It may seem mysterious, daunting, exciting, overwhelming, good/bad. A lot of thoughts and feelings can swirl around when you’re working on an audiobook audition.
Today we’ll focus on how you can put your best foot forward to land that gig.
First: Performance
Your read is the most important part of the equation by a mile. Lots of us get hung up on the technical side of things, but it’s not what will keep people listening.
(If that’s what you’re curious about, we’ll talk about that stuff towards the end, so hold your horses.)
An audiobook audition is typically 2-5 pages of text, running 3-8 minutes. With those few pages in hand, here’s my personal process that’s served me well.
My 4-Step Audition Process
1. The Breakdown
Every casting, audiobooks and otherwise, has a “breakdown” where the author, producer, or publisher briefly outlines what the story is about. It often includes a general summary of the character or characters in the sample. Many folks also list content warnings here, such as graphic, violent, or sexual content, for your consideration.
Things to take from it:
Story details. Who, what, where, when. You don’t have to commit it to memory, but take what’s useful.
The author’s body of work. Less important, but it can give you an idea of the types of stories, characters, and worlds they write.
2. The Cold Read
I like to read through the sample cold at first, meaning I hit record and dive in without much context. Personally, this gives me a better feel for the author’s prose than reading silently. The key word for me is feel. This pass is intuitive and somewhat explorative. I’m feeling my way through to see what interests me, what the story is about, what I can learn about the characters, and what ideas or storytelling opportunities spring to mind.
I’m also watching for any words, phrases, or concepts I’m unfamiliar with, and then researching them. If you can help it, you don’t want a mispronounced word to be the reason you don’t get booked. It also shows you’re competent in your prep work.
A side note: It’s okay to ask the author, producer, or publisher for clarification if you want or need it. Does a character’s name come from a fictional language? Ask! You can also give it your best go.
3. The Refined Read
Depending on how my cold read went, I’ll do one more refined read. Here’s why:
Smoother delivery. Maybe I was looking up words, names, or places, and I want to say them with more conviction.
Using context in my storytelling. Knowing the full story and making any necessary inferences to fill gaps, I can place more meaning into the read. Notably, this isn’t effortful. I just know what everything means and which elements are important and why.
Developed characters. Sometimes you get more subtext as a scene progresses that’s nice to hint at earlier in the performance.
4. Audio Cleanup
This is standard practice for any audition, but I go back through and check a few things:
No egregious errors, like a line flub or an errant noise in the recording.
Not a ton of dead air, particularly at the beginning and end.
No slates! Slates are rare in audiobooks, so don’t feel you need one unless the publisher asks.
Pitfalls to Watch Out For
1. Trying to make the “RIGHT” choices
This usually shows up in a couple of ways:
Hedging for the safe choice for fear of making a “wrong” one. That’s usually boring and not fun to perform or listen to.
Not filling the gaps. Use context clues. If the text doesn’t give you the answer, use your deductive reasoning and make an educated guess. Critically, make it a strong one. This doesn’t mean Mr. Darcy is all of a sudden a vampire, though that might be interesting. It just means that playing it contained and safe doesn’t give us a reason to listen.
2. Thinking you can “do it better”
This is a trap. Your instincts and the writing will guide you better than anything else, and it’s simply not helpful to try to refine specific moments into “perfect.”
3. Recording it too many times
On a similar note, don’t record it too many times. In an audiobook production, your instincts will be the leading force 9/10 times, and to be blunt, there often isn’t time to make a scene “perfect.” So if only from a logistical standpoint, don’t bother trying.
