Narrator: RJ Bayley
Length: 19 hours and 22 minutes
Series: The Cruel Gods, Book 1
Producer: Audiobook Empire
Publisher: Trudie Skies
Released: May 16, 2022
Genre: Gaslamp Fantasy


Trudie Skies has been living inside fantasy worlds ever since she discovered that
reality doesn’t quite live up to the hype. Through the magic of books, she
wishes to share these worlds of hope and heroes with other weary souls.
Living in North East England, Trudie spends most of her free time
daydreaming about clouds, devouring whatever fantasy books or video games
she can get her hands on, and chasing after her troublesome dogs, who would
like to reassure you they are very good boys. Her debut YA fantasy
series, Sand Dancer, was published through Uproar Books. Trudie is now writing adult gaslamp fantasy with her new series, The Cruel Gods.


An accomplished full-time voice actor and audiobook narrator with 4 years
of experience. RJ’s voice has been described by peers as a ‘well-weighted
baritone, balanced & deep at the same time.’ Natually he’s got a mild
Yorkshire lilt that’s trustworthy and relatable. He’s extremely adaptable
however and capable of many convincing accents, or anything you throw at him
really. RJ’s broadcast quality studio consists of a fully acoustically
treated room, RØDE NT-1A microphone, Reaper digital audio workstation and
Izotope RX7 for clean-up and mastering for that high end sound. So far he’s
narrated over 30 audiobooks with more currently in production. As a VO he’s
been the voice of brands such as Nickelodeon, Johnson and Johnson, Network
Rail, Aegon, Accord and more. He’s friendly, reliable, professional, takes
direction well and always makes sure you’re happy with your narration. He
maintains he’s not trying to ruin his own career by deafening himself with
heavy metal on his dog walks.


At Audiobook Empire, audio reigns supreme, narrators are hailed as heroes,
and headphones are worn with pride. Marrying pomp and circumstance with
quality you can count on, Audiobook Empire is a full-service production
house that produces and promotes audiobooks with gusto. Give your audiobook
the imperial treatment by producing it with Audiobook Empire.
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Q&A with Narrator RJ Bayley
-
How did you wind up narrating audiobooks? Was it always your goal or
was it something you stumbled into by chance?
-
I completely stumbled into it. I was working a normal job before I got
chronically ill and was diagnosed with diabetes. That made my depression
incredibly bad and I went through some psychosis. I had to go off work
long-term sick and eventually lost my job. The next few months were
spent applying for jobs I didn’t really want and then,
also-depressingly, getting rejected for them anyway. It was my wife who
mentioned a friend of hers narrated audiobooks through ACX. Doing
community radio, I had a microphone and knew my way around Audacity so I
gave it a shot. I got the first or second book I auditioned for, at a
PFH rate, so I decided it was worth really pursuing as a career. It
turned my world around; in part, it, and therefore my wife, saved my
life.
-
Are you an audiobook listener? What about the audiobook format appeals
to you?
-
I’m an avid listener. Unfortunately I am your stereotypical millennial
who is addicted to my phone. When I try to sit down with a book my mind
eventually wanders to my mobile, even if it’s the greatest book ever
written. Audiobooks are a different matter. I can zone right into them
but keep my hands occupied, be it walking my dogs, doing chores or
painting my Warhammer 40,000 models. Usually while listening to a
Warhammer 40,000 audiobook! I joke that I literally have to be paid to
sit down and read a book.
-
What would you say are your strongest narration abilities?
-
People have said I’m really good at making character voices distinct,
so probably that. I like to narrate books in a way that I’d want to hear
them, so I want the audience to know exactly which character is talking
when, even without dialogue tags. I often pick up interesting voices I
like from movies, video games, TV or real life and put them in my back
pocket so I can give them to an appropriate character in a project.
-
What about this title compelled you to audition as narrator?
-
It was a combination of the series title and the cover. The cover
artwork is absolutely gorgeous which drew my eye. Seeing the series is
called ‘The Cruel Gods’ massively appealed to me as there’s little more
epic than having gods as your antagonist. Reading the blurb and a sample
of the book and discovering what a clearly very talented writer Trudie
is, I knew I had to try and narrate this. I feel like I got a sense of
her ethics in the sample and synopsis, and I think we’re quite similar
in a lot of our outlooks, so that also made me want this project.
-
How did you decide how each character should sound in this title?
-
I usually send authors I work with a Welcome Pack. Part of this is a
character info sheet, where they can fill in how they see the character,
how they think they should sound, their education level, things like
that. All of that helps inform how the major characters will sound.
Trudie returned an extremely helpful one, including character portraits,
which was amazing for my narration. Trudie’s audiobook gave me even more
to work with, however. Her characters are from cultures who generally
lean hard into certain traits, such as sinfulness or earthiness, so I
was able to match them with accents I associate with those traits, be
that sincerely or playfully.
-
Do you read reviews for your audiobooks?
-
Yes. Not regularly, but I like to see how what I’m doing is being
perceived. Luckily they’re mostly nice!
-
If so, which ones stand out to you most, positive or negative?
-
It’s the positive ones. They’re really good for my self-esteem and they
confirm that my approach works for a lot of listeners. I get that
typical artist thing, where I find myself wondering ‘is this rubbish? Am
I screwing this up? Am I a rubbish narrator?’, so it’s nice to read
that’s not usually the case.
-
What do you say to those who view listening to audiobooks as “cheating”
or as inferior to “real reading”?
-
I would ask them if they think that’s true for the visually impaired or
others who can’t read, and if they’d say the same to those people. It’s
been proven that different folks take in information better in different
formats. I and many others happen to find the best way to absorb
something is aurally. If I forced myself to read a book rather than
listen to it I wouldn’t absorb the book as well - even if I wasn’t
distracted by a screen! Obviously this isn’t true for books I’m working
on, as that’s a very different process than just reading for fun.
-
What bits of advice would you give to aspiring audiobook
narrators?
-
Don’t be afraid to forge your own path. It’s easy to visit some
industry audiobook narrator social media groups and get told ‘there is
only one correct way of doing things and any other way is the wrong
way.’ That’s rubbish. Test common wisdom. If you come up with a quicker
way of doing something that gives equal or even better results, then
congratulations, you’re an innovator. Sometimes it takes a fresh pair of
eyes to come up with fresh solutions.
-
What’s next for you?
-
I’m extremely fortunate that my next several projects are all with the
wonderful people of Audiobook Empire. I’ve just finished narrating the
first The Confessions of Pavane book, The Dragonbone sword by Steven
Savile and Steve Lockley, so I’ve got the pickups to come back for that
one. I’m also about to start the first Dragon Spirits book by L.L.
MacRae, The Iron Crown. That’s a big ol’ epic, so I’m excited to tuck
into that.

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Please try not to spam posts with the same comments over and over again. Authors like seeing thoughtful comments about their books, not the same old, "I like the cover" or "sounds good" comments. While that is nice, putting some real thought and effort in is appreciated. Thank you.