Prep to Proofing · Booth Ready
From manuscript to finished take — the two halves of booth work.
A working narrator's service in two parts. Prep turns the manuscript into a booth-ready script — speaker-tagged, pronunciations marked, character sheet attached. Proofing takes your finished take and listens for the small misreads your ear missed in the booth, marking each one with a beep so the fix is a punch-and-roll, not a hunt.
The Proof With the Beep — 4 minutes from Beowulf, Chapter 4. Three real catches, three fixes.
Prep from $75 · Proofing à la carte · Pay only after you approve the preview.
Finished package · public showcase
See exactly what gets delivered.
The full Booth Ready package for Kate Chopin’s The Awakening — built end-to-end at the same gold-standard structure every paying client receives. Click through and read it like a narrator about to step into the booth.
Showcase title
The Awakening
Full novel taken to booth-ready state — 39 chapters hand-attributed paragraph by paragraph, dual-voice production planned (Mike on narration and male voices, Female voice TBD on female dialogue), pronunciation given once per first occurrence per chapter and never inside dialogue. Open the package index to browse every chapter as DOCX and PDF, plus the character sheet, pronunciation guide, and editorial decisions.
For ACX narrators
Auditioning today? Get a free Booth Ready audition script.
Send me the audition excerpt you’re reading and I’ll return it as a clean Booth Ready PDF within 48 hours — speaker tags, pronunciations marked once per first occurrence, 18pt Georgia. No upfront cost, no contract, no credit required. If you land the gig and want the full book prepped, you know where to find me.
Free for narrators
Audition script · prepped to booth standard
Walk into your audition with the same prep a paying client gets. One excerpt, one PDF, returned by email. Use it for the audition take and keep it. If you book the project, come back for the full Booth Ready package; if you don’t, you still walked in sharper than the rest of the queue.
What you receive
A complete production package. Every job. Same structure.
Built around the way narrators actually work in the booth — per-chapter scripts in both Word and PDF, reference documents you can pin up next to the mic, and editorial notes that explain the decisions behind the page.
Per-Chapter Scripts (DOCX + PDF)
Every chapter in two formats — editable Word for further markup, print-ready PDF for booth use. 18pt Georgia body, burgundy Consolas italic pronunciations, hand-attributed dialogue. Filed in word/ and pdf/.
Pronunciation Guide
Every proper noun, weapon, vessel, military term, brand, and foreign word the book uses, with a simple respelling. Pronunciation given once per first occurrence per chapter — in narration only, never inside dialogue.
Character Sheet
A profile for every speaking character: role, vocal description, physical, background, personality, voice direction. Plus voice-share math when a duet narrator is involved.
Editorial Decisions
The notes behind the page — every judgment call documented so you (and any future producer) know why a line was attributed where it was, what was changed, and what was deliberately left alone.
Package Index (HTML)
A single browsable page that lists every chapter, links to both formats, and surfaces the stats — word count, runtime estimate, voice share. Open in any browser; share with collaborators without sending zip files.
README & Source Files
Plain-English README with production notes, plus the raw JSON for the character sheet and pronunciation guide. If anything is unresolved, a _missing_speakers.txt file flags exactly which paragraphs need the author's call.
How it works
A simple four-step flow.
No long contracts, no upfront payment. You see the preview, then decide.
Send the manuscript
Upload your manuscript directly to Mike's private Dropbox folder — use this secure upload link. Any size, any format (DOCX, PDF, RTF, EPUB, TXT). No Dropbox account needed on your end.
Receive a free preview & quote
You get chapter one in the full Booth Ready treatment plus a complexity assessment with the exact price for your book — so you know what the finished package will look like and what it costs before you pay anything.
Approve and pay
If the preview lands right, pay through PayPal. The price is set by the quote — per-word base × the complexity tier matched to your book. Mike confirms receipt and the full job goes into production.
Full package delivered
Within the turnaround for your tier (3–7 business days for Standard through High), the complete package arrives in a private delivery folder. Your source manuscript is deleted from Mike's system afterward.
Pricing
Per-word base. Complexity decides the tier.
No per-finished-hour math. You pay for the manuscript prep work the book actually requires, scaled to its language difficulty, dialect density, formatting demands, and dialogue layering.
× complexity multiplier
$75 minimum on any project
Standard
Contemporary prose, light dialogue, no specialized vocabulary. Most modern fiction.
Complex
Multiple POVs, heavier dialogue, period or genre vocabulary, modest dialect work.
High
Dense dialect, layered dialogue, technical or foreign-language passages, large speaking cast.
Bespoke
Beyond High but inside our capability — quoted line-by-line with you before any work begins.
What real books cost
| Title | Words | Tier | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Star (H.G. Wells) | ~3,000 | Standard (floor) | $75 |
| Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde | ~26,000 | Standard | $91 |
| The Maltese Falcon (Ch1) | ~67,000 est. full | Complex | $235 |
| The Awakening (full novel) | 49,117 | Complex | $240 |
| Main Street (full novel) | ~218,000 | High | $1,373 |
Studio plans: $750/month for 5 packages or $1,400/month for 10 packages — for studios producing on a steady cadence.
Capability gate · honest by design
Some manuscripts aren’t a fit. We say so.
Booth Ready is an AI-assisted service operated by a working narrator. It is excellent at most modern fiction, period dialect, and dense character casts. It is not the right tool for Faulkner- or Joyce-class stylistic prose where the attribution and rhythm decisions require sustained literary judgment that no prep workflow can substitute for.
When a manuscript falls into that range, you get a hand-back instead of a half-good package. No charge, no excuses, no months-later refund conversation:
"This is an AI-driven service, and your manuscript is beyond our capability to provide you with a quality product."
The capability gate is part of the offer, not a disclaimer hidden in the fine print. If your book clears it, the package is held to a real standard. If it doesn’t, you save the time and the money.
Intake & Legal
Transparency before signature.
Read the terms first, then submit. Three short documents cover the working agreement, confidentiality including AI processing, and how to send your manuscript. Each is available as a PDF for preview and an editable Word document so your representative can review and mark up before signing.
Service Agreement
The working agreement in plain English: per-word complexity-tiered pricing ($3.50 per 1,000 words × tier multiplier, $75 floor) paid after preview approval; free chapter-one preview and quote; 3–7 business day delivery by tier; manuscript rights warranty and indemnification; IP licensing; 30-day data retention; Colorado governing law. Includes an electronic-signature acknowledgement (E-SIGN Act / Colorado UETA) so a typed signature is legally binding.
NDA & AI Processing Consent
Mutual confidentiality covering your manuscript, with a dedicated section on AI processing: enterprise/API terms only (training-bar in place), never public consumer interfaces, AI as assistant only — never authorship. Includes an opt-out for an AI-free workflow with a 10–14 day turnaround.
Manuscript Submission Guide
A step-by-step walkthrough for the secure Dropbox upload link — no Dropbox account required. Covers accepted file formats, prep tips for a clean handoff, privacy and 30-day retention, and quick troubleshooting if anything goes sideways during upload.
A note on these templates: these are practical working documents — readable, fair, and ready to use for a fixed-quote service. They are not a substitute for individual legal advice. If your project warrants it, have a Colorado-licensed attorney review the warranty, indemnification, and AI-consent clauses before signing.
Signing the agreement: the “Sign in browser (PDF)” link opens a fillable version of the Service Agreement — type your signature, date, project title, and email directly into the fields and save (works in Adobe Acrobat Reader, Apple Preview, or any modern browser PDF viewer). Email the completed file back to mike@anumber1.com. If you prefer a third-party e-signature workflow (DocuSign, Dropbox Sign, Adobe Sign), just ask and Mike will send you a signing link.
Who it's for
Built for the people who actually do the work.
Indie audiobook narrators
You're recording your own catalog and you want the prep done before you press record. Booth Ready returns your hours behind the mic to actual performance, not manuscript wrangling.
Self-publishing authors
You're hiring a narrator and want to send them a clean, marked-up script — so your book gets the careful read it deserves and you don't pay for rookie mispronunciations.
Small audiobook studios
You produce multiple titles a year and need consistent prep across narrators. Booth Ready gives every project the same structured foundation.
ACX / Findaway producers
You're juggling parallel projects and want every chapter in the booth on the first take. Booth Ready scripts surface the landmines before they cost you a re-record.
Ready to see one for your book?
Send the manuscript. Get the preview and the quote, free.
Chapter one in the full Booth Ready treatment plus the exact complexity-tiered price for your book, returned to you within a few days — no payment until you've reviewed it and said yes.