Before an audiobook is recorded, someone reads the whole book with a pencil. ACX puts it first on its producer's checklist: "We recommend reading the manuscript from beginning to end before you begin recording." A narrator comes out of that read with a character list: who speaks, how the author describes them, how they'll sound. Voice Over Herald's look at how narrators prep a book (November 1, 2026) walks through it, including the research narrators often end up doing unpaid.
On a duet, a multicast or an audio drama, the prep goes further. Every line has to be marked to its speaker before anyone can cast the book, book the actors or quote the job. On a novel with dozens of speaking parts, that's a second full pass through the book before the first take.
Screenplay prep does that pass for you. It is one of Midsummerr's Pro services, built for production houses, freelance narrators producing for authors, and authors who record their own audio.
What you get
Upload the manuscript and each chapter comes back as a script: every line under the name of the character who speaks it, with dialogue and narration told apart. Dialogue tags ("she said quietly") stay with the narrator, the way a narrator reads them.
Alongside the script you get the cast list, with each character's:
- Role. Main or supporting, so you can see the leads at a glance.
- Lines and words. How much each character actually says, across the whole book.
- Estimated finished time. Each part's share of the recording at a typical audiobook pace. Narrators are booked and paid per finished hour, so this is the number you cast and quote from.
- A short description of the character, for the casting brief.
Ready to try it on your own book?
Start with 5,000words free →Check it, and correct it in a click
Open any chapter and read it as a script. If a line belongs to someone else (an unattributed reply in a fast exchange, a letter read aloud, a voice from the next room), click it and pick the right speaker from the "Spoken by" menu. The cast list and its counts follow the change, and so does every export.
Exports for the people who use them
| Export | Format | What's in it | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Script | CSV, for any spreadsheet | Chapter, line number, character, the line's text, dialogue or narration | Narrators, directors, actors |
| Cast list | CSV, for any spreadsheet | Character, main or supporting, lines, words, estimated finished time, description | Producers, casting, budgeting |
| Data for developers | JSON | The whole screenplay with its cast | Your own tools and scripts |
Filter the script by character and every actor gets their own sides. Sort the cast list by words and you have the casting order. The exports cover the whole book and unlock once every chapter is ready.
How an order runs
| Step | What you do | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Upload | The manuscript (.docx, .epub or .txt), title and language | The book split into chapters |
| Cast | Choose every speaking character, or main cast only | A cast list the size of your production |
| Prepare | The whole book, or one chapter first, with the credits shown before you start | A script for each chapter |
| Review | Read each chapter and reassign any line | A screenplay you've checked |
| Export | Script, cast list or JSON | Files your team works from |
Every speaking character gives each speaking part its own entry, down to the minor parts, for a production that voices them all. Main cast only keeps the list to the book's principal characters, with no separate parts for one-scene speakers, for a duet or a small cast.
When you want the audio too
Screenplay prep is the script, not the recording: no audio is made. When the recording starts, the screenplay you checked can carry straight into a production. Upgrade the finished title to Narrator to full cast, which keeps your narrator and gives every other character a voice of their own, or to Cast assembly, which places one recording per character into the chapter. Nothing is charged when you upgrade. Within a year of the screenplay, each chapter pays only the difference when it's produced.
That's the thread running through Midsummerr's production tools: your recordings and your decisions stay at the center. Midsummerr is the only platform that turns a narrator's recording into a full cast, and its Cue sheet spots every music and sound-effects moment against your narration. Once a book is produced in the studio, Martin, the AI audio director, changes a single line, a pause or a cue when you ask in plain words. If you're still deciding how many voices the book needs, how many character voices an audiobook needs covers the casting side.
Price
Screenplay prep costs $3.75 per 1,000 words of manuscript (0.75 credits a word), with a 30,000-credit ($150) minimum per title. An 80,000-word novel comes to $300. The order page shows the credits for each chapter before you prepare it.
To start, open Pro services from your account menu and choose Screenplay prep, or see Pro services for everything we make for production teams.
FAQ
Does Screenplay prep include any audio?
No. It delivers the script and the cast list. If you want the book recorded with a cast, upgrade the title to Narrator to full cast or Cast assembly, or produce it as a full Midsummerr production.
Can I try one chapter before ordering the whole book?
Yes. Prepare a single chapter from the order page, read it, and prepare the rest when you're happy. The first chapter draws the title's 30,000-credit minimum, and the chapters after it count against that before anything more is charged.
What if a line is assigned to the wrong character?
Click the line and choose the right speaker. The cast list's counts and every export update with it.
Which files can I upload?
A manuscript in .docx, .epub or .txt, up to 50 MB.
How is the finished time worked out?
From each character's word count at a typical audiobook reading pace. It's an estimate for casting and quoting; the real time depends on the performance.
