Video: SoundPath fireside chat series

Navigating the New and Exciting World of Audiobook Originals

Join Macmillan Audio EP and Editorial Acquisitions Manager Michelle Altman and veteran indie producer Hillary Frank for a conversation about how they’ve worked together, how original audiobooks are made, how deals are structured, and how this exciting new medium presents opportunities for limited series in both fiction and nonfiction.

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Want to Learn More about Making Audio Originals? 


  • In this webinar, Hillary only scratched the surface in terms of what's possible in audio scriptwriting. In the upcoming workshop, she'll walk you through specific moments from the audio adaptation of Tegan and Sara's JUNIOR HIGH, and how she translated images into sound. She'll also share clips from TV shows that she's used as inspiration for writing audio scripts. (She sometimes listens to TV without the image!)

Key Takeaways

  • What audiobook editors look for in a pitch
  • The process for writing and producing an original audiobook
  • How original audiobook deals are structured
  • How original audiobooks are different from limited podcast series

Who is this chat for? 

This chat is for anyone interested in finding new outlets for longform audio work. Audiobooks are an especially good fit for fiction and narrative journalism. There are also opportunities for directing and sound design.
Meet the Guest

Michelle Altman

Michelle Altman is an acquisitions editor and award-winning producer. With over twelve years of experience and a background in journalism, she has worked for institutions such as Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Random House, NBC News, and The New School. She has worked with authors such as Tegan & Sara Quin, Leigh Bardugo, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Stephanie Danler, Darrin Bell, Erin French, Ronald Young Jr., Siddharth Kara, and many others. Michelle was born and raised in southern California and now lives in Queens, New York with her husband and house plants.
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Meet the host

About Hillary

Hillary Frank is the award-winning creator of The Longest Shortest Time, a podcast about the surprises and absurdities of raising other humans, and Here Lies Me, an audio drama about middle school. She has worked as a story editor on many projects, including Why Oh Why, Everything Is Alive, Rough Translation, The Truth, and 30 for 30’s Six Who Sat. Hillary is also the author and illustrator of Weird Parenting Wins and three young adult novels. Her first radio story was an unsolicited pitch to This American Life that she made using a microcassette answering machine and a shiny red boombox — which she hopes is proof to aspiring producers that with a little creativity, getting your foot in the door really is possible. (Yes, it is also proof that she’s been doing this stuff since olden times.)
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About this webinar

  • Friday, September 13, 2024
  • 10am PT / 1pm ET
  • 45 min
  • Free
  • This webinar is recorded and made available after the presentation on the class page. 
Opportunities for limited series have all but disappeared in podcasting. Gatekeepers are prioritizing speed and frequency over quality and innovation. So where can you take your narrative journalism? Your fiction? Your hard-earned production chops? Audiobooks! Join Macmillan Audio EP and Acquisitions Manager Michelle Altman and veteran indie producer Hillary Frank for a conversation about how they’ve worked together, how original audiobooks are made, how deals are structured, and how this exciting new medium presents opportunities for limited series in both fiction and nonfiction.