Audiobook Narration Prep Checklist

Manuscript read-through
- Confirm the manuscript version, chapter list, and provided style sheet.
- Read the full manuscript before recording.
- Flag front matter, back matter, glossaries, appendices, notes, and special sections.
- Note late reveals, accent clues, emotional turns, and continuity details.

Character tracking
- List each character's first appearance, role, relationships, and voice clues.
- Track accent, age feel, pitch, pace, vocal texture, emotional range, and sample lines.
- Save voice references for recurring or difficult characters.

Pronunciation tracking
- Capture names, places, real people, brands, acronyms, invented words, and technical terms.
- Write a plain-language pronunciation note.
- Record or attach audio for terms that are easier to hear than read.
- Keep source notes when more than one pronunciation is possible.

Script markup
- Highlight emphasis, pacing, pauses, breath points, and tonal turns.
- Flag ambiguous speakers, internal thoughts, lists, homonyms, and visual text.
- Add short performance annotations without rewriting the manuscript.

Author questions
- Group questions by chapter or section.
- Ask about unclear speaker identity, pronunciation preference, invented terms, tone, and formatting.
- Mark each question open, answered, or deferred.

First recording prep
- Confirm the reading copy shows markup, notes, pronunciations, and character references.
- Check credits, chapter headers, section boundaries, and project-specific read instructions.
- Prepare the first sample or checkpoint.

Pickups and proofing prep
- Create a pickup log with chapter, section, issue type, correction, source, priority, and status.
- Keep proofing notes attached to affected sections.
- Mark each pickup pending, recorded, reviewed, or resolved.