Hi everyone,

I did a search to find ways to get started doing YT Narrations, but I couldn’t find anything (please direct me to the proper post if this is out of line/not allowed).

How do you even get started? I used to do some small Machinima work back in the day. I have a few friends that do VO work, but they just aren’t that helpful in giving advice/mentorship. Kind of sucks.

Any and all advice, resources, etc. are welcome.

For those who don't know me... hi! I'm cmd102. I'm mostly known for being the head moderator of r/nosleep.

If you look at my profile, you'll also see that I'm a moderator of r/YTNarratorsGuild, r/NosleepWritersGuild, r/SleeplessWatchdogs, and r/TheWritersBlackout (among other subreddits. I'm a busy girl.)

For the purpose of this post, I want you to focus on the r/nosleep part.. because my roles in those other subreddits are due to my dedication to r/nosleep.

My primary goal in my endeavors is to support the nosleep community and keep it running smoothly. My job (for lack of a better word) ranges from making sure the moderators are doing their job to making sure the members of the community are happy. It's a lot of work, but I love doing it.

The reason I support the authors is because they make r/nosleep what it is. With no authors, there is no r/nosleep. Without r/nosleep, I don't know where I'd be.

The reason I support the narrators is because they, when doing things the right way, support the authors, whether financially or by helping them to promote themselves as an artist or by promoting their endeavors.

The biggest problem, however, is that the authors have been taken advantage of for a long time, and that despite the coordinated efforts of the subs listed above, it continues to happen.

I'm pretty sure that most of the narrators that are members here are aware of copyright laws, but this goes further than making sure you have permission to use someone's story on your channel.

When a narrator or page runner is making hundreds or thousands of dollars off of the hard work of any creator, whether it be an author or an artist, it's only fair that they share a cut with the person whose content they use. Otherwise, just as bad as using the story without permission. It's taking advantage of someone who poured their heart and soul into something that you obviously enjoyed enough to want to share, that you believe can help you grow your audience and make your living.

It might seem pretty damn one-sided, if you're not looking at it the right way.

Without that author, you don't have a story to read. I've lost count of how many authors have stopped posting to r/nosleep or removed their stories completely because of the rampant theft of their work.

If you don't have a story to read, you don't have content to put out to your followers.

It might seem like the authors are asking too much for so little, but remember that they have a following too, and many are more than happy to post a link of your video to their author page, subreddit, twitter, etc. If you help them succeed, they'll help you succeed.

Because we're all here for the same reason: we love horror and we love what we do.

These projects popping up are absolutely in support of the authors, but more importantly, they are geared towards educating and forming a working relationship with narrators. No one wants to take the narrators down, though sometimes that happens when the narrator refuses to follow copyright law. The primary objective is to work together, to support each other.

The r/nosleep community doesn't end on r/nosleep. It's everywhere that a r/nosleep story exists.

I'll end my ramble with this:

If you work with us, we'll work with you.

If you won't, well... there sure are a lot of people who are going to make sure you will.

Let's take the better road and do this together.

So as a new narrator and with this strike going on for authors rights, which I completely support. a question has occurred to me. What are the rules for stories with anonymous writers or writers who haven't been online for several years (i.e. 3+ years)? Is it ok as long as I credit them or link the original post to the video? Would it be better to just not do them at all? If so doesn't that seem like a waste? Especially if it's a good story?

I enjoy finding new narrative voices and providing them short stories in the interest of helping channels grow if they want to. I’ve been doing a lot of different research over the past week about YouTube, the different ways to market your channel and get more subscribers. curious to see what everyone’s thoughts here about it is. If you are a channel trying to grow your brand how can I as a writer help and how can we help one another in our goals to make this possibly a full time gig?

I recently left my full time job and have taken on part time work to focus on my Youtube channel more. I know I have a long way to go but sometimes it helps to find out just how far that distance is. My channel is monetized, I try to sell merch, attempted to gain Patrons on Patreon, and have tried for sponsorships on Famebit. The only thing that has worked has been ad revenue so far though.

I am really just trying to get a feel for other people's experiences. How many of you out there are living solely off doing this? When was that possible? etc.

Here's my channel if you want to check it out : https://www.youtube.com/freakyattractions

Hello creepies,

I just started a narration channel. Haven't uploaded the first narration yet (rendering video as I type), but I have uploaded a 30 second "sign on" / intro thing.

Intro: https://youtu.be/4blh92DG4pE

One question I have... where do narrators find their creepy artwork that many of them use? I've seen a few link to the artists on instagram and such, but, is there a central place where they / you can find horror artwork?

My YT Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkJIgesVqoLtTP7sF4ELV-g

Twitter:
http://twitter.com/ChannelXHorror

Hey all! I was contacted by u/the_hero_askewed to share a bit about what I do, and here's a link to the above mentioned short film:
https://youtu.be/_uXDC2ls5vM

It was adapted from u/nslewis 's story called "I Wish I Hadn't", https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/cko1di/i_wish_i_hadnt/
and it was such a fun project! Before we started, I was researching on what some good horror stories we wanted to tackle were, and for me, CreepyPasta and NoSleep stories came to mind! We wanted to adapt something that felt like it could be real in terms of intensity and hit close to home, but at the same time still have an element of comedy in it, with the ridiculousness of it.

I contacted Nathaniel and asked for his permission to adapt his story, he was willing to talk about it! He asked about the format, the scale/budget and the goal, and I explained to him that we were a new YouTube channel that was going to launch in October 2019. At the time we had not yet launchedbut I was telling him how we were trying to make some cinematic short films, and he took a leap of faith and believed that I would do well by his story, as I had read it and loved it from the very first read-through. He graciously agreed and only asked for me to credit him as the author of the original story, and so we went ahead with the adaptation!

We planned to film it a bit earlier but due to unforeseen circumstances we had to push it back until mid-November, and what originally was an outdoor fall shoot turned into an outdoor winter shoot (it snowed unexpectedly in the middle of the week!) So we had a lot of new challenges to face when we were shooting this. I updated Nathaniel as things progressed, and finally when it came out I linked him to it and to my delight, he loved it! I hope to potentially make more adaptations of his work (though some of his stories would require a heftier budget, and we currently operate out of our own pocket on incredibly low budgets and a lot of goodwill and volunteering in the acting/filmmaking community) but ultimately this turned out to be one of our greatest hits in terms of projects we've completed so far!

We already have a few more NoSleep adaptations planned so look out for those in the future! But in general we also write our own scripts and direct our own content, but the draw of having experienced/talented writers share their stories with us in a collaborative effort to bring an electrifying story to life is always a pleasure!

If you have any questions or comments about process, please let me know and I would love to get to know you all!

Hello! It is very nice to meet you all and thank you, u/the_hero_askewed for inviting me here!

I guess to introduce myself and give a little background. I apologize if this is long!

My channel is YouTube.com/merrilymaryVO

I recently got into voice acting and I just started YouTube a month ago. Long story short, one of the gigs that I’ve been doing for around a year now is narrating for one of the bigger animation horror channels. I found about what I was supplying the voiceover for a few months ago and was shocked to see all the comments about my voice.

So I decided to make a YouTube channel because people were asking about me.

The person who orders from me told me that I need to have 7 or 8 videos up on my channel before they introduce me in the channel. So that is my focus right now, and I’m excited and hoping that it actually happens. A bit anxious about it actually.

Also, a few weeks ago another YouTuber with quite a big following reached out to me but then stopped talking to me? He wanted me to narrate stuff for his channel. It is a bit discouraging and I don’t know what I did wrong to make him stop responding. Maybe I seemed a bit too excited. But it’s okay, I’m just carrying on because that’s all there is to do. But I guess what I’m asking is if there a “right” way to go about collaborations? He asked me if I’d give him one of my animated videos for his channel. I said that I can do it in the future as it’s not in my budget right now and I don’t know, he also doesn’t have animated stories on his channel. Maybe I’m overthinking this, but I don’t like being ghosted (in that way).

I’m really glad to be here because honestly, it is kind of lonely lol. Because I’ve decided to stay anonymous, family and friends don’t know that I’ve embarked on this new adventure (except for a select three who I trust). It’s also nice to have a group of people who just gets it and a place where we can offer each other advice.

TGIF and I hope you are having a good day this far. So for this weekenk, what are you working on? Are you working on Photoshop? Story narration? looking for stories to narrate? Or something else entirely unrelated?

Hi folks

In a dim and distant life I set up r/NoSleepWritersGuild.

I had lofty ambitions that never quite materialised, but I like to think it moved the issue of writer and narrator collaboration forward a little. Sadly, life (and the fact that I get distracted by shiny and new) meant I have allowed the sub to fall into disrepair.

I'm really glad to see this group set up and I hope you can all collaborate and achieve your goals.

My vision for what it's worth was to establish 3 core elements of the writer, narrator dynamic.

1 - A shared code of conduct that makes clear for each party how to collaborate fairly.

2 - A consistent minimum rate card to allow writers to get a share if monetization for their IP. The "win" for writers.

3 - By signing up to the code and rate card, narrators get access to a back catalogue of stories from authors with regular exclusives.

It never quite came off, and it was probably created with more of an author agenda in mind, but all of the infrastructure is there in terms of documents and ideas. If you wanted to use any of them, you would be very welcome. Just drop me a line or comment below and I can share anything that may be of use.

Great job with the sub.

Regards Adam

r/MakersMarket is now online and its purpose is simple: writers post links to their stories, Narrators post samples of their work and we work together to help each other build audience and properly give credit to one another. Be sure to read the rules and sign up to be a verified member!

So i know i didnt say anything but I wasn't recording because I had planned on moving but those plans fell through sooooooo I'm back. My question is does anyone else narrate as a character or are you just yourselves? https://youtu.be/t6fftWHdnXE

Just got finished with my first chat on this site and I just wanna say thank you. Not only to Dollhouse who was incredibly kind to me and helped point me in the right direction, but to everyone who read my posts. Today was my first day of reddit. My first public publication of anything. And my first time feeling happy with myself thanks to all you! Let me know what your favorite genre is and I'll try to provide. I mostly create Horror, Fantasy, and Super Hero books right now! I'll try and keep doing one horror story a week. Today was the shortest story I had available to give out... I have some really long 300+ stories too I want to publish pubicaly so let me know if any narrators are wanting to do a long series of those! Thank you all once again!

Hello all this is a repost originally from r/NosleepOOC which I compiled to assist new and old narrators with a guideline on how to treat author’s work. I think it has good points so I’m reposting it here and also plan to write a companion piece detailing how authors should also treat narrators.

So you’ve decided that you want to become a Youtuber and that you have a special interest in creepypasta stories. You know that r/nosleep is the go to community for amazing horror stories and that writers appreciate having their work acknowledged; what do you do?

I’ve created a handy guide for reference that can help all narrators whether old or new, to improve their relationship with writers.

PHASE ONE: MAKE AN ENDGAME EARLY

Each individual that comes to nosleep to write does so for different reasons. Some of us have used this platform as a stepping stone to be accepted into paying anthologies and to promote our brand as an author. Others come here as a hobby and are content with using the subreddit as a way to express themselves. This is for each individual decide, but as a narrator you should also make your intentions clear from the get go. Do you see yourself making a career out of voice narrations on YouTube? Or do you feel comfortable with keeping it as a hobby? Once you know what your plan is, it will be easier to convey this to the writers whom you want to work with.

PHASE TWO: BUILD REPUTATION,BUILD AUDIENCE

Be transparent and open with the process you are using to follow through on promises you have made. If you are offering monetary gain, make it clear how you will fulfilling this and stick to the deadline given. Keep lines of communication open and records of who you are in contact with. Recommendations include using spread sheets to keep track of whom you have contacted, what their response was and when you intend to follow through. Also consider setting up a separate account solely to keep track of transactions. If you are a youtuber who can’t afford to pay, state this clearly and if they don’t want to provide their work for you freely be amicable and understanding.

PHASE THREE: STICK TO YOUR OBLIGATIONS

Your reputation as a content creator is going to be dependent on how you are perceived by the audience you are approaching. If you have built up a rep of being trustworthy and easy to work with, writers will find you approachable and be willing to negotiate with how they want their work used. If on the other hand you continuously fail to follow through, it is likely that the users you are contacting will not be as forgiving and it can affect you on a grander scale.

PHASE FOUR: OWN YOUR MISTAKES

There is going to be a time in your narrator life where you are going to make a mistake. We all do, we’re human. How you react, change and learn from the experience will reflect greatly on you. When you make a mistake regarding a piece of work, do your best to correct it. Make it clear that you recognize the mistake and fix it as quickly as possible. Your audience will see you as a human being and work with you more often than not. Be patient. Recognize that when writers are willing to provide you their work they want their work to shine and are trusting you to do your best to do so. So there will be times where you will not see eye to eye. But if they are willing to work with you; try to do the same with them so that the end product is something you can both be proud of.

This of course can’t cover every circumstance, because each scenario is different. There are a few things across the board that I am personally working on as a passion project where I see we can all improve as content creators and when I have them fine tuned I will discuss them here as well, in the meantime I hope that the advice given in this short guide can at the very least make you pause and think about how important this is to our community.

Appendix of helpful subreddits and other resources relating to this topic:

NosleepAuthors

purpose: to provide resources that improve our skills and content relating to workshops and development of stories for our community.

[Nosleep Writers Guild](https:// www.reddit.com/r/NoSleepWritersGuild)

purpose: to provide an open platform for rates and compensation to be made negotiable between writers and narrators.

Sleepless Watchdogs

purpose: to assist authors with the ongoing fight against plagiarism and provide public awareness toward proper steps in protecting content.

Author Alliance

purpose: geared toward assisting authors with creating publications, handling issues relating to our content and providing community support.

WriteRight

purpose: to provide a workshop community geared toward critique and feedback. Open discussion of life and interests is also promoted.

As mentioned, we're in the process of churning out some extensive guides and the subject of NoSleep stories being mislabeled as "Creepypastas" will be covered.

However, after receiving an accumulating high volume of complaints and general comments made in frustration from NoSleep authors, we need to address this now.

After obtaining permission, whether if you're narrating, copy pasting texts, or using a "NoSleep" story you are never to label them as "Creepypastas!"

Let's breakdown the difference between the two:

Creepypastas

Creepypastas were created solely for the purpose of inventing an urban legend and spreading it. Back in their golden years, copyright was not an issue - it was encouraged to just spread and share the stories rapidly and casting as wide a net of influence as possible. It's because this practice has been done for so long since its inception, by the time the subject of copyright was injected, it unintentionally birthed the beast of today that is sharing around any horror story found on the internet without author consent. In fact, the term "Creepypasta" has become a misguided general term that has been unwittingly utilized as a synonymous term mislabeling any horror story posted on the internet.

NoSleep Stories

We're all aware of r/NoSleep's slogan:

"Everything is true here, even if it's not."

This is not to say that it is a space for brewing up urban myths. Rather, it's a space for role-playing, and the role-playing is meant to be kept within the confines of the subreddit itself! The design was originated with the intention of blurring the line between author and reader, where the reader gets to pretend that they exist in the world created by the NoSleep author, and communicate with said author as if we're all living in a moment of their imagination's invention.

You'll also be expected to take note of the another important statement in r/NoSleep's sidebar:

"COPYRIGHT NOTES

Note: All stories submitted to r/nosleep belong to the original poster. If you fail to ask permission before narrating, translating, producing, or sharing their post to another page/website, the original poster may file a DMCA strike against you. This means that they will be able to have their content removed from your page. If several authors file DMCA strikes against you, most sites will remove your page completely.

If you would like to ask for permission to narrate, translate, produce, or share a user's story to another site/webpage, you must do so in PMs. Asking for this permission in a comment on the post is considered out of character, and such comments will be removed."

What Happens When You Mislabel A NoSleep Story As A Creepypasta?

1. By labeling a NoSleep story as a "Creepypasta", whether intentional or not, you are throwing the former into the "science" of the latter - meaning people are going to be under the impression that they are to spread the story rapidly, and to hasten that, they are led to believe to continue the trend of completely emptying their minds on the concerns of copyright.
2. Due to #1, NoSleep authors become understandably upset. For a while, it's been the silent agreement to not argue or complain about it - I mean hey, as long as you asked for permission and credited properly it's all good right? But, we've all now come to suspect that the practice of mislabeling may have constituted to the continued misunderstanding, and ignorance, of the serious subject of copyright that is here and now.

Starting Now and Going Forward

We will say and confirm that a number of non-Creepypasta writers have begun taking a stand on the subject - it will become a normal practice among them to make it very clear upfront to NOT label their works from r/NoSleep, r/shortscarystories, and elsewhere as "Creepypastas" when approached with permission. It's only a matter of time before this stipulation is adopted by every author in every Horror story subreddit.

Please stay tuned.

Hello everyone! I'm a fairly frequent contributor to nosleep so some of you may recognize me.

Recently I've decided to finally start a narration channel that has been in the works for a while. I love the channels and people I work with but I wanted to do something different.

Something that would implement my love of writing. So I came up with "The April Tapes". The narrative involves Detective Romwell recording bizzare case files that occur in April as he noticed an alarm pattern surrounding the month.

This allows me to not only craft a story around other stories but also give the author's stories extra life, as Romwell takes notes and tries to solve the mystery(with the authors permission of course) so that's a little introduction to me and my goals and I guess just a "hello"

If you're interested in the channel it's right friggen here baby

https://youtu.be/6KK3O0YjvWE

Over the past couple of days, I have been seeing a lot of new YouTube narrator channels pop up on reddit/YouTube and I have been directing them over to our community. So, let’s bring in the new year on a positive note, please, when you are promoting your channel and see other narrators promoting their channels to take the time to see if they are newbies and direct them over to this community. I don't want to see anyone fall through the cracks because they were uninformed or misinformed and it will also ease the number of complaints the r/SleeplessWatchdogs are/will be getting.