Welcome to APAC Quick Pitch where lottery-chosen narrators present themselves and their skills to audiobook producers online via Zoom. Quick Pitch is open exclusively to APA members.

KEY INFORMATION FOR Narrators

ELIGIBILITY
Quick Pitch is open to APA members who have not participated in APA Speed Dating or Quick Pitch for the past 2 years. Interested narrators must be registered for APAC, select Quick Pitch during the registration process, and then be selected by a lottery following reviews of all clip(s) by producers.

REGISTRATION
Registration for the lottery is a 3-step process:

1. Since these Quick Pitch opportunities are offered as part of the 2024 APAC, you must first register for the conference here.

2. Then, go to Erggo.US, create a profile for yourself, upload a clip, and follow the steps from your registration email to complete the sign-up and activation.

3. Third and finally (after your profile is activated), on Erggo navigate to Events and select APA-APAC 2024 Online Quick Pitch. Enter the Event Code from your conference confirmation email into the “enter event code” box, and click “GO” to be entered into the selection lottery. 

IMPORTANT DATES

• January 19
  Candidates must be registered for APAC on or before 1/19/2024.

• January 22
  Candidates must upload clips by 5pm ET on 1/22/2024.

• February 1
  The final list of participants will be selected no later than 2/1/2024.

• February 15 & 20
  APAC 2024 Quick Pitch sessions will be held; 12:00pm-1:30pm ET.

WHAT TO EXPECT
If selected, you will be assigned to a time slot on one of the dates Quick Pitch is being held. Each session will be held from 12:00pm – 1:30pm (Eastern Time) via Zoom meeting. You will have 2-3 minutes to pitch your skills to producers who will be listening and may ask follow-up questions through our moderator, APA Executive Director Michele Cobb.

You will join the session in the waiting room until it is your turn (APA HQ will reach out in advance of the session with a proposed timing line-up). When you’re brought into the meeting, be sure your video and audio are on. Michele’s face will be the only one you’ll see and interact with. She will welcome you and you’ll begin your 2-3 minute “this is who I am” presentation (suggested topics to cover are below). Michele will ask follow-up questions to round out your 4-minute slot (you should ignore the Chat window – just let Michele feed you questions from producers). Then Michele will thank you and you will be put back in the waiting room – after which you can leave the Zoom call.

PRACTICE & PREPARATION
We will offer opportunities to test your Zoom audio and video connection prior to Quick Pitch to ensure that technical issues won’t interfere with your pitch. Please plan to use a computer or tablet (not your phone) for these sessions to work smoothly. For best sound quality, a headset or ear buds are recommended … but we can check your options in the test call (please have alternatives at hand).

Quick Pitch Introduction Suggestions
What should you prepare? Be ready to introduce yourself and include answers to these basic questions (as they apply, and not necessarily in this order): 

• Where are you based?

• Do you have a Home Studio? If so, what type of recording do you do in it? [e.g. Punch and Roll]

• Have you ever been directed remotely?

• How many audiobooks have you recorded (roughly)?

• In which genres have you worked? And in which genres would you like to extend your work?

• What are your strongest accents?

• Do you speak any additional languages (beyond English)? At what level of proficiency?

• How many audiobooks have you recorded in your non-English language?

• Let us know if you have a pseudonym and how you spell it?

• What is your greatest strength as a narrator?

• Outside of audiobooks, what expertise do you have (from a job or hobby) that you can bring to your narration?

• Any self-identity that you feel comfortable sharing? (This could include ethnicity, gender, race, sexuality, religious affiliation, physical or emotional health, etc.).

• What is your website address?

FAQS:

What should my clip include? Your clip(s) should be short and should highlight your best skills – include dialogue and/or accents if that’s what you do well, but don’t feel you MUST include those.

Which publishers will be participating? We won’t know until the week before the event, but we generally have 20-25 APA member publishers represented at each Quick Pitch session. Selected narrators will be sent a list of the attending publisher/producers after the event.

How will the session work? Selected narrators will be invited to a Zoom test session before the actual event to work out any issues with access, video, audio, and lighting. For the event itself, you will join the meeting at an assigned time, be placed in a waiting room until it’s your turn, then have up to 4 minutes to tell the producers in the meeting all about you and your skills and answer questions (this is NOT an audition; you will not be reading selections).

Further questions? please email Janet at APA HQ: jbenson@audiopub.org