Recently Spotify gave a wrap-up of 2021. According to it, there are many firsts in 2021. I started 2021 with the interview with Kanak Khathuria.

Firsts are always memorable and close to our hearts. Now when 2021 is about to end, I am very happy to share that I am ending this year with an one additional “first”. However, one more “first” is not recorded on Spotify. It is my first project/assignment/ recording as a Voice artist. Yes, finally, my dream of working as a voice over artist has started to take its shape. I have recently started at KukuFM as a freelance content creator and voice over artist. And what could be a better way than to record a wonderful book as my first assignment? I have recorded the summary of Chanakya in Daily Life written by Radhakrishnan Pillai in Hindi.

My thoughts:

When I first got this offer, I was elated. Seriously. Because this was something I always wanted to do, even before I started podcasting. Yes, I said before podcasting. While listening to an audiobook, I used to think it was cool. Very little did I know the amount of hard work and time that goes in it is far from calling it ‘cool’. Now, when I have jumped into this, as a voice artist, I would instead call it tiring yet satisfying.

Difference between a book summary and audiobook:

The main difference between a book summary and an audiobook lies in its terms. As the name suggests, book summary is the book in a nutshell. It is about how we interpret the book. On the other hand, an audiobook is reading a book page by page. For Chanakya in Daily Life, first, I read the entire book and then compiled it into episodes format. In total, there are 15 episodes. The entire book is compiled in 102 minutes.

My contribution as a content creator and voice over artist:

As a content creator and voice over artist, my job was to generate exciting and convincing content and also record it. Do you think it was easy? Well, it wasn’t. If creating content is my everyday work, then why was this tough? First of all, giving a crisp summary in an interesting format keeping the curiosity element intact. I was supposed to present a book to my listeners who may or may not have read it. And they were coming to know about it through my audio. So, I cannot leave any details unnoticed and unsaid.

And second is keeping up to their expectation. When I am recording for my podcasts, I have ownership over the content; I know what I want. But when I am working for someone else, I have to think from their perspective.

Who can access it:

Since this book is on KukuFM Premium, those who have the subscription can access it. Only the first episode is free for those who don’t have it. If you intend to buy the subscription, the annual plan is currently Rs.399.00. Not from a promotion point of view but after exploring the other titles and listening to a couple of other introductory episodes (which means even the employees have to buy the subscription), I genuinely feel that it is worth Rs.399.00. They have some excellent books with unlimited downloads.

Here is the link to the introductory (free) episode:

Chanakya in Daily Life – Episode 1