Warm, grounded, emotionally intuitive narration for fiction and nonfiction.
About Jessica
I’m a SAG-AFTRA audiobook narrator with over 100 titles across fiction and nonfiction. My performance style is warm, grounded, and emotionally intuitive, with particular strengths in complex character work, multi-POV storytelling, and warm, authoritative nonfiction. My background in music and human services informs what I think of as structural empathy - understanding not just what the words say, but what is happening underneath them. I’m also a production nerd, an advocate for authentic human connection, and a consumer of frankly unreasonable amounts of cilantro.
More about Jessica the Word Girl:
Jessica Marchbank is a SAG-AFTRA audiobook narrator with more than 100 titles recorded from her professional home studio in the Midwest. Her work spans fiction and nonfiction, with particular strengths in emotionally complex material, multi-POV storytelling, dialogue, and character work across a wide age range.
Her background is unusually varied. Before narration became her primary creative work, Jessica was classically trained as a mezzo-soprano. She also spent more than a decade working directly with people navigating difficult, complicated real-life circumstances through human services and community advocacy. That work sharpened her interest in motivation, resilience, family dynamics, and the psychology underneath what people say - all of which feeds directly into how she approaches a script.
Jessica is also a single mom, a lifelong word nerd, and someone who has always been interested in the strange, messy ways people connect with one another. She brings an LGBTQ+-inclusive perspective to her work and particularly welcomes queer stories and characters.
Her natural delivery is warm, grounded, emotionally intuitive, and conversational, with a neutral American accent. She is especially drawn to intimate first-person storytelling, complicated relationships, dramatic material, multi-POV fiction, and warm, authoritative nonfiction.
Jessica’s first job was giving tours at the Jesse James Museum, so apparently she has been telling stories to captive audiences for quite a while. She later became known locally as “the Diaper Lady” while leading a regional diaper program, which is a considerably less glamorous title but probably a better indication of how her life actually works.
She is also an unapologetic production nerd who enjoys refining her recording and editing workflow almost as much as performing. When she is not in the booth, she is usually reading, singing, learning something unnecessarily specific, advocating for people in her community, or consuming an unreasonable amount of cilantro.
Booth & Tech:
- VocalBooth Silver Series booth with additional acoustic treatment
- Current primary mic: AT4047
- SSL 2 MKII interface
- REAPER, Punch & Roll workflow
- iZotope RX Advanced
- Remote-directed sessions available
- Cat not included, usually.
My Voice:
Here are some keywords that describe my voice: Warm, soothing, engaging, enthusiastic, humorous, versatile, trustworthy, relatable, and authentic.
Audiobook Strengths:
- Fiction & Nonfiction
- Multi-POV & Dialogue
- Character Voices Across Age Ranges
- Romance & Erotic Romance
- Emotionally Complex / Dramatic Material
- Warm, Authoritative Nonfiction
Signature Vibe: Grounded, emotionally intuitive storytelling with particular strength in intense dramatic material and multi-POV character work.
Audiobooks & Credits
Over 100 audiobook titles across fiction and nonfiction. SAG-AFTRA narrator with a professional home studio.
Browse my Audible catalogs:
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