AI Prompts for ElevenLabs Prompts for Audiobook Narration

Cast the narrator for my book. Genre: [GENRE]. Point of view: [POV: FIRST PERSON / THIRD PERSON]. Protagonist or authorial voice: [AGE, GENDER, PERSONALITY]. Tone of the book: [TONE: WRY, EARNEST, DARK, WARM]. Describe the ideal narrator in casting terms (register, pace, warmth, gravitas), what to avoid for this genre, and the qualities to listen for when auditioning ElevenLabs voices against this profile.

Retailers judge audiobooks by the retail sample. From my book, help me choose the test passage: it needs narration, some dialogue, and an emotional shift within [LENGTH: 3-5 MINUTES]. Here is my chapter list with one-line summaries: [PASTE]. Pick the passage, explain why, and give me the evaluation rubric for judging voice candidates on it: clarity, character distinction, emotional range, listenability over time.

My book has [NUMBER] significant characters. Decide my dialogue strategy for ElevenLabs: single-narrator style where one voice shifts subtly per character (standard for most audiobooks) versus multi-voice casting. For single-narrator, describe how each main character’s lines should differ (pace, energy, formality) and how to achieve that through text formatting and per-section settings. Characters: [LIST WITH PERSONALITIES].

My book is nonfiction: [TOPIC, AUDIENCE]. The narrator must sound credible teaching this material. Define the delivery spec: authoritative but not lecturing, the pace for information density, where warmth matters (stories, examples) versus precision (data, steps). Write the 2-minute audition passage from my content ([PASTE A SECTION]) and the pass/fail criteria.

Voices that sound great for 2 minutes can grate over 2 hours. Design my fatigue test: which [NUMBER: 3] passages of different types to generate (action or argument, quiet reflection, dialogue-heavy), the listening protocol (headphones, one sitting, note timestamps of irritation), and the specific fatigue signals to log: sibilance, repeated intonation patterns, breath rhythm, pace monotony. Verdict criteria included.

Give me the conversion ruleset for preparing my manuscript for ElevenLabs, then apply it to this chapter: [PASTE]. Rules to cover: chapter headings spoken or styled, how to handle italics-for-emphasis, em-dash and semicolon conversion to speakable punctuation, numbers and dates as words, footnotes and citations (cut, inline, or endnote file), and scene-break handling (pause length via paragraph breaks).

Format this dialogue-heavy chapter for narration: [PASTE]. Remove or convert dialogue tags that sound redundant when read aloud (he said stays, he articulated goes), ensure every speaker change is unambiguous by ear alone, and mark where a beat of silence sells the exchange better than a tag. The listener has no quotation marks; the text must do that work.

Build the pronunciation bible for my book: [PASTE LIST OF CHARACTER NAMES, PLACES, INVENTED TERMS, FOREIGN PHRASES]. For each: the intended pronunciation written phonetically, the respelling to use in the ElevenLabs text, and a test sentence. This document rules the whole production; every chapter gets checked against it so Elara is never EL-ara in chapter 3 and el-AH-ra in chapter 9.

Map this chapter for emotional delivery: [PASTE CHAPTER]. Mark the sections: where the narration is neutral forward motion, where tension builds (and prose should tighten), the emotional peak (and how the text formatting should slow it down), and the aftermath. Output the chapter with the pacing edits applied: sentence lengths and paragraph breaks doing the work a human narrator does with their voice.

Script the spoken front and back matter for my audiobook: the opening credits announcement (title, author, narrator credit as [HOW TO CREDIT AI NARRATION]), the copyright line if included, and the closing credits. Also decide what print matter to skip in audio (table of contents, index) and what to adapt (dedication, acknowledgments). Give me the exact scripts formatted for ElevenLabs.

Set up my audiobook production tracker for [NUMBER] chapters. Columns: chapter, word count, estimated runtime (at [RATE: ~9,300 WORDS PER HOUR]), script prep status, generation status, QA status, error count, fixed and final. Add the production order recommendation (a middle chapter first as the settings proof, then sequential) and my realistic schedule at [HOURS PER WEEK].

Before full production, help me lock settings: the proof-chapter test (generate one full chapter, listen end to end), what to evaluate before freezing (consistency across long text, dialogue handling, pace), the exact record to save (voice, model, stability, similarity, style values), and the rule: nothing changes mid-book without regenerating everything already produced. Write the settings record template.

My chapters run [WORD COUNT] words. Give me the chunking strategy for ElevenLabs: the chunk size that balances vocal consistency against regeneration cost when errors appear, where to split (scene breaks and section breaks, never mid-paragraph), the naming convention (ch03_part02), and the stitching checklist so joins are inaudible: matching room tone, no doubled breaths, consistent gap length.

Design the QA pass for each finished chapter: full listen at 1x against the manuscript, the error log format (timestamp, text, error type: mispronunciation, wrong emphasis, garbled word, bad join), the fix workflow (regenerate the sentence with respelling, splice), and the second-pass rule for chapters with more than [THRESHOLD] errors. Also: the fresh-ears rule, no QA on chapters generated the same day.

Prepare my files for audiobook retailers: [TARGET: AUDIBLE VIA ACX / FINDAWAY / DIRECT]. List the current technical specs I must hit: file format and bitrate, per-file structure (one chapter per file, opening and closing credits separate), the RMS and peak loudness requirements, room tone head and tail per file, and the retail sample file. Then give me the checklist to verify each file before submission, and flag the retailer policies on AI narration I must check for my target platform.

Compare my audiobook distribution options: [OPTIONS: ACX EXCLUSIVE VS WIDE VIA FINDAWAY VS DIRECT SALES]. My situation: [GENRE, EXISTING PLATFORM, EBOOK/PRINT SALES]. Weigh royalty rates, AI-narration acceptance policies per platform (verify current rules), pricing control, and bundling with my ebook. Recommend the path and list the account setup steps in order.

Write my audiobook retail listing: title and subtitle handling, the audio-specific description (listeners scan for narrator quality and runtime, address both), [RUNTIME], and the keyword strategy for audiobook search in [GENRE]. Adapt my ebook description ([PASTE]) rather than reusing it: audio buyers ask does this sound good for 8 hours, and the copy should answer that.

Plan the audio-first marketing assets from my finished audiobook: the 3 best clip moments ([PASTE CANDIDATE PASSAGES OR DESCRIBE SCENES]) for social audiograms, the caption hook for each, a 60-second best-of montage concept for [PLATFORM], and where a clip plus ebook-link beats a plain announcement. My audience: [WHERE THEY ARE].

Plan my audiobook launch: [CONTEXT: BACKLIST TITLE GETTING AUDIO / SIMULTANEOUS WITH EBOOK LAUNCH]. Sequence: pre-launch (sample clip teasers, listener-magnet excerpt), launch week (announcement to [MY CHANNELS], price positioning against the ebook), and the durable tail (audiobook mention in ebook back matter, clips in ongoing content). Output the 3-week calendar with each asset named.

I have [NUMBER] books in this series or backlist. Model the audiobook economics: production cost per book with ElevenLabs (my time at [HOURS PER BOOK FROM TRACKER] plus subscription) versus hiring narration ([TYPICAL RATE: PER FINISHED HOUR]), break-even sales per book at [PRICE AND ROYALTY], and the release order that maximizes read-through. Verdict: which books to produce next and which to skip.