The Audiobooks Department at Ooligan Press is beginning the process of recording the audiobook for one of our upcoming titles.

When we identify a candidate for an audiobook, we start the pre-recording process once the copyedit of the manuscript has been finalized. Once we know that we have the final edited copy of the manuscript, we can begin the process of turning the manuscript into a script for a narrator to read.

Our goal with creating an audiobook script is to create simple visual clues for our narrator while they are sight reading the manuscript. We never expect our narrators to memorize the manuscript before coming into the recording studio to read. Rather, the audiobook narrator will sight-read the manuscript as they go. While this may seem to require little preparation for the narrator, they will actually need to practice different character voices ahead of time so that they can easily switch between narration and dialogue while sight-reading.

The scripting process we prefer to use at Ooligan Press uses a highlighting method with different colors for each main character to provide the narrator with visual context clues when sight-reading the script.

We assign each main character a highlighter color using the selection available in Google docs. We use highlighert colors rather than other methods so we can avoid introducing errors into the manuscript during the scripting process.

Below is an example of how we might script a manuscript with a third-person point of view:

Character A: “He ate the apple.”

Character B: “He did, did he?”

Narration: The characters stared at each other for a long while.

Character B: “Well,” Character B started, “I was planning on eating that apple for lunch.”

The third-person point of view is most common in the manuscripts that we publish at Ooligan Press, but books are also written in the second-person and first-person point of view.

Below is an example of how we might script a manuscript with a first-person point of view:

Character A/Narrator: “He ate the apple.”

Character B: “He did, did he?”

Character A/Narrator: Character B and I stared at each other for a long while.

Character B: “Well,” Character B started, “I was planning on eating that apple for lunch.”

When working with a script written in the least common second-person point of view, the format is the same as the first-person format.

And finally, once we have finished scripting a manuscript for audio recording, we can begin selecting passages of the manuscript to use for narrator auditions!