Man Who Reads For Books On Tape Expects To Make $150,000 This Year

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Scott Brick sat alone before a music stand in a small recording studio last month, puzzling over the word "fecundated" on the sheet of paper in front of him. Should the accent be on the first or second syllable? "I think it's safe to say I've never spoken this word aloud before," he said.

Mr. Brick has uttered many uncommon words -- "rapine," "retributive" and "circumvallated" among them -- on his way to becoming an invisible star in a growing business: audio books. In his five-year career, the 38-year-old Mr. Brick has narrated about 200 books, including such bestsellers as "The Lion's Game," a novel by Nelson DeMille, and "In the Heart of the Sea," a nonfiction work about a shipwreck, by Nathaniel Philbrick. "He has the kind of voice you don't grow tired of," says Scott Matthews, president of Books on Tape, a big audio publisher that uses Mr. Brick more than it does any other narrator. Audio books are now an $800 million business in the U.S.

Publishers of recorded books typically try to recruit either the author or a celebrity whose photo on the package can help sales. But authors often don't have great voices and celebrities often don't have time, especially to do an unabridged book that can require 100 hours of recording for 25 hours of finished tape.

Many turn to Mr. Brick, who has vocal talents peculiarly suited to his medium. "He has a flexible voice, in between a tenor and a baritone, which gives him a versatility in terms of the characters that he can play," says Mary Beth Roche, vice president of Audio Renaissance, a big publisher of audio books. Also, she says, he can sound the same at the beginning and the end of a production.

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Now, Mr. Brick narrates 45 to 60 books a year, earning about $300 per finished hour, about double what other audio narrators make. It takes about four to five hours of recording to make one finished hour. Mr. Brick says he expects to earn about $150,000 this year from his audio work.

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With three kids, the business and all the other typical household craziness -- it's the only way I can "read" books for entertainment. I have CDs in the car for traveling to and from different practices, classes, schools, etc. I have another in the kitchen stereo that I crank up with cooking and cleaning. I also use them when I'm out hiking and/or biking.

I'm also a bit of a snob about it. I only listen to completely unabridged books on tape. 99.9% of them are checked out from my local library.

Oh, another thing, I check out the children's books on tape too. My four-year-old is already reading several words because of them. (She can follow along with the tapes/CDs.)

I'm not sure if I've ever listened to anything by Scott Brick, but more power to him. :)

I rigged myself a system to listen while on the tractor mowing pasture. It takes a mighty good pair of earphones but it works and I don't end up getting bored and quitting early.