The Say-It-Like-Me Voice Audit
Turn a polished draft into something your client could actually say.
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Pretty Words Are Not the Goal
A draft can look expensive and still sound like it’s wearing someone else’s jacket. You know the kind. Technically fine. Grammatically innocent. And yet the client reads it and says, “Hmm… this doesn’t sound like me,” which is the ghostwriting version of hearing the waiter say, “Interesting choice.”
The problem is not always the idea. It is the mouthfeel.
The sentence may be too long for how the client speaks.
The vocabulary may be too fancy, too trendy, or too writerly.
The rhythm may feel like a platform trend instead of a person.
The point may be right, but the path to the point may sound unnatural.
The ending may land like a motivational poster when the client is actually blunt, dry, reserved, or analytical.
This prompt forces the AI to read the draft like a voice mechanic. Not “make it better.” Better according to whom? A thesaurus with a podcast? No. The job is to make the piece sound like the client could say it out loud, nod, and send it without needing to apologize to their own personality.
Use this when the draft is almost there, but something feels fake in the room.
How to use this prompt:
Paste in the client’s draft, along with a few voice samples from calls, transcripts, emails, posts, or notes. The stronger the samples, the sharper the audit. This prompt works best after the main structure is already clear and you are ready to tune for voice, rhythm, sentence length, vocabulary, and natural delivery.
Add 2–5 real examples of how the client speaks or writes.
Include the intended platform, audience, and goal.
Tell the AI whether the client is more casual, polished, blunt, warm, analytical, funny, reserved, or direct.
Ask for a diagnosis before the rewrite so you can see what changed.
Read the final version aloud before sending it to the client.
The goal is not to make every sentence casual. The goal is to make every sentence believable coming from this specific person.
The Prompt:
You are an expert ghostwriting voice editor.
Your job is to revise the draft below so it sounds like something [CLIENT NAME] would actually say out loud.
Do not simply make the writing more polished.
Do not overwrite the draft.
Do not make the client sound like a generic thought leader, motivational speaker, LinkedIn influencer, academic, comedian, or copywriter.
Your goal is voice accuracy.
CLIENT CONTEXT:
- Client name: [CLIENT NAME]
- Client role/title: [CLIENT ROLE]
- Industry/niche: [INDUSTRY]
- Audience: [TARGET AUDIENCE]
- Platform/format: [PLATFORM OR FORMAT]
- Goal of the piece: [GOAL]
- Desired tone: [TONE]
- Words/phrases the client often uses: [CLIENT PHRASES]
- Words/phrases the client would never use: [FORBIDDEN WORDS OR PHRASES]
- Client’s natural speaking style: [BLUNT / WARM / ANALYTICAL / CASUAL / POLISHED / FUNNY / RESERVED / DIRECT / OTHER]
VOICE SAMPLES:
Here are examples of how the client naturally speaks or writes:
[PASTE 2-5 CLIENT VOICE SAMPLES, TRANSCRIPT EXCERPTS, EMAILS, POSTS, OR NOTES]
DRAFT TO EDIT:
[PASTE DRAFT]
TASK:
First, perform a voice audit.
Identify:
1. Sentences that look polished but sound unnatural.
2. Words or phrases that do not feel like the client.
3. Places where the sentence rhythm does not match the client’s natural speaking style.
4. Lines that would be hard for the client to say out loud.
5. Moments where the draft sounds too formal, too casual, too vague, too clever, too motivational, too stiff, or too writerly.
6. Any places where the idea is right but the expression feels wrong.
Then rewrite the draft using these rules:
- Preserve the client’s original meaning.
- Keep the strongest ideas.
- Make the language sound natural in the client’s mouth.
- Use sentence lengths that match the client’s real rhythm.
- Replace writerly phrases with words the client would actually use.
- Keep useful imperfections if they make the voice feel more real.
- Do not flatten the client’s personality.
- Do not add claims, stories, expertise, or opinions the client did not provide.
- Make the piece clear, publishable, and voice-accurate.
Output in this format:
VOICE AUDIT:
- [Bullet point diagnosis of what feels off and why]
KEEP:
- [Lines, phrases, or ideas that already sound like the client]
CHANGE:
- [Specific voice issues to fix]
REVISED DRAFT:
[Rewrite the full draft]
READ-ALOUD CHECK:
- [List any final lines or sections I should read aloud carefully before sending to the client]
FINAL VOICE SCORE:
Give the revised draft a score from 1-10 for how likely it is to sound like the client, and explain what would be needed to make it a 10.What to expect after running this prompt:
You should get more than a cleaner draft. You should get a voice diagnosis that shows where the writing drifted away from the client and why. The output should help you preserve the client’s thinking while removing stiff authority, fake warmth, unnatural precision, platform-copycat rhythm, and sentences that look nice but would never survive being spoken aloud.
A sharper understanding of what makes the draft sound “off.”
A revised version that feels more natural, specific, and client-aligned.
Clear notes on which lines need read-aloud testing.
Better vocabulary choices based on the client’s real speech patterns.
A reusable process for turning polished-but-fake drafts into publishable client voice.
After the rewrite, read it out loud like you are the client—if your mouth objects, your reader probably will too.
Chat soon.
Roger
P.S.
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