Why Did My Title Fail QA? Part 3

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Scott Jacobi

Today we continue our series of posts aimed at helping ACX users ensure their titles make it from "in production" to "on sale" as quickly and painlessly as possible. Part 3 is below, and the entire series can be found here.

Outtakes (aka Bad Editing)

It happens to even the best professional narrators: you hit a difficult name or a tricky sentence and make a mistake, then pause and re-read it. If left in your final audio, these outtakes sound unprofessional and are very distracting for listeners, so you should make sure these errors are removed before clicking "I'm Done." And remember, in order to be eligible for the Kindle and Audible feature Whispersync For Voice, your audiobook must match the print/eBook at a rate of 97%.

Marking the script when you stumble on a passage is the best way to ensure you'll catch these outtakes during the editing phase of your production. Narrators often pause after an outtake, so double-checking any pauses in the audio waveform can uncover a lot of them as well. Clapping or making another loud noise that's easily recognizable in the waveform is an even better way to make these outtakes easily apparent.

Finding errors can be a challenge, but it’s worth the effort.  There’s no replacement for giving your entire audiobook a final QC (Quality Control) pass to catch any lingering outtakes, misreads, and noises.

For full details on ACX's audio specs,  check out our Audio Submission Requirements, and click here to read part four of our series.