FAQs About Audiobook Creation
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT AUDIOBOOK CREATION
One day, my young son and I were shopping for a wedding gift for a friend. As always, I made my way to the audiobook section to see what was on the shelf. Lo ‘n behold, I was tickled pink to find one I’d narrated! It struck me then, that most folks have no inkling of how audiobooks are produced. Why should they? UNLESS YOU’RE AN AUTHOR.The audiobook industry continues to grow at an astounding rate, as evidenced by double-digit increases in sales annually. If an author neglects to plan for an audio version of his or her work, it’s tantamount to leaving money on the table. I’m relieved to say that many of today’s authors are very familiar with the benefits of releasing their books in audio format, and even bank on the popularity of the narrators they choose, to attract and build a loyal fan base. However, some authors are still unsure of what is involved in the creation of an audiobook, and this blog aims to answer the more frequently asked questions.
Q: Where do I begin?
A: There are two main avenues for audiobook publishing. For many rights holders the most popular route is through “Audiobook Creation Exchange”(www.ACX.com), which is Audible’s audiobook publishing platform and is owned by Amazon. (A rights holder is the person or entity that owns all rights required to make a book available for production and distribution as an audiobook. This may be the book’s author, a publisher, a literary agent, or the author’s estate.) For those rights holders who publish their books with a traditional publisher (for example, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, etc.) those publishers will also usually produce the audio version of that book. Both of these avenues of producing audiobooks will ultimately list the audiobooks on Audible and iTunes for retail sale. For this blog, I will focus solely on audiobook production using ACX, and since most audiobooks are downloaded, I’ll skip over explaining about producing an audiobook on CD.
Q: How much will it cost me?
A: There are many factors that impact the cost of audiobook production. If you decide to use ACX to make your audiobook, your expenses are largely dependent on what you choose to pay your narrator. Rates for narration can be structured in three ways: royalty share, pay-per-finished hour, and a hybrid of the two where the rights holder and producer agree to a royalty share contract, but separate from ACX, agree to an additional pay-per-finished-hour contract.
Royalty share means that you pay nothing up front to your narrator, but when the book is sold, you and the narrator share a percentage of the profit. This can be up to 40%, split between the two (meaning the narrator and the rights holder each get up to 20% of the profits) But this is not quite an accurate view of earnings, as many audiobooks are purchased from Audible with credits. When a narrator auditions for a royalty share book, several factors are taken into consideration. Some of the criteria used to predict whether it will be worth the narrator’s time to record, include sales of the ebook, (not simply downloads, but actual sales), if the author has a robust marketing plan, the social media presence an author maintains, the genre of the book (paranormal romance will typically sell better than a non-fiction book about glaciers, for example), how prolific an author is, and if the book or author has won awards. Royalty share books will also attract newer narrators, as many of the more experienced narrators command compensation beginning at $250 per finished hour. Most narrators have experienced narrating at least one audiobook on royalty share basis, and never even came close to recouping decent payment on it.
If you choose to pay your narrator per finished hour, ACX has tiers of payment from which the rights holder can choose, which are calculated by how long your audiobook ends up being. These tiers are 0-$50, $50-$100, $100-$200, $200-$400, and $400-$1000, paid per finished hour. You may think that this is excellent pay for just reading aloud! But keep in mind the industry average seems to be that 6 hours are needed to record, edit, and master 1 finished hour of audio. (“Master” means to apply certain effects to the audio files to enhance the sound.) Depending on the narrator’s skill and the difficulty of the text this number could be less or greater than 6 hours. Obviously if your book contains complicated character names, numerous foreign words or phrases, or other text which requires additional research before narrating, it will take longer for the narrator to produce that one finished hour. Here’s an example: a non-fiction book chronicling the history of the pharmaceutical industry ends up being ten hours long. You can bet that the narrator had extensive research to do in order to make sure he/she could accurately pronounce all those company and drug names. All of that tricky verbiage will also slow down the narration process, and then the time spent editing will tend to be longer, as well, to make sure pacing and pauses sound natural. A book like this could take more than 60 hours to produce! So paying $200 per finished hour for a ten-hour audiobook is not exorbitant at all, when one considers the amount of work that goes into each production.
The third payment option that is cropping up more and more, is a hybrid deal, where the narrator agrees to perform the audiobook for royalty-share, and also enters into an agreement on the side (separate from ACX) in which the rights holder pays a per-finished-hour rate, usually much lower than what the narrator would normally agree to. For example, the rights holder and narrator agree to ACX’s royalty share agreement, but exchange emails on the side and establish an agreement for the rights holder to pay $100 per finished hour upon completion of the audiobook. (The amount the RH pays is not set in stone at $100 pfh. Hybrid deals are negotiated, so the RH could pay less or more than $100pfh + royalties.) ACX is aware of this practice, and has no issue with it.
Q: How much money will I make off of my audiobook?
A: It depends! Factors that affect how an audiobook sells include the popularity of the author as well as the narrator. Also the author’s marketing strategies and content of the book have significant impact.
Q: Should I narrate my own book?
A: You may be familiar with the phrase: “Don’t try this at home.” We are further cautioned that attempting to do whatever it is we’re watching that we think looks easy; we will probably end up with unfortunate results. The same phrase is a good rule of thumb for audiobook narration. While an author might think they would naturally be the best choice of narrator for their own work, this is usually not the case. The exceptions occur mostly in non-fiction, or in the rare instance that the author is an outstanding performer. Professional narrators study their craft, invest in professional training, and are able to connect with the text, often utilizing accents and other vocal techniques in order to best portray the author’s intent. A good narrator can believably portray both male and female voices by simply altering their breathing, tone and pitch, but it is often an acquired skill that the narrator has practiced and honed over time. In addition, most professional narrators are capable of operating their own recording software and have a good working knowledge of the various pieces of equipment needed to produce an outstanding recording. They typically invest thousands of dollars into high-quality equipment and in developing a sound-proof environment in their home, in which to record. They are cognizant of how certain foods and drinks affect their ability to enunciate clearly and without digestive “sound effects”, and also know how to care for their voice so that they sound consistent throughout the recording. A good narrator can often make the story an engrossing experience for the listener, whereas an untrained individual (even if they wrote the story!) may perform the text in such a way that the listener is bored, disinterested, or even irritated, and may ultimately quit listening, or even worse, write a bad review for the audiobook.
Q: Where can I find more information about the audiobook industry?
A: There is a wonderful organization called “Audiobook Publisher Association” or, the APA (www.audiopub.org). The website features news articles about the APA and the industry, and provides links to press releases and recent coverage organized by date.
There is also a magazine called “AudioFile” (www.audiofilemagazine.com) which is published six times a year. It is a print and online magazine whose mission is to review unabridged and abridged audiobooks, original audio programs, commentary, and dramatizations in the spoken-word format. The focus of reviews is the audio presentation, not the critique of the written material. AudioFile is a great resource to go to when one is looking for a publisher, narrator, or simply to keep up with the industry.
I hope this blog has proved enlightening about audiobooks and their production. I welcome your comments and questions!
