Finding your Voice: Ian M. Walker

Have you ever wondered about narrating an audiobook? 

If you read my 2012 blog about my experience as an author-narrator you already know why authors can be the worst narrators of our own books! And why choosing the right narrator is so important. The moment I heard Ian's submission for Someone To Look Up To, I knew I'd found the voice of Sirius and, since publication three weeks ago, listeners are agreeing with me. So who is the man behind Walker's Words? And what's the inside story on being a Voice?

Ian M. Walker is a Brit living in Los Angeles who broke the shackles of many years in the corporate I.T. world to follow a more creative dream. He is known for 5* audiobook narration in his 'deep, gravelly voice'. He has an upcoming part in a stop-motion film, upcoming animation narration, completed Orcish feast voices and ambience for an upcoming role-playing game by World Tree Studios. 

As Ian is a Voice, he decided to answer my questions live for you, on video, so you could see him working and so he could expand on his answers. You can enjoy the full version of Ian's interview here and I can only say that I was moved to tears by the end of it - good tears.

 Welcome to my blog, Ian! 

Tell me a bit about yourself - where do you live and what do you do when you’re not recording a book?

Originally from England, I live in Los Angeles, CA. I’ve actually now been over here for longer than I lived in the country of my birth! When not recording I’m usually playing with my dog, Bailey, reading, swimming, playing a computer game or visiting friends.

Ian and his Catahoula Leopard Dog (with that beautiful coat!) x pitbull, Bailey in McArthur park

Can you give me a brief picture of your personal journey as a Voice Actor?
After a long career in I.T. and one too many lay-offs, I started to put serious thought into what I actually wanted to do when I grow up. I.T. had been good to me but it never fulfilled me. I did some traveling and during that time, I came across an ad for a voice assessment. I went along, heard myself recorded in a professional booth for the first time and a fire was lit in my belly. I just completed my fourth complete audiobook and I’m working on the fifth. I may also be voicing Einstein the English Elephant in an independent stop-motion film. Since elephants have always been my favourite animal, that would be fun. I definitely intend to do some voice work for gaming.

How do you prepare for recording an audiobook?
Initially, I read the book. I try to just enjoy it as a reader would but, of course, I’m already starting to think of the voices. I’ll speak with the author in case they have input or I need to clarify anything such as words, accents, etc. When it comes time to record, it varies. Sometimes, the voice(s) will just come to me. With others, I may try a few out and see which I prefer. If there are a great many voices I’ll usually record snippets which I may refer back to.

Do you network with other Voice Actors? Are there any sites you’d recommend?
Absolutely! I have quite a few peers I’m connected with via social media. There are a great many voice groups out there so I’d rather not favour any single one. One thing I would mention, though, is that I’ve always found these groups and my peers to be very helpful. I heard early on that, unlike other areas of the entertainment industry, voice is less cut-throat and more about lifting one another up. So far, I’ve found this to be the case.

How can an author help the Voice Actor/ Producer of his/her book?
Hmm, an interesting question. Though I don’t have a great deal of personal experience yet, from what I’ve read some authors can be quite hands-on whilst others leave it to the Narrator. Usually, though, this IS a partnership so there ought to be some discussion. Steering clear of too much description of tone/flavor would be helpful as it isn’t always easy to understand exactly what the author was going for. One thing which would be nice, though it is likely not feasible, is if the author could consider, when writing, just how long a sentence they are writing (without any pauses) and how that might affect the poor narrator as they attempt to voice it without expiring. 😉
Hahaha. Guilty as charged!

 Are there ways in which authors can hinder or even spoil the Voice Actor’s recording of a book?
Micro-management. Changing their minds causing many re-records.

If you could wave a magic wand and change something about your career what would it be?
I’d be a little further along. More established. More known. Because, hopefully, such a position lessens the bane of all creative types – the weakening of self-confidence/belief in oneself.
That is exactly how I feel! You say more about this in the video and I can identify with all of it!

Tell me about your working day. Do you work to a routine? Do you use a recording studio? Endless cups of coffee or tea?
I have an audio booth I created out of a large (5' x 5' x 8') closet. It has walls treated with Auralex acoustic tiles, thick carpet, etc. Despite being from England, I never had the endless cups of tea habit and now, I rarely drink it or coffee. I’m always drinking water. I always have, thankfully. 

I always warm up. First, I’ll do some singing along to music as I’m checking emails and what not, then I’ll follow the routine of a friend and peer, Amy Walker (no relation) immediately prior to any recording session. Try the routine yourself!

Who or what has been the greatest help to you as a Voice Actor?The helpful people of the forum for the free software I mainly use (Audacity) and of the ACX Facebook group.

What has been the hardest thing for you to overcome in becoming a Voice Actor?
Lack of self-confidence. This hit me hard over the past year or so due to some personal challenges/events which had nothing to do with my voice work.

If you could pick one character in one of your audiobooks, to spend some time with, who would it be and why?
I can’t give just one, it has to be two. 😊 First of all, Sirius from Someone To Look Up To by an author you may know because I love dogs and I feel I got to know him so well so I’d love to meet him. Secondly, Gon from The Oldest Living Vampire series by Joseph Duncan because - come on! - he is 30,000 years old! How fascinating that would be.

Tell me about your latest audiobook and why we should all buy it?
My first three books are all of a supernatural bent. This is fine for me as my favourite genres are sci-fi and horror. Of course, this isn’t a realm all readers enjoy. Due to this, plus having to overcome the aforementioned challenges to finish this book, Someone To Look Up To is something I’m going to cherish dearly. It is a book which appeals universally and one which became a crucible of sorts for me. 

Beyond my very personal reasons, it truly is wonderfully written. There were times I would come out of the booth, interact with my own dog, Bailey and I’d find myself looking at her differently, even asking her if she was doing what I had just read about. I had to keep on reminding myself that this was a book of fiction, not fact! It takes one into the psyche and thoughts of a dog so well. 😊

Bailey in her famous pink raincoat (to misquote Leonard Cohen). Ian was fed up of people assuming that Bailey was male so she always wears pink.

Thank you, Ian. Your narration brought my book alive for me and I loved every moment. Readers can listen to Ian reading Chapter 2 of the audiobook here and judge for themselves how Ian 'became the voice of Sirius, and made Sirius and the others feel so real'. (5* review)

What are you working on next?I have already started on the next in the Oldest Living Vampire series. After that, though, I’m going to try to spread my wings a little. I’d like to go for some computer game or commercial work and perhaps one or two non-fiction audiobooks.

Where can we find you?
The easiest way is via my website,  as it has links to all of my social media. 

You can buy Someone To Look Up To audiobook FREE to new audible members from

Audible (US)

Audible (UK)

Amazon (US) Amazon (UK) iTunes: The book is available from bookstores

Part 2 Thank you, Rachel Koch, from those who speak with tails

Welcome back, Rachel. Last time you visited, you told the story of Max, a special dog. This time, we're going to talk more about dog fostering and adoption in general.

Rachel with her pack

How many Great Pyrenees live with you ? I have 7 Great Pyrenees at the moment: 3 males and 4 females.

How do you introduce a new dog to the pack?
I just walk with the new dog and the rest will follow.  I’ve never had any problems.  If it is a young Pyrenees with a lot of blabla I present them to the pack and normally the blabla disappears very quickly when they are confronted by 7 other Pyrenees. Behavioural problems like that normally solve themselves.
I remember you once said it was like a man walking into a bar full of really strong people - he doesn't put on a tough act in that situation.

The pack chez Rachel

Do you intervene in the relationships between the dogs?After a month or two, maybe three, the pack will find out themselves where the new dog will be in rank. I never intervene. A pack is a pack and I am not a dog, but I am the pack leader so all the dogs stand under me. That has to be clear from day one!

I know that you worked with huge packs of hunting dogs in England. How did that come about? What did you gain from the experience?
Through friends that I had met through hunting I came into contact with various large dog packs in England and France.

The old saying is 'look at dogs and you will learn'. People do not take the time to observe and they treat dogs like humans and that is where all the trouble is coming from. A dog has a different way of looking at things. I see so many mistakes that people make and dogs going into a shelter because it is allegedly a mean dog who has attacked children. But for a dog, a child can be seen as another dog. 

This is very important - if a child walks by with a sausage, the dog will take it because he thinks that the child is lower in rank than he is. The dog would never try to steal the same sausage from a higher-ranked dog. That is why you should not intervene in a pack and normally they will sort themselves out. A dog that is too late for dinner eats less than the rest etc. Of course it is a difference if you have one dog or 10 or 60 but  basically it is always the same. If you want a stable environment, whether you have one dog or many, you must be a pack leader otherwise the dog will take over!

Christmas chez Rachel

You have succeeded with all kinds of dogs, including those who have been labelled as dangerous, aggressive with people or with other dogs; what is the secret of your success?
Especially in the beginning with an aggressive dog (by the way not so many dogs are aggressive it is mostly through fear that they developed that behaviour) but the best thing to do in the first encounter with a dog not to look at him and not to touch him just avoid him and give the dog time to come to you. I also think that as a pack leader you need a certain energy that the dog will pick up; do not hesitate and again maybe only 2 or  3% of dogs are really dangerous and the rest is simply bad behavior that you can correct with time.

Feeding Time

How do you cope when dogs you’ve fostered, and loved, go to new homes?
You simply have to. Of course it is not always easy but as a foster home you cannot keep every dog  and I am always happy if they find good homes.

As somebody who offers foster care, you have to work with many organisations. Do you ever find it hard to stay on good terms? If you disagree with their advice? Or if you know that the conditions in which the dogs are kept are appalling?
It is sometimes not easy. Some organizations are happy that the dog is in a foster home and think that the problem is solved. You have to ask them again and again to find an adoptant. They always think that you will keep the dog but the problem is that if you want to continue to foster dogs you cannot keep them all.

Let’s talk about money. Sometimes thousands of euros can be spent getting one very ill dog transported hundreds of miles to be rescued, while another healthy abandoned dog in a SPA, near the rescuer, is put down. Do you think associations make rational business decisions?
No I think a lot of organization are not run as a business but are run by people who react from their heart and not with rational thinking. I also think that organizations put sad pictures on the internet to get the most amount of money to finance other things. I had that with a dog from Spain who was in a very bad situation for months and months I was called by two ladies who had already donated 1000 euros to get the dog to France. However the dog was still in Spain and there was always an excuse why the dog could not be transported but they kept putting the most horrible pictures on the internet demanding for money.

So I decided to contact with the organization and informed them that I would take care of transport with the money they already had from the two ladies and otherwise I would expose the story on several sites. I arranged transport and the dog was brought to me the following week me in an extremely bad condition. I am not certain if he had been kept for much longer in the shelter in Spain where he was being fed bread if he would have survived.

I sometimes feel that the money that is spent bringing a dog in from a far away country could be better spent closer to home. Am I against taking dogs from Spain?That depends if somebody falls in love on the internet and wants to pay transport etc. to adopt that dog. There is nothing wrong with it but I am against organizations that use that kind of pictures to gain money even if it is to finance other things because I had the good example of the two ladies who paid 1000 euro for one dog and the dog nearly died in Spain. In my opinion that is bad management!

As somebody who fosters dogs, you make loads of money, don’t you? And get lots of other support too?
I never received any money except for the transport of the Spanish dog paid by the two ladies and it took a while to convince the organization!  I always pay the vet and the food. I see that as my contribution to help.  So as a foster home I have never received any money.

How do you keep your spirits up while working with abandoned, abused and ill dogs in a world that seems ever worse for them?
I always think that one dog saved is one dog saved. As harsh as it may sound, I do what I can but you simply cannot save them all.

Twilight barking chez Rachel

Tell us about some of the dogs who’ve come to live with you. 
We kept several dogs mostly because they were already quite old or very difficult to place.  Cimba, who tried to climb up the walls out of fear when he first came to our house and Weasson who had been maltreated.  Unfortunately they all died several years after they came to us, from causes that began in their ill treatment. 

Weasson died from a brain tumor, probably caused by being hit on his nose by his previous owner. He developed a tumor above his nose). Cimba was mistreated with a stick in his mouth when they wanted to move him from one box to another in the refuge.  He died from cancer of the jaw probably from the injury.  Max died from lymphatic cancer and that was very difficult for me because he finally had a good home but had such  a short time to enjoy it.

So yes, it is a great joy to be a Foster Home and yes, it is also difficult to lose a dog who in your opinion would have deserved a better life for many years but that is life and it does not always go as you want to.

Thank you, Rachel. 

If you would like to win an ebook of my story 'Someone To Look Up To' just post a comment below, before 30th September, in any of the blog posts about Rachel. If you already have my story from the viewpoint of a Great Pyrenees, please choose another book.

Rachel is happy to answer any questions you might have so feel free to post them below.

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The Princess' 9th Birthday Celebration

9 years ago today, a puppy was born on a farm in the Pyrenees. 

For some reason, her choosing fell through. She was still playing with her siblings when someone on her breeder’s waiting list phoned for news of the next litter and said ‘We’ll take her.’ 

Jean and Blanche's family at the Neouvielle kennels

The masters-to-be drove for 5 hours to fetch her and 5 hours home. Then they suffered hours of Béarnaise folk songs howled until no-one could bear any more and a compromise on sleeping-place was negotiated (the puppy chose her place and the people got some sleep). And so Blanche-Neige de Néouvielle arrived like an avalanche into our lives.  

You always think that having had dogs prepares you for the next one. It doesn’t. If you’re lucky enough to have known the friendship of an old dog, you are doubly unprepared for the next puppy, lulled into a false sense of expertise. It’s like childbirth; if anyone remembered what it was really like, no-one would do it twice. And with giant dogs, everything is bigger.

Blanche is the only dog I’ve known who didn’t just devour books; she chose them by sniffing along the bookshelves. She had a penchant for Terry Pratchett but if she could sniff out a book one of us was currently reading, and chew the last pages up on the lawn before we finished it, she was in ecstasy. Just when we’d established some basic principles of living together, we collected her friend, Bételgeuse de la Plaine d'Astrée. And that’s when the fun really began. You’ll note that the humans look much younger in the early photos.

Out-take1

Out-take2

Official Photo - John with the puppies 2006

Before allowing us to take her puppy away, Blanche’s breeder, Nadine, asked us, ‘What sort of life are you offering her?’ I’ve written about Nadine and her Pyreneans, in The Dog who cries Wolf (One Sixth of a Gill) and she can be fierce on her dogs’ behalf.

I can answer Nadine now; this is the life Blanche has offered us, for 9 crazy years.

We prepared for our puppy.

Daiquiri preparing to train her 4th and 5th Pyrenean Mountain Dogs

The puppy had things to learn too.

So that's a cat!

Like most aristocratic demoiselles, Blanche went to finishing school in Switzerland. Here she says thank you to top dog trainer Michel Hasbrouck, at the end of 2 days of Dressage Tendresse (I translated his bestseller into English as Gentle Dog Training)

Blanche and Michel

The only time I've ever dressed up a dog was when Arsenal reached the Champions' League Final and I became over-excited.

Thierry Blanche Henry

The dynamic duo grew up together... and grew... up. 

... finishing at 50kg and 70kg. Weighing a 6 month old male Pyrenean is fun.           

The games Bétel invented with Blanche lived on after we lost him to health problems and visitors can still enjoy being ambushed by white lightning. She hides behind the hedge then surprise-bombs them.

In her middle years Blanche perfected her modelling skills for my istock portfolio and can be found on many leaflets and websites, the face of pet care and dog training, both on her own and with her friend Lou.


When I told John my idea for this shoot, his get-out clause was 'You'll never get the dog to do it.' Blanche gave an Oscar-winning performance and I love this family portrait. She was actually obeying a long down-stay but the expression shows total immersion in the role. This photo features in a French article about homeless people and their dogs 

Blanche has welcomed two shelter dogs into her life, always confident in her relationship with us. We've holidayed together and we've grieved together. A year ago she had a stomach torsion, an emergency which is usually fatal. The operation was successful, despite her trashing her stitches and her cage the next day at the vet's, and refusing to eat until I was summoned to take charge. 

Blanche and Sherlock on holiday, Lac Ste Croix

She has a BIG character and an even bigger sense of fun.She inspired the character of Snow in Someone to Look Up To and committed some of the funny crimes attributed to Sirius. On one occasion, Bétel barked in the middle of the night to alert me; I threw on my dressing-gown, expecting burglars, and I found the door to the spare bedroom ajar. Blanche was curled up on the sofa in there, tucking into a box of dog treats she'd filched from the wardrobe. She still tests me out and she's still happy when I win. Dogs!

Her latest modelling credits include the book trailer for One Sixth of a Gill which also includes some of her photos; and a cameo role in the trailer for Someone to Look Up To, acting Sirius' brother. If Belle in the famous film can be played by a male, I don't see why my star actress can't change gender if required.

She is even going to be a pin-up girl. The 1st edition of the new International Magazine for Pyrs will be printed in March - with Blanche and Bétel featuring on the cover. You can see Blanche. The beautiful male featured on the left is called Romeo.

The magazine will also feature Someone to Look Up To in serial form. Check it out!

Subscribe to Pyr International Magazine

Happy 9th birthday, princess.

Among amazon.uk top dog books since 2013. 
'A wonderful dog story'

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