Possible paid gig

[Colin]

Not sure if this goes here or not as this is not technically an actual gig, but a question pertaining to a possible gig.

I might have landed a big gig doing a narration for a ... certain book company. I had originally contacted them to just do a fan reading of one of their books.

Now, they do audio versions of their properties and they said to me

Just so we're clear here: you're going to do this as a free fan-based item, right? Or do you want to try and get it published via a private audio dealer and make some money? If it's the latter, we'll need to come up with a contract.

and that's the question I have my friends, since he's talking about contracts at this point, should I start looking for an agent/manager ?

What is the going rate to do a narration ? The book is four hundred and forty-five pages. I believe I heard the going rate was, I think, $10 a page ? am I wrong ?

Since this will be an audio book (and I can only assume podiobook too) should I try and negotiate residuals too if it's not in the contract before I sign ?

How much would a erm.... big company usually pay to do narrations of their books ?

[jsgilbert]

I have recoded a bunch of audio books and also directed authors reading their books and produced titles. I have absolutely no idea what this means:

Just so we're clear here: you're going to do this as a free fan-based item, right? Or do you want to try and get it published via a private audio dealer and make some money? If it's the latter, we'll need to come up with a contract.

I suggest you might contact your "client" and indicate you are interested in making money and ask for clarification. Something smells rotten in the state of Denmark.

Did you audition? Do they know what you sound like?

[Colin]

As I said, I originally contacted them to see about doing a fan-based reading of one of their materials.

fan-based as in free on the net.

This was something that is, I would assume, typically only available to production houses that have a list of narrators they use, however it seems like they, the book owners, might be making an offer to me for this one title.

To answer your other question, they do not know what I sound like yet.

[jsgilbert]

<biting my tongue>

[BobbyH]

My interpretation is that they want to control the price of the product and get a profitable cut of the gross take. They are not offering you a job, only wanting a piece of the action that you will do all of the work for (i.e. recording, editing, finding a vendor site, selling, and accounting.)