One of the most exciting parts of working on My Life in Plants was the process of creating the audiobook version of it. This is the first book I’ve done that had a manuscript, so it wasn’t even on the table before with my other illustrated books. I was super excited for the opportunity with this one!
I worked with an audiobook editor at Andrews McMeel, who did a fantastic job with the project. She left the choice up to me, whether I would want to narrate the book myself or to have the publisher hire a professional voice over narrator. I was, of course, a bit intimidated by thinking of narrating it myself, so we decided to hear some samples from this database of professional voice actors that the publisher works with before making the decision. We came across some really great candidates, so I picked a few of my favorites to have the editor request auditions from. One of them was Taylor Meskimen—her samples caught my attention immediately. There was something special about her voice that captured the perfect amount of youth, vulnerability, and introspection that we were looking for. I decided then that I wanted this book to have a professional narrator.
A few weeks later, we got the audition samples back and it was really fun getting to listen to them. It was also kind of surreal to hear a stranger reading my words to me, and a little bit like someone reading my diary out loud! Taylor’s audition knocked it out of the park—it was absolutely perfect and exactly what we had envisioned for this. So, she was hired as the official narrator and went on to narrate the rest of the book over the coming weeks. I think it’s interesting how her name was the first one I wrote down when I was browsing all of the possible voice actors in the beginning stages. My editor said that you just sort of know when it clicks and you find the right voice for a book, and honestly it was exactly what happened here. I’m really grateful that she narrated My Life in Plants and I can’t imagine a better fit. Below is a sample from the chapter “Daisies” if you’d like to take a listen.
The audiobook version of My Life in Plants is available wherever audiobooks are sold!
