Why Julia Whelan Is the Meryl Streep of Audiobooks

If you’re a book lover, chances are you’ve heard Julia Whelan’s voice… and probably more than once. She’s narrated over 700 audiobooks, from Gone Girl to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and has been dubbed everything from “the Meryl Streep of audiobooks” to “the Adele of audiobooks.”

Julia is the founder of Audiobrary, a new audio publishing platform reinventing how creatives are compensated.

Her debut novel, My Oxford Year, has been adapted into a Netflix film, and her latest, Thank You For Listening, was named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, Audible, and NPR.

In this episode of Shelf Made Stories, Julia talks about:

• How she went from child actor to one of the most beloved narrators in publishing
• Why recording steamy romance scenes isn’t as awkward as you think
• The surprising freedom narrators get compared to on-camera acting
  Founding Audiobrary, her publishing company designed to give narrators royalties and authors a bigger cut
• Writing her own novels
• Her best advice for aspiring narrators and anyone trying to break into the book world

Julia is not only a voice we know and love, but also a fierce advocate for creatives getting the recognition and compensation they deserve.

Check out Audiobrary here: audiobrary.com