The beginning of her success began when a friend’s mother who worked under an audio publisher told Julia Whelan about the potential audiobooks possessed. She asked her to give narrating audiobooks a try because she might like it, and that was the force that allowed Whelan to become a well sought out narrator.
Whelan is the voice behind Gillian Flynn’s award-winning book Gone Girl, Tara Westover’s bestseller Educated, and the narrator of more than 400 other audiobooks. She has also narrated versions of many articles for New York, The New Yorker, and multiple other magazines.
Whelan’s career started as an actress when she was 15. She was cast in the TV series Once and Again and also took part in Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz’s American drama series Thirtysomething. However, her acting career didn’t last long because she didn’t feel motivated enough to continue acting.
Whelan has grown to be one of Audible’s most popular narrators according to Diana Dapito, the head of Audible’s consumer content, and says it’s because her voice keeps the listener glued to the story, “You have a lot of driveway moments with Julia.”
Whelan’s narrating career took off when she got the chance to narrate the main female character, Amy Dunne, from Gone Girl. After reading the book, Whelan thought, “This book is going to be huge,” and she described the success perfectly. Gone Girl quickly became widely known and turned into a favorite of audiobook listeners, which caused Whelan to take narrating more seriously.
However, Whelan’s audiobook narration soon halted after her father passed away from a heart attack. As a result, she spent the next couple of years reflecting on the path she wanted to pursue. She landed with continuing to narrate but also decided to write a book.
In 2018, she began to work for Audm, which was a start-up business that provided an audio narration of lengthy magazine articles. The company was later purchased by The New York Times Company in 2020, so she began to work as a freelance narrator.
The same year, not long before the pandemic began, she wrote the novel Thank You for Listening, which is a story about discovering yourself and creating a life you love even when life throws unexpected obstacles.
Writers believe that Whelan has allowed them to better understand their work. For example, Olivia Nuzzi, New York magazine’s Washington correspondent whose writings have been narrated by Whelan, said “When I listen to Julia read my stories, it sounds like she is calling you over to tell you a great story. When I write now, I try to think like that, that I am calling a reader over to tell them a great story. It has completely changed my approach.”
When Flynn was about to write the screenplay for the adaptation film of Gone Girl, instead of rereading the book, she listened to Whelan’s narration saying, “Julia gave me the benefit of listening to Amy and seeing the world through her eyes.”
Whelan said that she also learns about her writing when she experiences it as a narrator:
“There is something about it that changes when you’re performing it. I read the book out loud during every stage of its revisions but it’s different when you sit down and have the microphone in front of you, when I finally am inhabiting all the characters and the story comes to life.”
Julia Whelan’s narration success was not easy, but she has shown that despite the challenges, one can beat all odds by discovering their true passion and goal.
Link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/arts/julia-whelan-audiobook-thank-you-for-listening.html
Whelan is the voice behind Gillian Flynn’s award-winning book Gone Girl, Tara Westover’s bestseller Educated, and the narrator of more than 400 other audiobooks. She has also narrated versions of many articles for New York, The New Yorker, and multiple other magazines.
Whelan’s career started as an actress when she was 15. She was cast in the TV series Once and Again and also took part in Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz’s American drama series Thirtysomething. However, her acting career didn’t last long because she didn’t feel motivated enough to continue acting.
Whelan has grown to be one of Audible’s most popular narrators according to Diana Dapito, the head of Audible’s consumer content, and says it’s because her voice keeps the listener glued to the story, “You have a lot of driveway moments with Julia.”
Whelan’s narrating career took off when she got the chance to narrate the main female character, Amy Dunne, from Gone Girl. After reading the book, Whelan thought, “This book is going to be huge,” and she described the success perfectly. Gone Girl quickly became widely known and turned into a favorite of audiobook listeners, which caused Whelan to take narrating more seriously.
However, Whelan’s audiobook narration soon halted after her father passed away from a heart attack. As a result, she spent the next couple of years reflecting on the path she wanted to pursue. She landed with continuing to narrate but also decided to write a book.
In 2018, she began to work for Audm, which was a start-up business that provided an audio narration of lengthy magazine articles. The company was later purchased by The New York Times Company in 2020, so she began to work as a freelance narrator.
The same year, not long before the pandemic began, she wrote the novel Thank You for Listening, which is a story about discovering yourself and creating a life you love even when life throws unexpected obstacles.
Writers believe that Whelan has allowed them to better understand their work. For example, Olivia Nuzzi, New York magazine’s Washington correspondent whose writings have been narrated by Whelan, said “When I listen to Julia read my stories, it sounds like she is calling you over to tell you a great story. When I write now, I try to think like that, that I am calling a reader over to tell them a great story. It has completely changed my approach.”
When Flynn was about to write the screenplay for the adaptation film of Gone Girl, instead of rereading the book, she listened to Whelan’s narration saying, “Julia gave me the benefit of listening to Amy and seeing the world through her eyes.”
Whelan said that she also learns about her writing when she experiences it as a narrator:
“There is something about it that changes when you’re performing it. I read the book out loud during every stage of its revisions but it’s different when you sit down and have the microphone in front of you, when I finally am inhabiting all the characters and the story comes to life.”
Julia Whelan’s narration success was not easy, but she has shown that despite the challenges, one can beat all odds by discovering their true passion and goal.
Link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/arts/julia-whelan-audiobook-thank-you-for-listening.html
