Today we’d like to introduce you to Will Damron.
Hi Will, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I am an audiobook narrator, actor, and published author, based in the beautiful neighborhood of East Lake. My performance career began at Middlebury College, where I studied drama and Italian and acted Off-Broadway for a summer. After graduating with a degree in Theater, I moved back to my hometown in southern Virginia, where I found a job acting full-time at Colonial Williamsburg. (Yup, Revolutionary War costumes, sword fights in the street, ‘Huzzah!’… the whole bit.) While there, I began work on my first novel, a fantasy adventure set in Scotland. Once I’d completed the rough draft, I packed everything I owned into an old CRV and moved across the country to Los Angeles.
In L.A., I worked to get my book published while waiting tables and bartending. It was then that I connected with some friends from college who had found success as voice actors narrating audiobooks. My first thought was, “Well I could do THAT… and it’d be a whole lot more fun than catering until 2 in the morning.” I made some quality audiobook demos, and my friends were kind enough to introduce me to publishers and producers, who cast me in my first books in 2013. Little by little, book by book, I honed my skills and met more professionals in the business. Within a couple of years, I was able to quit waiting tables for good and just focus on my audiobook career.
Before long, I was recording 50-80 books a year – but had not found a publisher for my own book. Given all that I had learned about the business, I decided to publish it independently in 2017. “The Tercentennial Baron” is now available as an e-book, audiobook, and in print, and has been delighting readers and listeners. The audiobook was nominated for two Society of Voice Arts & Sciences Awards in 2018, including Best Audiobook Production of the Year.
Finally – most importantly – it was through audiobooks that I eventually discovered Atlanta. After eight years in L.A., I was ready for a change of scene: I wanted a city that felt more grounded, with a more reasonable cost of living, and – especially – a change of seasons. I had just started dating fellow narrator and actress January LaVoy, who was a new resident of Atlanta. Having never even set foot here, I flew in for a visit and instantly fell in love. (With the city… But also with her.) I was charmed by how open and welcoming Atlantans are, how the city is a mix of native Georgians and southerners as well as people from all over the world who have come here to pursue their dreams. Within six months, I had signed a lease on my own apartment in Kirkwood and was moving across the country one more time.
Today, I record audiobooks from the home January and I share (as husband and wife now), and am hard at work on my second novel. I’m also auditioning for film and TV roles in Atlanta as I look to broaden my business to screen work. I have now voiced over 600 audiobooks across all genres, have won multiple industry awards and been featured by AudioFile Magazine and Audible.com for my work. I also took time during the pandemic to organize a mental/emotional health support group for narrators, as the nature of our work demands very long hours performing in an isolated, sedentary environment. The result is the Narrator Alliance, which now has almost 200 members from across the country and abroad, and we meet online every month to support and encourage each other in this business. I am grateful every day for the quirky, kind, sincere community that we narrators have created.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Recording audiobooks can be great fun and very fulfilling – and also grueling. We spend our working days in dark, soundproof boxes with minimal air circulation, talking to ourselves for hours on end. If you ate something a little too acidic for breakfast, if you haven’t hydrated enough or gotten enough sleep, if your stomach is rumbling even though you had a snack thirty minutes ago… you get pulled out of the moment, you have to re-record a sentence or a whole paragraph, and your workday becomes that much longer. And that’s not even counting when your neighbor starts up their leaf blower right outside your window.
But beyond the physical challenges, this work can be particularly taxing on your mental well-being. It’s very jarring for a performer to have to act – for hours and hours, with as few mistakes as possible – with absolutely no audience or human feedback. Sometimes we narrators have engineers or even directors to work with, but for the most part, we run our own home studios by ourselves in addition to narrating the books. So the work is incredibly isolating and can lead to very negative personal feelings and thoughts about your craft if you don’t maintain perspective and balance. I have chronic depression, so I struggled mightily with these challenges for years and went through some very dark times in my relationship to myself and my work before I restructured my life. I’m now very intentional with my mental and emotional energy and pay much more attention to nurturing healthy personal relationships.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As an audiobook narrator, I’m known for sincere, dynamic performances with a wide dramatic range.
I specialize primarily in the genres of fiction, history, memoir, business, and romance. I am most proud of the wide array of books I have narrated and that I am not known for voicing one particular genre. I’ve received wide acclaim for historical fiction, self-help books, corporate exposés, and romances. It’s delivering consistently honest performances across so many types of stories that has set me apart from other narrators.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Persistence. I simply do not give up any endeavor – unless I would harm myself by continuing it – and I have always been driven to follow my curiosity and what challenges me in my work. I believe excavating more about any creative pursuit reveals more about our common humanity, which is what draws people to art.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.willdamron.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jwdamron/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jwdamron
Image Credits
Getty Images
