All About Audition Scripts

Posted on June 18, 2018 by Scott Jacobi

Casting the right producer for your ACX audiobook production may be the most important step in creating an incredible-sounding audio version of your title, and a good audition script can ensure that you're hearing what you need to hear from a producer. Today we'll cover the three do's and one don't of selecting the right audition script

Do: Pick the right text.

Make sure you're using passages of your book that are representative of your book. For nonfiction, pick a selection that contains obscure or foreign pronunciations from your title, and provide direction on how to voice them in the audition. The producer will need to know what they'll be reading, and you're going to want to hear their pronunciation of these tricky words. For fiction, pick a section that has both dialog and prose. Try to include as many different characters as possible, so you get a true sense of the narrator's range and various voices.

Don't: Automatically use the first few pages of your title.

The first few pages of your title might seem like a natural starting point, but if they don't contain the sections mentioned above, the auditions you get won't tell you very much about the future voice of your book. Feel free to select a portion from the middle or end. In fact, you could even mix and match a few short scenes from various places in the book that will give an overall sense of what's involved.

Once you've decided on the audition script, you can either enter it into the text box as you set up your title profile or upload a .pdf, .txt or.doc file right to ACX.

Do: Value an ACX producer's time

In most cases, you'll probably only need an audition script that's 2-3 pages long. Audiobook producers can take up to an hour (and sometimes more) to produce an audition from these pages. They'll familiarize themselves with the material and record it, then edit, mix and master that recording. After that, they'll upload it to ACX, perhaps with comments or a note for you about the audition.

Do: Listen to the auditions submitted for your title in a timely fashion.

As a courtesy to the producers who are interested in working on your title, you may want to respond to those you'd not consider casting to let them know, and to thank them for their audition.

Armed with the information in this post, you should be set to choose a solid audition script. Next time we'll cover the next step: what to consider when making an offer to the perfect voice for your title.

Tell us what you think makes a good audition script in the comments!