series?
JILL These books can stand alone. So if you haven’t read any of the prior books, you’re fine jumping in with Still the One. But if you have read previously, you’ll recognize Darcy as the sister of Then Came You‘s Wyatt Stone.
JILL She was the one with a bit of an attitude, and also fighting her way back to health after a near death experience.
KAREN And AJ’s his best friend, right?
JILL And yes, AJ is Wyatt’s best bud. They go way back. But Still the One really concentrates on just AJ and Darcy. I like to do that so readers can just jump in if they want.
LEA As a reader/listener who tends to read things out of order (even when needed), I appreciate that!
JILL So basically we have this tough badass AJ Wyatt and the extremely feisty Darcy Stone… let’s just say it’s not love at first sight.
KAREN I have to say, I think I gave her more than “a bit” of attitude!
JILL I can’t wait to hear what you’ve done with them both, Karen!
JILL You do such AMAZING voices. Truly I’m so grateful to have you!
KAREN Thank you! Is there an emoticon for blushing…?
LEA Jill, we think she is pretty amazing too.
LEA Karen, you have narrated the entire Animal Magnetism series. How many years since Book 1, Animal Magnetism? Have you had the opportunity to work directly with Jill over those years?
KAREN The first book, Animal Magnetism released in 2011. Jill was available with each book to answer my questions – any pronunciations I couldn’t find. But her characters are so clearly written they just jump off the page.
JILL AW, thank you!
KAREN We did get to meet this summer at RWA 2014 – it was lovely to meet her in person after all the emailing back and forth.
JILL Karen and I met last summer, so much fun.
LEA Jill – how did it feel the first time you heard a narrator “performing” your words?
JILL Oh I’ve been listening to books on my iPod for a long time. It was a dream come true to have my books go to audio.
LEA An audio-listening author! How we love to hear that!
KAREN I always think there must be some sort of adjustment – if they’ve been living in your head and any of the characters come out different than what you’d imagined.
JILL Definitely an adjustment but a welcome one. And I’ve had fun listening to you voice the animals in this series. Especially Peanut The Parrot. :)
JILL Peanut has a little swearing problem.
LEA Jill, can you share with our listeners some of your favorite listens over the years?
JILL You mean other books? Sure… Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. LOVE them. All of JD Robb’s In Death series. All of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series…
LEA Yes!
JILL And also I love to listen to JR Ward vampires on audio too. :)
JILL But mostly … Harry Potter. Goodness, that narrator is AMAZING.
LEA I have to try Harry Potter. I haven’t and feel so out of it.
KAREN Oh, yes, we listened to all of the Harry Potter series when my kids were younger – they played on our living room CD player so it was like Jim Dale had moved in with us.
KAREN And he was a welcome guest.
JILL Jim Dale! Amazing narrator.
KAREN I got to meet him at the Audies one year and got his autograph.
LEA As I was preparing for our chat today, I asked our reviewers what they most wanted me to touch upon. One of the most frequently mentioned was your animal vocalizations, Karen. I must admit that I too was rather amazed with your performance of animal characters. How do you go about voicing a particular animal?
JILL She does a damn good job with Bean The Cat too! All of them…
KAREN Well, I managed to have a good preparation for this. Many years ago, I was in a play called Holiday Memories which was an adaptation of very sweet stories by Truman Capote (if you can believe it). I played “Woman” which meant I had all the ancillary female parts but I also got the part of the dog. The actors mimed the dog on stage and I would bark backstage as indicated in the text.
JILL Ha! Cute.
KAREN Several times after the show, little old ladies would come back stage asking to meet the dog. They thought he was real!
KAREN This is kind of nerdy, but I approach the animal voices like I do the people. I think of what their intent is (which Jill usually makes clear) and I think that as I make as realistic a Woof or Meow as I can.
KAREN As for Peanut, the aforementioned swearing Parrot, one of the few children’s series I’ve done is Mrs. Piggle Wiggle – remember those old books?
KAREN There’s a talking parrot in those so I had to figure that out years ago.
JILL :)
JILL A swearing parrot.
KAREN In Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, he didn’t swear, of course.
LEA Well, it works! Every audio review I have seen of your animal characterizations has included a “Wow!” statement.
JILL And Still the One actually gave you a slight break from the zaniness. But you still had a few.
KAREN I’m just waiting for Jill to write in a camel or sheep or something…
JILL Ha! Don’t tempt me. In the next one, All I Want, there is Oreo the dog and then two wild heathen kittens.
KAREN Peanut was in full force in Still the One. He had a funny scene with Darcy.
KAREN Oh, if it’s Oreo, I can guess who the heroine will be!
JILL Oh yes, that’s right… :) Next time I write Parrot, I’m going to think of you.
KAREN I can’t wait!
LEA Moving onto to more of what we as listeners are accustomed to :), Karen, can you share with us the challenge of voicing three brothers?
KAREN Well, as you know, Lea, the romance listeners are all about the hero voices! With this series, the first three heroes were two brothers (Dell and Adam) and an adopted brother, Brady. So I couldn’t differentiate with different accents – they’d all grown up together, and Adam and Dell were very similar in body type, too.
LEA Oh, they most definitely are. Me being one of the most vocal about it. I want heroes to sounds like heroes!
KAREN So to keep them straight in my head, I used this acting/movement technique called Laban (its French) which organizes movement quality by duration, strength and speed. So Brady was a “Punch” (quick, direct and strong), Dell was a Float (slow, indirect and light) and Adam was a “Press” (slow, direct and strong).
LEA Okay – I’m thoroughly impressed with that…
KAREN I’m sure listeners can’t hear those things, but I’ve used it in other series, too and it really helps me make them different in the way they speak.
JILL And it makes a great difference, I’m so impressed with your technique.
KAREN Oh, yes thanks.
KAREN I hate it when the voices sound pushed or fakey as a listener.
KAREN So I try to keep them as real as possible, using my lower range, but rather than trying to sound like a man, I try and think like a man. If that makes sense?
LEA Makes total sense to me.
KAREN Which is a challenge you have as a writer, yes?
JILL Oh most definitely! It’s a real challenge to make the characters different, so they stand out.
KAREN But also to think like a man, I would think.
LEA In our recent Narrators Forum, Simon Vance used a term I hadn’t heard – binge listening. And that happens a lot in the romance world, especially with series. But I can’t imagine how hard that makes it for the narrator. That means many listeners will expect every hero and heroine to sound different with every book.
JILL Same thing happens in print. Readers binge read a bunch of your books in a row, so those heroes best be different from each other and stand out.
JILL And believe me, readers have no problem pointing out any inconsistencies. :)
LEA It does happen in print! Hadn’t thought about that but it’s been a few years since I binge “read” – I listen mostly these days.
KAREN I learned quickly to keep track of my voices by making MP3 samples of each character’s voice which I store for future reference. Both to keep them consistent AND different from each other.
LEA So the Animal Magnetism series has another two advantages over other series in audio format – an author and a narrator who take care to differentiate the hero and heroine from book to book.
KAREN Well, I try. I’m sure I don’t go as far as some would like, but I’d rather err on the side of realism.
LEA Yes, please no cartoonish characters!
LEA Although I know that you wouldn’t even think about such a thing Karen
KAREN :)
KAREN Not even for Peanut.
LEA HA!
JILL :)
LEA Jill, I see you just mentioned All I Want as another entry into the Animal Magnetism series. Do you plan to continue beyond All I Want? Or is that something not to be divulged at this time?
JILL I have a few more up my sleeve. :)
KAREN Yay! I love Sunshine. I wish I could visit the place!
LEA Now for a question we see A LOT. Listeners automatically believe that authors choose their narrators…
LEA We often see narrators and authors paired up on multiple series. Jill, I noticed that you have a number of different narrators for your audiobooks, of which there looks to be thirty-one. I see Karen is the only narrator who has narrated an entire series. Do you have any influence in the choice of narrators for your books?
JILL I have zero influence or input into my audiobooks at this time. I got incredibly lucky with Karen.
LEA We agree!
KAREN Authors can get narrator approval or choice in their contract, but it has to happen pretty early in the process of selling the audiobook rights.
JILL Yes, it’s something that will change with my next contract for sure.
LEA A quote from our Still the One review (immediately below today’s chat), “Karen White brought her usual smart and sassy narration to this book – she has wonderful comic timing as well as all the emotions necessary for voicing the wisecracks and witty banter that Shalvis gives her characters.”
KAREN I just wish I was as funny as Jill in real life!
JILL Aw, thanks Karen. :)
KAREN And thanks to the AudioGals reviewer!
LEA Karen, can you give our listeners a brief rundown on how you are chosen to narrate books? Do you request certain titles? Are you required to audition?
KAREN I work as an independent contractor with a variety of audiobook publishers and producers. Usually I get an email asking if I am interested in a book and available for its schedule. Sometimes I am asked to record a short sample, but most of the time they go off my previous work.
KAREN I’m not too picky about genres or subject matter, but Tantor is particularly good about listening to narrators’ particular interests. I let them know years ago that I am a huge dog and horse person and because of that I’ve narrated some great “dogoirs” (You Had Me at Woof by the hilarious Julie Klam and A Dog Walks Into a Nursing Home by Sue Halpern) as well as informational books like Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz. I think that may be how I was originally attached to the Animal Magnetism series.
LEA Another misconception listeners often have – if the author isn’t choosing the narrator, surely the narrator is choosing the author.
KAREN Well, if I like recording an author’s work, then I’ll definitely pursue a relationship with them and do a bit more to promote the book.
KAREN Jill’s books are not only fun because they’re funny and emotional and have the animals, but they flow so well they’re very efficient to record.
LEA Jill, we’re curious about what is next. Now that the Lucky Harbor series has come to an end, will you continue writing the charming, small-town contemporaries or do you have plans to branch off into another type of romance?
JILL I’ve written a three book series, Cedar Ridge. It takes place on a ski resort in Colorado. Hot guys doing ski patrol, search and rescue… that sort of thing. :) After that, I’m working on it. Stay tuned.
KAREN That sounds dreamy!
LEA Speaking of your new Cedar Ridge series, (looks to be scheduled for June), do you have any indication that it will be released in audio format at the same time?
JILL Yes, it will be released same day.
LEA Now that news is going to cause some excitement!
LEA Karen, what are some of your current or future projects in the works at this time? Romance or not – books or not.
KAREN On the non-romance side, coming shortly is The Residence, by Kate Anderson Brower, a cool non-fiction about the people who work behind the scenes at the White House, basically from the Kennedy era to the present.
KAREN I have an interesting genre-bending non-fiction book that came out recently called Unrequited: Women and Romantic Obsession by Lisa A. Phillips.
KAREN In romance, Total Surrender by Rebecca Zanetti just released, last in the Sin Brothers romantic suspense series. Coming in April or May is Cat’s Lair by Christine Feehan from her Leopard shifter series. And then late spring or early summer, Zanetti’s entire Dark Protectors paranormal suspense series will be released. I have been immersed in shifters, vampires, demons and other monsters for the past few months.
LEA You are busy!
KAREN Yes. ma’am. I love it. I did two cat shifter books back to back by two very different authors. It was fascinating.
KAREN And Still the One was a welcome change of pace in the middle of it all, for sure.
JILL :)
JILL Happy to hear it!
LEA Jill, is there anything else you want to add before we start our sign off?
JILL Just thank you for having me, lovely chatting with you both!
LEA Yes, thanks to both of you for chatting with us today!!
JILL TTYS!
KAREN Love talking to you Lea, and I’m just imagining Jill writing this with one of her usual amazing writing views with Frat Boy at her feet :) Or maybe on her feet.
LEA Thanks again Karen and Jill!
Time to Enter
Contest has ended.
Happy listening!
Lea Hensley
Thanks for the fun interview, I enjoyed reading it! I love this series and am just starting to discover the ease and convenience of audiobooks. I have also heard many great things about Karen’s work. Thanks for the chance to win!
Oh, girl, you have to go back and start with the first one! The development of Peanut’s character and the arc of his story over the series is something you really need to hear in Karen’s voice. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry – you’ll be totally addicted to audiobooks before it’s all over, and you’ll be ruined for life for anything less than a stellar narration – take my word on this!
OMG, Melinda. You are so funny. I am picturing it now: someone will do their Phd thesis on the character arc of Peanut the Parrot in the Animal Magnetism series….
I just finished this book and Karen was (as always) fabulous! Shalvis and White are an award winning combo!
Awwww…….Mrs. Piggle Wiggle- haven’t thought about those books in a long time.
I know, Lee! Even when I recorded them, which was years ago, they were warm childhood memories for me. I think they are pretty timeless. Kind of surreal, maybe a little magic realism, and so funny.
Great interview! Thanks. Jill is one of my favorite author and I love all of her books
please enter me in Audio giveaway. I’m a huge fan of Jill and Karen……I have all the others on this series on audio.
Karen Wicks
thanks for your comment – to enter, please use the form above – we are not using comments for this fun giveaway!
Congrats to our winners – Hannah, Holly, Andi, Jennifer, and Valerie! All have confirmed their wins and are now working with a Tantor to receive their copy of STILL THE ONE.
Thanks to all who entered!