Start with a voice brief, not just a voice you like.
A narrator needs to sustain the tone of your book over hours of listening. We begin with genre, target listeners, narrative point of view, pronunciation needs and the feeling you want the performance to convey. A business guide, a personal memoir and a character-led novel need different casting decisions.
Tell us whether you prefer an American, British or another English accent. For international editions, specify the narration language and regional audience. Availability, accent and project scope are confirmed before a narrator is booked.
What to listen for in an audition
- Fit: Does the performance suit the subject and reader expectations?
- Clarity: Are technical terms, names and sentence meaning easy to follow?
- Consistency: Can the voice and character choices work across a full book?
- Pacing: Is there room for the ideas and emotion to land?
Use a representative passage, including any dialogue or difficult terminology. A quiet reflective passage alone may not reveal whether a narrator can handle the rest of the manuscript.
Casting as part of full production
After voice selection, an agreed production plan connects narration to editing, manuscript proof listening, pickup recording and mastering. Before production begins, confirm the audition process, approval stages, narrator usage terms and the correction scope in writing.
See our full audiobook production service. If you have already hired a narrator and have raw recordings, post-production may be the right next step.
What affects narration cost?
Finished length, narrator experience and availability, number of voices, terminology, performance complexity and schedule all affect the quote. A per-finished-hour rate describes completed audio length, rather than recording time. Compare the whole scope, including whether editing and proofing are included.
Understand audiobook production costs before comparing packages.
Your casting brief
Send the title, genre, word count, final manuscript language, intended listeners, accent preference and release window. Include any essential character or pronunciation notes. If you are unsure about the voice profile, describe a listener experience rather than naming a celebrity you want imitated.
Browse our published audiobook work, then request a production and casting quote.
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