When you’re narrating an audiobook, it’s only natural to misread every once in a while. Misreads are just a part of life! It happens to all of us, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of.

The problem with misreads arises when they become excessive, which not only slows down the audiobook editing and proofing process, but also increases the likelihood that the final product will sound choppy and disconnected if too many pickups are inserted.

What’s an average misread rate? Well, if you ask 20 different narrators and 20 different engineers, you’ll get about 100 different answers. My answer is this: If you have more than eight misreads in a finished hour, then you’re looking at an above-average rate.

So what’s a human narrator to do? Over the years, I’ve talked to dozens of my favorite voice actors about what they do to lessen their misread rate and learned quite a bit. I’ve even used some of their suggestions when editing and proofing their audio.

Here’s a list of ways to help lessen your misread rate while narrating audiobooks:

1. If possible, ask for a Word document of the manuscript.
   Save a new copy for yourself, then enlarge the font size to at least 14-16 point. Next, change the font from Times New Roman to Arial or Calibri, and then increase the spacing to 1.5 - 2 spaced. This alone has not only helped reduce the misreads on the part of the narrators I work with, but it has also helped me substantially in proofing and editing because I can simply see the text better. This is the one change that, if you aren't already doing this, I would highly highly recommend.
2. If you can't get a Word document of the MS,
   enlarge the PDF text as much as possible without having to scroll left to right to see the end of the line.
3. Full disclosure:
   I have never personally used the Beeliner app, but a lot of other VOs love it. Have you tried it? If so, leave a note and let us know what you think.
4. If you're able to find an assistant/intern to read along with you
   - even for a couple of days of recording, that has been a big help to some narrators.
5. Use Pozotron after you're done recording
   to pre-proof your audio before sending it off to be edited by the engineer. POZ has a ton of great features for narrators to use when prepping their manuscripts. When I'm working with folks who have a higher-than-average error rate, I suggest running their audio through POZ for a couple of projects so they can get an objective look at how their audio - whether it's straight-up misreads or enunciation issues - comes across.
6. If you're using an iPad,
   turn it sideways so you're reading it landscape style.
7. Slow down.
   One issue that is pretty consistent among the VOs I work with who have a higher-than-average error rate is that they are reading too fast. Slowing down your pace not only helps the listener with comprehension but also helps the VO with comprehension and overall performance. A lot of the misreads that I catch with the fast-talkers are things that would be caught easily if the VO was reading more slowly. An average speed is about 1.5-2 minutes/page (caveat: a lot of back-and-forth dialogue or faster-paced scenes will have an effect on this timing, but if you're curious what an "average" pace feels like, try slowing down so you're hitting that timeframe).
8. Try Prompt!
   Full disclosure: I’m the co-creator of Prompt, so I’m biased. I had the idea for Prompt while working on several projects where there was a much higher-than-average misread rate. To me, it seemed that having an app that not only helped the voice actor see the words more clearly, but also helped with pacing (there’s an auto-scroll feature that you can slow down or speed up), could be a simple and straightforward way to help with misreads. If you’re curious about trying Prompt, check out the short video created by Enes, the superhuman brain behind the app!