I was recently asked by some of my fellow authors on the Writing Accountability Babble AudiobookFacebook Group how I used ACX to find Meg Price who is narrating my book, Babble, so I thought I’d share the process here as well. (and yes, Meg is a perfect narrator for me and for Babble as you will learn as I share more about the process here on my blog. 

It starts by signing into ACX using your Amazon Account. Once in, look for “Search” on the upper righthand corner and choose “Producers for Hire.” You should see something like this:

71,956SAMPLES MATCH YOUR SEARCH

Yep, there are a lot of narrators on ACX. So, the search begins with thousands of potential narrators, but you can reduce that number by putting in various filters on the left side of the page. Not sure I remember exactly which filters I used but it was something like this:

  • Genre: SF/fantasy,
  • Gender, female,
  • Language, English
  • Voice Age: teenager, young adult
  • Payment: Royalty share 0-$50PFH

Each filter reduces the number of narrators that fit. I think I got the number down to about 700-750 using the filters, then I started listening to the samples of the narrators. 

It helped that Meg’s sample was from Alice in Wonderland since I have scenes in Babble that take place in Wonderland. I loved the voices she used in the sample, but I still ended up listening to a bunch of different female narrators. There were several good ones and a bunch of bad ones, at least to my discerning ears. I also clicked on their names to go to their ACX page to learn more about them.

Meg Price

Meg Price: Audiobook Narrator Extraordinaire

I clipped and pasted the info of those in the running into my Scrivener file, then wrote up a message introducing myself and the book I wanted narrated and sent them the message out through ACX. Meg responded to my query, then sent me an audition tape which I also loved. (It’s also one of three audio clips we’re considering to use as the audiobook sample. We will soon be launching a poll/contest to have readers vote on which one they like the best so stay tuned!)

I loved the audition tape and Meg liked Babble so we arranged a time to talk by phone to sort out the details. As they say, the rest is history…well, in this case, history as well as the future because we have plans for other audio projects in the near future once we’ve finished making Babble a bestseller audiobook. 

Stay Tuned! Here’s what’s in the works

Met Meg: a fun way to get to know this incredible voice actor and narrator as she and I talk about how she became a professional narrator and our plans for the future.

Help Us Select the Best Audiobook Sample: A combination poll and contest you won’t want to miss. Yes, there will be prizes.

Preview Chapters of Babble Audiobook: Coming soon!