The delightful Janet Stark of Random House Audio asked me to lend my voice to the debut novel Ostrich by Matt Greene. What an extraordinary woman is Janet. When I first met her I told her of my friend Helga in England who has been suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome for some 20 years. Now bed-ridden and unable to speak, her only solace is listening to audio books. After hearing this, Janet handed me a very large cardboard box and directed me to the library.  Choose anything for your friend, she said.

I can’t say enough good about Janet. In the booth, she is patient, calm, understanding. Quite simply, she is the perfect audiobook producer.

I recorded several letters (eight pages) of this book, playing the headmaster, Mr. Clifford. A very small part, but so nice to record in an air-conditioned studio and with a director who knew exactly what he wanted.

The key is in the research. I’d read these letters a dozen times and annotated them on my iAnnotate app. I asked a couple of questions about pronunciation of words which saved a lot of time. In and out in under 30 minutes.

What I especially like about this company is that they give you two hard copies (Cds) when you record a full audiobook. Something to send my elderly mother who would, sadly, be incapable of downloading an Mp3 via audible.com.