Narrator Spotlight: Jeffrey Kafer
Lissa: How did you get started with Narrating?
I started about 8 years while I was an employee of Microsoft. I started cutting my teeth on a site called Podiobooks.com, which features serialized audiobooks, usually narrated by the author. I did a few short story anthologies and a couple of full length novels for other authors. After a few of those were done, author Jeremy Robinson hired me to narrate a few of his novels. When a later series of his was picked up by Audible, he asked that I narrate them. That was my foot in the door. The rest is history, mixed with blood, sweat, and tears.
Lissa: What is your favorite book that you've done so far?
I love all my children equally. But I have a special fondness for Ryk Brown's Frontier Saga, Cristin Harber's Titan series, Nathan Lowell's Solar Clipper series and in nonfiction, I loved NFL Confidential. And my snarky side loves the D-List Supervillain series by Jim Bernheimer and the Supervillainy series by C.T. Phipps.
Lissa: I listened to pretty much the whole Titan Series by Cristin Harber, How fun was it to do that series and the characters?
I love the Titan series. Big tuff guys who go weak in the knees for their strong, sexy women. My wife reads a ton of romance and on more than one occasion, I've stormed out of the booth and said "Can you believe he said that to her? What the hell was he thinking??" I get very caught up in the character, the situations, and their relationships.
Lissa: How do you prepare for a book? Do you read all of them ahead of time?
I read the book ahead of time and try to mark anything that I'll need to know. Characters, accents, whatever.
Lissa: Just like the famous mean tweets, Whats the meanest but most hilarious review you've had?
For David Goleman's The Supernaturals, I had to sing. This was a mistake because I am not a singer. And one reviewer said that he enjoyed the book but, "Kafer must never EVER be allowed to sing in one again. EVER." I couldn't agree more.
Lissa: Who is your favorite character that you've ever narrated?
I'm going to go with Cal Stringel, the snarky anti-hero of the D-List Supervillain series. He tries so hard to be a bad guy, but just utterly fails and ends up doing the right thing, most of the time. And he's snarky as all get out, so I get to let me sarcasm freak flag fly and have fun with it. The same is true of the entire gang of supervillains in C.T. Phipps's Supervillainy series.
Lissa: Thank you so much for doing the interview. Just one last question. What are you working on now? or is that top secret?
I am putting the finishing touches on Cristin Harber's Delta: Revenge and I have to say that this is one of the best ones she's done. Very emotional ride. This series just keeps getting better. And I got to read it before anyone else. Jealous? :)
Lissa: ... I can say that I'am Highly Jealous! lol Thank you Jeffrey for taking the time and answering my awesome questions!
About Jeffrey
Jeffrey Kafer is a full-time SAG-AFTRA audiobook narrator and voice over artist who has narrated over 300 audiobooks for such authors as NYT bestsellers Clive Barker, Bob Mayer, Maya Banks, Gregg Olsen and many others. He holds 2 degrees in cinema and broadcasting and has been on stage since he was 13 (his mom still has the bellhop costume she made). He currently lives in a suburb of Los Angeles with his family and dog. You can learn more at his website at http://audiobook-voice-over.com or check out his titles at Audible: http://goo.gl/9TDeV9