How to Choose the Right Project

The joy and the challenge of working as an independent narrator is that you’re choosing your own adventure. You get to pick your projects, who you work with, and your compensation—but with so many choices and no one to tell you which ones to make, it can be difficult to know when you’re making the best use of your time and talent. Drawing on our own behind-the-scenes experience and wise advice from narrators we’ve spoken with over the years, we’ve put together the following guide to help you find the projects that are right for you. Check the specs The first thing to look at are the technical requirements for the job. Does the audition listing mention age, gender, accent, or dialect specifications for the characters you’ll be performing? Does it have vocal characteristics that match yours? What about technical knowledge or jargon you might need to be familiar with? This isn’t a cue to start doubting yourself, but you want to spend your time and energy auditioning for titles that are a good fit for your skills.

• Pro tip: If the listing leaves you with outstanding questions or you want to clarify any requirements before you proceed, reach out to the author through the ACX message center and ask! They’ll be happy you’re taking care with their project before even auditioning, and you’ll be able to move on to the next step with confidence.

Dig into the details Now that you’ve determined whether you can, let’s figure out if you should—ask yourself what you stand to gain from this project. Is the genre one you’re interested in working in? Do the story, characters, or subject matter pique your interest? Are you drawn in by the writing or enjoy the author’s other work? As you’re building your narration career, it’s important to consider what each new project contributes to your brand and the body of work you’re building, not just the money.

• Pro tip: If you want to experiment in genres outside your personal narrative brand or take on projects just for pay or experience that don’t enhance your body of work, consider working with one or more pseudonyms. They’ll keep your brand intact and will help listeners and prospective authors know what to expect from you as you build your name in the industry.

That said, how’s the money? Because you cannot live on accolades alone, it’s important to consider whether your prospective new project pays enough. There are two kinds of “pays enough”:

• The first is "does it pay the rate at which I value my time, skills, and brand?” Consider how much you need to make narrating a month, the number of hours you can sustainably work, and how many hours it will take you to complete a project to come up with your standard rate for narration work—then stick to it most of the time.

• The other kind of “pays enough” is “does it pay enough for how good an opportunity it is?” Occasionally a project comes along that really excites you—maybe it’s an interesting challenge, a genre you’ve been trying to break into, an author you’d love to work with, or a project that just seems like a lot of fun. Those kinds of opportunities can be worth taking less than your usual rate or accepting a royalty share for, but choose them wisely and sparingly. Make sure your other projects are steady and lucrative enough to allow for time spent on a less well-paying one, and that the opportunity is enough to compensate for the pay gap.

Set your schedule When you’re considering whether a project is a good fit, it’s important to consider whether or not it fits with your other projects and planned work, your vacations, travel, and other personal commitments and needs. If the author doesn’t lay out the timetable for the project, don’t be afraid to ask! If it doesn’t line up with your current schedule, you can inquire about flexibility, but don’t sacrifice your downtime. Unless you’re convinced it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (and those are rare), sticking to your planned time off—whether it’s vacation, days off, or daily working hours—is key for creating a healthy work-life balance that lasts. Routinely trying to squeeze in more than you can sustainably handle builds bad habits and makes it harder for you to stick to a healthy work rhythm. Do a little detective work While we’re doing our best to maintain a healthy ACX marketplace, it’s still possible to encounter offers or audition postings that aren’t what they seem. Doing your research—even a quick internet search—can keep you from spending your valuable time and energy on a project that’s not a good fit.

• Look up the author and title to make sure there isn’t an audio edition already out there, and that they’re self-published or with a smaller publisher (and therefore likely to be looking for a narrator on ACX). If you find them listed with a big 5 publisher, chances are the audition opportunity isn’t legitimate.

• Have a conversation with the author before you agree to the job—a quick phone or video chat to ask a few preliminary questions and work out details can not only help establish a good working rapport between you, it can help you decide whether you’ll work well together and the partnership is one you want to pursue.

• If you’re considering a royalty share or royalty share plus agreement, check out reviews of the print or ebook, look into how active the author is online and see how engaged they are in marketing their work. You can read up on more tips on choosing a good royalty share project here.

• And if you ever have a question about whether a posting or offer is valid, you can always contact ACX support—we’d be happy to check it out for you.

If you walk away from this blog post with only one idea, let it be that of your own worth. Whether you’re a classically trained voice actor with decades of audiobook experience under your belt, or a new narrator auditioning for your first project, your time is valuable. You can value levels of experience differently, but your time, your energy, and your effort, is worth just as much as the next guy’s.

As a wise ACX narrator once said, “Though it is hard, you mustn’t stop believing you are worth the accepted industry rates. Too many hours working hard while knowing you are being underpaid will eventually start to poison your heart, smother your passion, hurt your performance, and eventually make you regret your career choice altogether.” There’s a world of books out there with more being written all the time, so as tempting as it is to give into scarcity mentality, the truth is there will always be another project. Choose yours well!