What Auditioning in Hollywood Taught Me About Writing (and presenting at Perfect Your Process)
What is author voice—and why is it the #1 thing agents and editors look for? In my first Substack LIVE video, I share why I'm presenting at the Perfect Your Process Summit 2026 and how my Hollywood acting career taught me what makes a writer's voice unforgettable.
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Sophia Chang (00:00)
I have a backdrop. I have a real setting instead of those bookshelves where I kind of disappear in and out. I didn't tell anyone I was going to do this. I didn't know I was going to do this. So I'm not expecting anyone to come on, which is a relief.
Why am I here in 97 degrees? Wow, somebody actually came on. I'm kind of shocked. Why am I here in 97 degrees? It is because I have to tell you about — I'm really excited.
I'm doing my very first presentation. About three or four years ago, I fell down the rabbit hole of online writing summits. You know, like all these online teachers that are out there, they kind of all know each other and they do each other's summits, right? So since I became disabled, since about 2017, I haven't been able to actually — oh, something about my internet connection. I hope you guys can see me. I haven't been able to travel to any conferences. I haven't been able to attend any classes and everything. So I just started doing online summits and it's my only way to connect with other writers.
So I discovered this dude named Daniel David Wallace. He's like all over the place. And I started looking at his summits and I started following the people who are in the summits. Now, this was like three, four years ago. Three years later now in 2026, I am now certified to teach under his Character First writing. I work with him. I have hired him myself. And next Tuesday, I am going to be on his summit.
Those summits that I was watching for years, like he does three huge ones every year. I am now going to be one of those speakers that I was like, man, I wish I could do that. And now I'm doing it.
So I'm super excited. It's called the Perfect Your Process Summit. And it's starting tomorrow. It's for free. But what I'm also here to say is that there is a pass you can buy because when you do it for free, you can only watch for the first 24 hours. And then you have to like, you kind of have to cram it all in. It's a lot of stuff.
I used to do it for free because I had no money. And so I would be like, I would take the whole day. I'd be eating my lunch, like watching. I'd be watching in like 1.5 time to try to see everything. And it was just too much. So there is a pass where you get to keep everything. You get this private podcast, you get all these like special things. I'm going to put in a little freebie too for that. I would love if you're going to do that to go through my link. So I'm going to email all of you guys.
It doesn't say who the viewer is, but I don't care. I'm really happy you're here. So I will email all of my subscribers with my link. It would be awesome if you could do that because Daniel is very, very generous and it is an affiliate link. And so it's no extra cost to you guys.
So yeah, this is just really, really exciting. Why should you attend and what am I speaking? So my talk is called Three Hollywood Secrets to Unforgettable Author Voice.
Now, I have always been really good at pitching. My very first pitch contest I entered 15 years ago, I won it. You know, when I got an agent manuscript — what's it called, when they look over your manuscript — and I got requests off of it. Every single book that I had queried since then had gotten full manuscript requests, and obviously my last one got me Reese's Book Club Fellowship, my agent.
So I realized, like, what is it that made me really good about pitching and how do I kind of share this with other people? And I realized it was because the times that I spent as an actor in Hollywood right out of college. So after I graduated, I took a pair of flip flops and my degree and I flew out here to L.A. and just started acting.
A lot of people, that doesn't happen for them. For me, I booked right away. And I became, you know, I got into SAG right away. I booked — I think the second audition I ever went on was a commercial for Hewlett Packard. And there's a lot of things that I learned about making that snap judgment when you walk into a casting room.
You literally have — they say, oh, you know, editors and agents only look at your book and give you like 300 words. It's even worse in Hollywood. You go in there and you have that snap judgment and they take one look at you and they're like, mm-mm.
And I know this not just from being an actor and being on set with like A-list celebrities, but I know this because I also assisted a casting director just to try to see how they think. And it's insane how quickly they make a snap judgment. It is insane. So they will sometimes even just look at the headshot and be like, I'm going to let this person come in and read, but I don't think I'm going to cast them.
So when it's this harsh, and it's actually worse now in traditional publishing — I have an interview I did with Mara Williams. I can't remember the number of the episode, but it is called Hollywood, like Three Traditional Publishing Myths Busted. And Hollywood was easier than traditional publishing. And I stand by that. I made more money and I booked jobs faster in Hollywood than I did in traditional publishing.
So I learned all of these things from my time in the audition room, on set. And I was like, there has to be something that I'm able to translate onto my writing. There has to be a way that I can teach people that.
So that's why I have this talk, Three Hollywood Secrets to Unforgettable Author Voice, because I'm like, there's a lot of misconceptions. People are always saying like what voice is, what voice isn't. It is the number one thing that agents look for and editors look for and readers look for. And it's the one thing that you can use to AI-proof yourself. It's the one thing that cannot be replicated.
And believe me, I've tried. I actually created a Sophia content bot to try to be like, oh, people say that AI can make your workflow easier. Maybe I can make it write my podcast show notes so that I can spend more time on my actual book and less time on these show notes and things like that. It was so bad. The bot actually sounded worse than if you just type in randomly into ChatGPT or Claude and just like, here, write me some show notes based on my episode. Like it was that bad.
So there's just no way to replicate voice. I've learned that. And especially if you've got a really good one, a really distinct one. And so this is the presentation where I'm gonna clear up all of those misconceptions about what voice is and isn't and show you what I learned from the years I spent hoofing it out as an actor.
And the bonus is if you sign up and watch this presentation, you get a free workbook that basically walks you through what the presentation shows you. It is fill-outable. It's for you to keep. And it's for free. And so I'm super excited. I just really want to see you guys.
What else? What else? What else? What else do you want to know? I think that's it. Just look out for my link. I have it in my notes. I'm going to put a post as soon as I finish this live. I'm going to turn this into a post with my link. And I will see you next Tuesday. And if you guys have any other questions, you can comment on the post.
I feel like you can comment here, but I don't actually know how that works. So I'll see you guys on my post. Thank you for coming to my live. And see you later.
