Chat with Katherine Kellgren

Hello all! It’s the last week of the fabulous Sync community, which has provided free downloads of great Young Adult audiobooks. We’re here to celebrate the success of Sync by chatting with narrator Katherine Kellgren, the Audie Award-winning voice of Bloody Jack - a favorite of many Audiobook Community members, and a piratically popular download through Sync. Listen & Live Audio has received THREE Odyssey Award Honor medals for their production of titles in Bloody Jack series narrated by Katy Kellgren: Bloody Jack, Curse of the Blue Tattoo, and In the Belly of the Bloodhound.

I’m Mary Burkey, who you may know as Audiobooker from my blog at BooklistOnline. I’d like to welcome Katy, and thank her for taking time to answer the questions I’ll be fielding from teens & adults curious about your career as an audiobook narrator. Ready for questions from our listeners, Katy?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Katherine Kellgren on September 1, 2010 at 5:09pm

Yep! Many thanks, Mary!

Permalink Reply by Mary Burkey on September 1, 2010 at 5:10pm

Tell us a bit about yourself. What made you excited to narrate the BLOODY JACK Bloody Jack series? (Mike C.)

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Hoffine on September 1, 2010 at 5:10pm

How did you get into doing audiobooks?

Permalink Reply by Katherine Kellgren on September 1, 2010 at 5:11pm

As a narrator I am always attracted to books that are beautifully written (as reading wonderful words makes my job so much easier) and I think L.A. Meyer has written an absolutely cracking series! I also loved the fact that the books have such a strong and swashbuckling female protagonist.

Permalink Reply by Mary Burkey on September 1, 2010 at 5:11pm

How many books have you narrated? (Austin)

Permalink Reply by Katherine Kellgren on September 1, 2010 at 5:16pm

Jennifer,
I listened to lots of recordings as a child and a young adult, and after I finished my acting training in London I started looking for audio work. I got my first job as a fluke when someone dropped out at the last minute from a project!

Permalink Reply by Katherine Kellgren on September 1, 2010 at 5:18pm

Austin,

I have narrated about 150 audiobooks now!

Permalink Reply by Mary Burkey on September 1, 2010 at 5:18pm

The entire Bloody Jack series is so colorful. How long did it take to record Bloody Jack, the first in the series? Did the process go faster or slower with the subsequent titles? (Mike C.)

Permalink Reply by Katherine Kellgren on September 1, 2010 at 5:19pm

Mike,
If I remember rightly, BLOODY JACK took about four days to record. As I went along with the series I developed special ways of marking the script to make the process of recording go faster - for instance, when Jacky gets particularly excited about something her words will often come out in a rush, and there will be many different thoughts expressed in just one sentence. I learned to underline them in pencil and differentiate them with slashes so as to be able to speak more fluidly and quickly without hopefully missing out on anything she is trying to communicate in a hurry. The books with more songs in them sometimes take a bit longer, as I like to have two or three goes at each song to make sure I don't sound too croaky…!

Permalink Reply by Mary Burkey on September 1, 2010 at 5:19pm

Do you have any communication with Bloody Jack author L.A. Meyer and has he commented on your audio productions? (Kirsten C.)

Permalink Reply by Katherine Kellgren on September 1, 2010 at 5:20pm

Kirsten,
After the first BLOODY JACK book was released L.A. (Lou) Meyer's wife Annetje wrote me a very kind letter, and ever since then I have been in touch with both her and Lou before I record each title. They have been very helpful in tracking down the melodies to the traditional ballads, sea chanties and such woven through the books. Sometimes Lou will tell me if he has a particular picture of a character in his mind, so I can adjust my interpretation to make it as close to what he envisions as possible

Permalink Reply by Mary Burkey on September 1, 2010 at 5:21pm

Did the Bloody Jack author tell you his preferences for the voices before you recorded the books? (Alex)