Hi everyone!
About four years ago I used CastingCall to pay for some voice over work for a DND campaign I was running. That campaign soon faded, but little did I know that the world I had created would serve as the foundation for a web series and a new career as a writer! I’m the author of Amelia Thornheart, a sapphic romance fantasy free to read on RoyalRoad and ScribbleHub. Across its platforms it has over 10,000 readers and 4+ million views. Earlier this September, I took the first 35 chapters and refined it into a 146k-word-long ebook which is now available on Amazon. I’ve had enough of my audience ask about an audiobook version that I decided to dip my toes back onto CastingCall and see what I can find.
Amelia Thornheart follows the adventurers and shenanigans of its titular protagonist. Amelia is a human who, after dying in our world, is transported into a fantasy world with tremendous magical abilities. She is upbeat, optimistic, well-spoken, and a bundle of chaotic energy. This clashes with the personality of the highborn demon captain Serena Halen, whose quarters Amelia finds herself magically transported into. The series follows their budding romance while slowly uncovering the mystery of why Amelia was transported and how she got her powers.
The series is written in third-person limited perspective, and the majority of the scenes are from either Amelia’s or Serena’s POV. However, there are several more POV characters in the manuscript. In total the first book has:
Amelia, a twenty-five-year-old bubbly human. Educated, well-spoken.
Serena, a stern early-thirties, ice-queen, highborn demon captain with hidden warmth. Authoritative with excellent enunciation.
Dagon, Serena’s First Officer. A confident military man.
Mel, an early-twenties demon Officer-in-training. Arrogant and petty.
Polina, a human intelligence analyst of a rival nation. Focused and calculating.
Lani, a spoilt demon teenager. She’s the youngest sister of Serena.
Elana, the Empress of Demonkind. Immortal and forever young.
Narration accent: neutral/contemporary British English and/or neutral/contemporary American
Themes
The series is overall upbeat, aimed to entertain, amuse, and make readers laugh. That said, there are serious themes at play. The world Amelia finds herself in is one of Imperial powers and growing racial conflicts. War is becoming industrial, and the technological level is roughly equivalent to our world’s WW1/Interwar era. See these renders I commissioned of Serena’s ship, the Vengeance, as an example (one, two). It aims to balance both the light-hearted almost slice-of-life parts with the more serious rising tensions between demons and humans.
Job Requirements
This role is specifically casting a woman narrator, in keeping with the nature of the story and the preferences expressed by the existing readership.
The role is to produce approximately 16 hours of finished audio, covering the 146k manuscript of Book One. Finished audio means fully edited, proofed, mastered, and ready for commercial distribution. 15-16 hours is the estimate I’ve seen, looking at average audiobook narration speed.
Budget: $150-$250 per finished hour, inclusive of narration, editing, proofing, and mastering.
Timeline: I am open to discussion. Ideally, production beginning November 2026 with full delivery targeted for February 2027.
This is a performance-heavy audiobook, so I’m specifically looking for a narrator with strong voice-acting ability. The series’ strength is its characters, so a narrator who can capture the character and voice of Amelia, Serena, and the rest of the characters is vital. This isn’t just dialogue but also subtly capturing the characters' personalities in the cadence and nature of their prose, as each chapter is written from the character’s POV perspective.
I'm very happy to discuss character voices and pronunciations before recording begins, but I'm hiring a voice actor because I want their interpretation and performance instincts as well as their voice. I'm not expecting an exact imitation of voices I already have in my head.
Importantly, I’m hoping to find a narrator I can continue working with on future books. Book One is only 146k of more than 700k words written and published. I expect the series to go for 10-15 books, which means 10-15 audiobook narrations. Ideally, I would like to keep the same narrator for all of them. For this reason, someone who has genuine enthusiasm for the characters and material is desired.
The narrator must have a professional setup, with the equipment/environment necessary to produce production-quality sound, and the experience and knowledge required to produce finished audio.
Reliable communication is important to me. During active production, I’d generally expect acknowledgement of messages within 1–2 business days, and I’ll hold myself to the same standard.
All submitted auditions and final narration must be performed by the human narrator.
AI-generated, voice-cloned, synthetic, or voice-converted performances will not be accepted.
The final audiobook will be licensed for worldwide commercial distribution across audiobook retailers and platforms. Excerpts from the audiobook may also be used to market and promote Amelia Thornheart and its audiobook editions, including on social media, YouTube, websites, advertisements, trailers, and similar promotional materials. This does not include any right to use the narrator’s voice, recordings, or performance for AI training, voice cloning, synthetic speech, or productions unrelated to Amelia Thornheart.
Audition
The audition excerpt is designed to give me a sense of both your narration style and your character acting, particularly for Amelia and Serena.
Please use your normal audiobook recording chain and setup. I’m not expecting extensive post-production for the initial audition, but the recording should be clean enough to demonstrate the quality of your recording environment.
I’m particularly listening for:
Natural, engaging prose narration rather than an overly theatrical read.
Clear distinction between characters without voices becoming caricatures.
Amelia’s warmth, optimism, intelligence, and chaotic energy.
Serena’s authority, restraint, and underlying warmth.
The ability to let the POV character subtly influence the cadence and emotional texture of the narration.
Please feel free to make your own acting choices. I’m much more interested in hearing your interpretation of the characters than in having you guess an exact voice I already have in mind.
Since the 10-15 planned books may represent a long-term arrangement, shortlisted narrators may be invited to a second, paid audition involving approximately 5–10 minutes of material across several POV characters. Compensation and material will be agreed in advance; I currently expect this to be around $50 per narrator.
The payment schedule will be agreed with the selected narrator before production begins, with all terms set out in writing.
Audition Material
I’ve provided three excerpts from Chapter One below. They’re intended to test different aspects of the performance: Amelia’s POV narration, comedic character interaction, and the contrast between Amelia and Serena.
You do not need to record all three. If you only record one, I recommend Excerpt Three (Amelia and Serena), as their relationship is at the heart of the series. Recording two or all three is very welcome if you’d like to demonstrate a broader range.
You’re also welcome to substitute or add a short passage of your own choosing from Chapter One if there’s another section you feel better demonstrates your strengths.
Excerpt One
Amelia patted that very same healthy body, giggling to herself as she experimented with tensing her muscles and enjoying the unfamiliar sensation of health. While she explored her new body’s capabilities, a part of her mind became aware of something else. A new sensation. There was something within her. An ethereal substance that flowed through her body. Foreign and familiar.
Could it be?
Her instincts tickled her. Just as they’d told her this world was real, they also informed her about the substance she was perceiving inside herself. Amelia felt a smile form. It seemed that her new body wasn’t the only thing connecting herself to that virtual world.
Aether.
In the game, aether was the primary resource for most magic disciplines. As a combat mage, Amelia had spent an enormous amount of time completing quests and hunting titles to maximise her aether capacity and regeneration. After all, she needed all that aether to cast her titanic combat spells! Her obsession with aether had earned her the nickname ‘Aether Addict’ amongst her guildmates.
So, she had aether. Could she cast magic?
[...]
The wardspell manifested as a golden glow dancing across her skin, bathing the room in warm light. The effect was more than cosmetic; Amelia felt herself grow stronger, a vigorous energy running through her muscles. She felt powerful. She felt like she could stop a blade with her bare hands!
I actually cast magic, Amelia thought in delight. Actual magic!
She twirled on the spot, needing to do something to celebrate. She giggled again, feeling a little manic. Who could blame her? Casting magic felt good.
Excerpt Two
“What language is this…?” Amelia pondered.
“That would be High Imperial, little one,” a coarse masculine voice intoned, causing Amelia to jump. She wasn’t used to the extra strength the Ward of Thew gave her; the little jump took her all the way to the ceiling with enough force that she would have been seriously injured if not for her magical defence. She fell down unceremoniously, scrambling up and scanning the room desperately.
“Who’s there!? Show yourself, intruder!” Amelia shouted. “I have… hands! And I’m not afraid to use them!”
She held out her hands like a boxer while frantically scanning the room for the hidden speaker.
“Ah… hahaha!” the hidden man laughed. “I’m the intruder? What a strange human you are, to accuse me of the trespass of which you are guilty! Yes, yes... over here. No, no… to your right. By the mirror, little one.”
Amelia followed the voice until her eyes settled on the source.
“A talking moose!” she blurted at the stuffed moose head mounted on the wall.
“I am not a talking moose!” the talking moose exclaimed. “I am… Anathor! The guardian of this ship and adviser to its good captain. I—”
“We’re on a ship!?” Amelia interrupted. She darted back to the window, peering through the thick glass. “Why can’t I see the sea? Where’s the water?!”
“Hrmph!” grumbled Anathor. “I said we're on a ship, little one… the Vengeance! A mighty military vessel, feared for leagues around! This is no mere watership for harvesting salt! What use would there be of putting a warship on water when we have the skies?”
“We’re flying? I’m on a flying ship?!”
Excerpt Three
“The captain?” Amelia questioned. “Uh, sure! Where is he?”
“She is here now. Be warned… she can be a touch… brusque.”
Just as Amelia processed that last sentence, the double doors burst open and there was a sword in her face! A real, steel sword!
“Umm…” Amelia blinked, moving her gaze from the sword tip at her nose to its wielder. The more she looked, the wider her eyes became, and the wider her eyes became, the more her heartbeat raced.
Attached to the shining blade was a firm and steady hand; attached to that hand was a towering figure in a neat black military uniform trimmed with gold. On the top of this figure, a beautiful demon was snarling at her, with pale skin, deep crimson eyes, smooth black hair, and a set of magnificent horns!
“A demon! A demon captain!” Amelia exclaimed, admiring the figure, who looked as though she belonged on the pages of a fantasy storybook. Amelia found herself getting lost in the captain’s crimson eyes. Yes… she could work for such a pretty captain!
Oh, she felt her cheeks warming! She wouldn’t blush, would she? What would—
“Port or starboard? Pick one!” the captain suddenly snarled at her. Perhaps the demon was trying to look intimidating, but somehow Amelia found herself further drawn into the intense glare.
“Uh…” Amelia frowned. “Why?”
“I’ll let you choose which side of the ship we hang you from after you spill everything you know, human spy.” The last two words were punctuated with little jabs of the sword, now millimetres from Amelia’s nose.
Oh dear, Amelia thought. Not the best start to a job interview! She would need to fix this quickly.
“I like your horns!” Amelia declared confidently, putting on her very best let’s-be-friends smile.
The demon captain opened her mouth and then closed it, a moment of confusion flashing over her face. Now was the time to push the attack!
“I mean, they’re extremely intimidating, of course,” Amelia continued, “if that’s what you’re going for. But they’re also really very pretty, you know? Could I touch them? Please?”
[...]
“You…” the captain muttered. “The Republic must be getting desperate to send a mad human after me. Run out of sane assassins, have they?”
Content notes
Light consensual sexual content and romance between the female leads; fantasy violence; warfare; racial/gendered/religious prejudice and interspecies political conflict. The series does not depict sexual violence, although the threat of sexual violence is referenced or implied in later books. Contains infrequent profanity.
The series was written by me, a human, and not AI.
(Although I did use some AI to help word this casting call better!)
