If you would prefer the video version, click to watch this on Youtube.
First of all, let’s zero in on the why. This article is for you if you are an indie author, or a trad author who kept your audio rights, and you want to sell your audiobook for a profit. Or you might be a narrator who could use the information, if nothing else, to explain how it works to potential collaboration partners (authors). If you’re a book fan that wants to listen to a robot read a book to you, you may or may not know that function is available on every phone or tablet under accessibility. This post is not for you. Maybe you are an author thinking of selling a robot voiced version of your book. Know that readers/listeners can already get that for free, so you might consider producing a real audiobook instead. By real, I mean one performed by a human (even by you in some cases). As they say, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but there are ways to get an audiobook produced without paying out of pocket.
Can I just do it myself?
As an indie author, you likely have a DIY mentality, so you may be thinking of recording your own audiobook from home. I won’t get into the acting and narration experience required to make the audiobook successful. Let’s assume you are multi-talented and already have those skills. Recording your own audiobook may be an option if you are a podcaster or a voice actor who has a home studio set up, but otherwise, it isn’t free. In fact, start up costs can be high. If that scares you, skip ahead to the next section (Royalty Share).
You will need a decent microphone (usually starting at over $225), an interface (around $150), and a quiet, reflection free space to record. Pre-fabricated booths start at around $6000. I paid about $10,000 for mine (after shipping). It is possible to fashion a booth out of a walk in closet and sound dampening blankets. However, your recording schedule will be restricted if you live with other people (or animals) or share a wall with neighbors. You will also need a boom arm and something to hold your phone or tablet to read from. Assuming you already have a tablet, plan to spend another 75 bucks for these accessories, and then another $50-$100 for an XLR cable, a pop filter, and a shock mount, which are usually not included with microphones. Once you get the book recorded, you will need an experienced audiobook engineer to edit it and master it to the industry specs. This usually runs about $100-$175 per finished hour of audio for solo narration. So the minimum dollar amount required to do one professional sounding 10 hour audiobook would be about $1525. And that’s if you’re really bootstrapping. Not to mention the cost of the time required to actually record the thing (about 30 to 40 hours once you get your booth set up). Some non-fiction authors, or dual career creatives may find the DIY approach to be the best option if they plan to do more than a few audiobooks. For the rest, save yourself some money (and sanity) and go with one of the next three options.
Royalty Share
Like a lot of you reading this, I first learned about royalty share contracts when I signed up with the Audio Creation Exchange (ACX). For anyone just getting into audiobook publishing and production, ACX is a branch of Amazon/Audible that offers two main services. It is an audiobook distributor for Audible and Itunes, as well as a free matchmaking service between indie authors or rights holders, and audiobook narrator/ producers. ACX is usually the first stop for many authors who want to get into audiobooks. It’s also used by self-motivated voice actors who want to try their hand at audiobook narration and production. For the purpose of simplifying this article, I will use the shorthand of “authors” when talking about either authors or rights holders. I will use the term “narrators” when talking about narrators who independently produce audiobooks.
The platform has a lot of flexibility and is pretty easy to use on the author side. This is because once the narrator is cast, they are the ones responsible for producing the audiobook. they will upload their retail-ready files directly to the site. From there, they will be distributed to Audible and itunes. (Note: using the platform for both casting and distribution is not required, but it’s very common).
If you wrote a book and you plan to distribute the audiobook through ACX, you must enter information about the type of author/narrator contract you want to create. ACX has three options: “Per Finished Hour” (PFH), “Royalty Share” (RS), and “Royalty Share Plus” (RS+). A Pay for Production or “Per Finished Hour” (PFH) contract is the traditional contract for audiobook production, and it means that if your audiobook is 10 hours, you pay a PFH rate multiplied by 10. But since you clicked on this article, you’re likely just interested in Royalty Share, so I won’t talk about PFH here. Royalty Share Plus is a hybrid of the two. It has the same contract requirements as Royalty Share, so when I mention the rules for using Royalty Share (or RS), know that I’m also talking about the rules of Royalty Share Plus (or RS+). You can learn more about the various payment structures by watching the short video: Is it Expensive to Produce an Audiobook?
As you might have guessed by the term “Royalty Share”, it’s not really free, since you’re actually splitting half the profits with the narrator. It is, however, a great option for many authors just dipping their toes in the audiobook world. It’s not the only option, but it is the easiest and might be the only option for some authors.
There are a few requirements for your book to be eligible for RS.
- To use ACX at all, you must be a resident of the US, UK, Ireland, or Canada. According to the website,
“ACX is currently open to residents of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland who have a mailing address, valid local Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and banking details for one of these countries.”
- You must select “exclusive distribution”. Since the narrator’s payment comes from Audible and itunes sales.
- You can only split payment with one narrator, so RS works best for solo voice projects.
- If you plan to eventually bundle a series recorded under royalty share, the entire bundle must be narrated by the same narrator.
Note: Royalty Share (RS) isn’t the only royalty split program for audiobooks, but it is the only one accessible to most authors and narrators in North America, the UK, and Ireland.
If you’re wondering about Royalty Share Plus, it’s essentially a hybrid between a royalty share and a PFH contract. The idea behind it is that the author pays the engineering expenses so the narrator doesn’t have to pay anything out of pocket. In some cases, it may make your project eligible for SAG-AFTRA contracts, which can open it up to more (union) narrators. Again, it’s not free, but it may be more affordable than a PFH contract. The royalty share percentage and the requirements are all the same as they are for regular RS projects.
Licensing your audio rights
Another option is to license your title to audio publishers. There are a few large audiobook publishers (and a few small ones) who will assume some risk and publish audiobooks they believe have a chance of doing well. Tantor and Podium Entertainment are a couple of the big ones. Simon and Schuster has recently launched “Simon Maverick”, an audiobook imprint that works with indie authors. The acquisitions teams from these audio publishers are always hunting for new titles to license. If you want to work with them, it would be a good idea to have your contact info publicly available. Some publishers also have contact information on their websites for pitching your title. If they decide to publish your audiobook, they generally take care of all the audiobook production, including at least part of the casting process. Many contracts will still allow you (as the author) to have the final say in who narrates the book. Sometimes, authors even send a list of their favorite narrators to the publisher.
Contracts can vary, and they aren’t publicly available, so it may be difficult to predict how much your audiobook will end up earning. Then again, when is selling art ever predictable? Licensing audio rights may be a great option for an author with a higher budget audiobook, including dual or multicast projects, since publishers have access to full rosters of narrators, and they have the ability to handle the payments for everyone involved. Most of them also publish the audiobook “wide”, including to libraries and audiobook apps like Kobo and Spotify.
Crowdfunding
Yes, you can crowdfund an audiobook. Is every crowdfunding attempt successful? Definitely not. Does it take a lot of work? Yes. Does that work take up time you would rather spend writing your next book? Maybe. But being an indie author means you also signed up to do the extras. If you want to crowdfund your audiobook, think of it as a fancy pre-order. Have everything in place to show off to your crowdfunders: your narrators, the cover art, and maybe even a short clip from the audiobook. Research the rules of the particular crowdfunding service. Some won’t allow erotic content, as they consider it to be pornographic material. You also won’t receive a dime if you don’t reach your goal, which means you may be stuck footing the bill for the audiobook in the end. But if it’s important to you to keep your rights and your profits, crowdfunding might be the way to go. To learn more about audiobook production, visit becksvoice.com/production. If you want to get your audiobook to as many listeners as possible, learn how at becksvoice.com/wideaudiobooks.
Thanks for reading!
Rebecca H. Lee
You can visit my narration website at becksvoice.com
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