R. C. Bray

R. C. Bray is a producer and voice actor known for over 250 audiobooks, an Audie Award, Earphones Awards, and Voice Arts Awards winner^[5], Off-Broadway and Edinburgh Fringe Festival performer, and TV and radio commercial narrator.^[6]

Early life

From age 14 Bray acted in school plays, going on to major in theatre at college before taking a job making commercials where he listened to audiobooks on his commute.^[7]

About the Author

R.C. Bray loves what he does for a living. He steps into a recording booth in his house every day and reads books out loud. He easily could have missed his calling. “The funny thing is I hated books growing up,” he says.

What R.C. loved to do, from the age of 14 onward, was act in school plays. He went on to major in theater in college and eventually used his acting skills to land a job with a company that made commercials. “Most of what we did was car dealerships,” R.C. says. He got paid to “scream and shout about zero-percent financing.”

I’m here during the day if the kids are sick. I can work as much as I want during the day or as little as I want. So long as I make the deadline, it’s freedom and fun. And I’m exactly where I want to be." R.C. Bray

His boss wanted him to learn about business and assigned him audiobooks to listen to on his commute. For a guy who still avoided books, it opened up a whole new world. He decided to try listening to some novels for fun. The second one changed his life. It featured the late Frank Muller, a legendary audiobook narrator. “I was like, oh my god. You can do all those different voices? You don’t have to just read the book straight through? I said, oh god, this is what I’ve got to do.”

On evenings and weekends, R.C. threw himself into mastering the craft of making audiobooks. It was a tough learning curve, much more exacting than recording commercials. At a voice acting seminar, someone asked R.C., “Have you heard of this thing, ACX?”

ACX turned out to be Amazon’s Audiobook Creation Exchange. It's a way for independent voice actors, authors, and producers to connect and collaborate in a direct, self-service way—with no go-betweens. Using ACX, this community of artists has created more than 43,000 audiobooks and counting since the site launched four years ago. On a recent Tuesday, more than 2,000 titles were open for auditions.

R.C. signed up. “I was able to be in contact with authors – some pretty established. Most of them are independent, but they’ve got huge followings. So you’d be able to go on there and audition. You’d talk to them and they’d say, ‘Hey, we want to cast you.’ And I’d say, ‘Alright. Let me be honest with you. I’m brand new to this, so can we have an open communication where you work with me, I’ll work with you to get you the product that you want? I’m gonna bust my butt for you, but I am brand new.’”

A year and a half later, R.C. was able to quit his job making commercials. Three years later, he got nominated for two Audie Awards, the highest honor of the audiobook industry.

One nomination was for The Enemy of My Enemy, a thriller about the race to stop a terrorist plot. The other was for The Martian, which tells the story of a resourceful astronaut left for dead during a mission to Mars. In one review, a customer called R.C.’s work on The Martian “simply outstanding with an excellent range of voices and a tone that matches the tension inherent throughout the story.” Another wrote, “This may be the best audiobook performance I have ever heard.” A year later, a fresh release of The Martian got nominated again, and this time R.C. took home the Audie in the science fiction category.

R.C. is performing on a big stage that's only getting bigger. Millions of customers at Amazon subsidiary Audible download audiobooks. ACX helps authors and voice actors give listeners what they want—more audiobooks to choose from, with great performances. Asked about ACX, R.C. says, “I love them. They’re the greatest. They helped me get a huge start. Little things that you’d normally really have to pay for — for an education somewhere at a studio or in an audio class.”

Big things keep happening for R.C. and The Martian. As of the first week of October 2015, R.C.’s audiobook version has earned five-star ratings from 50,000 customers and counting, and a movie version just topped the U.S. box office. “I wasn’t anywhere near the movie set during filming, unfortunately,” R.C. says. “But I did manage to score a ticket to the world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.” He went and saw it again on opening weekend – this time with his wife. “She loved it. I knew she would,” he says. “We went with our 6-week-old son. I hesitate to say that he slept all the way through it, as it might not bode well for a positive review.”

Despite the tens of thousands of raves for his audiobook, R.C. says, “The Martian did more for me than I did for The Martian.” R.C. is still learning. And his audiobook career is a lot of work. But it’s work he loves, and it’s on his terms.

“I get to work from home. I get to bring my kids to school, get them off the bus. I’m here for dinner. I’m here during the day if the kids are sick. I can work as much as I want during the day or as little as I want. So long as I make the deadline, it’s freedom and fun. And I’m exactly where I want to be. I’m so fulfilled with this it’s not even funny.”

Audiobooks

Awards

• Voice Arts Award 2017 for Short Story Anthology^[8]
• Audie Award for Best Science Fiction Audiobook 2015^[9][10]
• Voice Arts Award 2015 for Crime & Thriller^[11]
• Listen-Up Award 2014 for Fiction & Audiobook Narrator of the Year^[12]

References

External links

• Official Web Site
• R.C. Bray at Goodreads