How to Upload a Book to Audible

Audiobooks are all the buzz and nosotros have been getting questions from authors on what the procedure and options are for turning an ebook into an audiobook. We did the inquiry and here are our findings.

There are two components to self-publishing your audiobook: one) Audiobook Production and 2) Audiobook Distribution

Audiobook Production

Audiobook production is the procedure past which your written book is narrated and recorded into an audiobook. When information technology comes to audiobook production you accept two options: You tin can tape the audiobook yourself or you tin rent a professional to tape your audiobook.

Recording an Audiobook yourself

To narrate your ain audiobook you volition need a quiet place to record, equipment and software, fourth dimension and some technical expertise. The equipment and software you need volition probable toll less than $200. By far the biggest investment will be in the times it takes yous to narrate your volume and the time it takes yous to edit your sound files in postal service-production.

How long will it take to read your book?

Audible uses 9,400 words per 60 minutes every bit the approximate for professional narrators. If you apply this to your book, you lot can assume that a 70,000-word novel will exist approximately 7.v finished hours as an audiobook. It'south fair to budget virtually two times the length of the finished audiobook for total recording fourth dimension to business relationship for retakes, breaks during the session, and giving your voice some time to rest!

How long will information technology accept to edit your audio files?

After you have recorded your audiobook you will take to listen to the entire volume and fix or re-record poor audio spots. Y'all volition too have to get the files ready for upload. This process will likely take iii-4 times the length of the fully recorded audiobook. So, for an audiobook of 70,000 words, y'all can budget an additional 20-30 hours of post-production piece of work.

eBookIt has an in-depth step past step guide on recording your own audiobook you can use for reference.

It is well-nigh mutual for authors to perform their audiobook themselves in non-fiction where the voice the audition expects to hear is consistent with the author's voices. It's less common in fiction where the depth of characters and potential range of voice ages, accents, or dialects can become overwhelming and, perhaps, better suited for a professional trained vocalization actor.

Hiring a professional person to record your audiobook

Many authors choose to rent a professional person to record their audiobook. When hiring a professional person narrator the process unremarkably goes similar this:

• You lot create an account at one of the audiobook publishers or production companies (I'll walk y'all through some popular options below)
• You find a narrator (sometimes called producer) by listening to their auditions
• You and the narrator achieve an understanding on how much they will get paid for each finished 60 minutes of the audiobook.
• The narrator will record and upload the audiobook, which you will so approve. You pay the producer and receive your audio file.

How much does professional person narration cost?

The price to produce a professionally narrated audiobook depends on the length of your book, the service you apply and the quality of the narrator. Many ACX actors are members of the SAG-AFTRA spousal relationship, and as members, they tin have no less than $250 per finished hour for audiobook projects. You lot can use our calculator beneath to estimate the cost of professional person audiobook production. We recommend using $225-$300 for the per finished hour cost.

Error: Your Requested widget " html_javascript_adder-3" is not in the widget list.

• [do_widget_area ampforwp-above-footer]
• [do_widget_area ampforwp-above-loop]
• [do_widget_area ampforwp-below-header]
• [do_widget_area ampforwp-below-loop]
• [do_widget_area footer-bottom-left]
  • [do_widget id="custom_html-2"]
• [do_widget_area footer-lesser-right]
  • [do_widget id="wwm_social_profile-2"]
• [do_widget_area footer-top-left]
  • [do_widget id="nav_menu-2"]
• [do_widget_area footer-top-right]
  • [do_widget id="custom_html-3"]
• [do_widget_area logo-responsive]
  • [do_widget id="media_image-2"]
• [do_widget_area recent-posts]
  • [do_widget id="recent-posts-3"]
• [do_widget_area sidebar-1]
  • [do_widget id="search-ii"]
  • [do_widget id="recent-posts-2"]
  • [do_widget id="recent-comments-ii"]
  • [do_widget id="athenaeum-2"]
  • [do_widget id="categories-2"]
  • [do_widget id="meta-2"]
• [do_widget_area swift-footer-widget-area]
• [do_widget_area widgets_for_shortcodes]
  • [do_widget id="html_javascript_adder-3"]
• [do_widget_area wp_inactive_widgets]
  • [do_widget id="html_javascript_adder-two"]

Notation: ACX has an option to pay the narrator a reduced upfront fee in exchange for future royalties. We have outlined how this works in Option i below.

Once you have your audio file yous are prepare to distribute your audiobook!

Audiobook Distribution

Source: Wall Street Journal January 2018

As with eBooks, Amazon has the lion's share of the audio market through Audible. But in that location are other players out there in addition to Audible. Audiobooks.com and iTunes accept the #2 and #three spots with services like Google Play, Kobo, Overdrive and Scribd growing inside the "Other" segment of the market for online sales.

Your kickoff decision will be whether yous want to be sectional to Amazon/Aural/iTunes by distributing through ACX or whether yous want to have not-exclusive distribution that will enable you to become your volume on Amazon/Audible/iTunes AND other retailers, services and libraries like Google Play, Kobo, Nook, Overdrive and Scribd. The do good to existence exclusive to Amazon is that you will receive college royalty rates equally discussed below. The benefit to not-sectional distribution is that your volume volition be available at many more than retailers.

AudioBook Distributors

1) ACX

ACX is Audible's (owned by Amazon) full-service audiobook production and distribution arm. With ACX yous can distribute to Amazon, Audible and iTunes. Yous have 3 options for audiobook production and distribution with ACX:

Exclusive to ACX Options

Pick 1 – You decide to be exclusive to ACX. You find a narrator that is willing to record your audiobook for a reduced upfront price in render for a share of future royalties. ACX pays you 40% in royalties, which are dissever 50/50 with the narrator.

Choice 2 – You make up one's mind to be sectional to ACX. Y'all find a narrator and pay them the full upfront fee for narrating our audiobook. ACX pays you 40% in royalties and you keep 100% of the royalties. The producer does not receive a share of royalties.

With these two exclusive options, you are tied into a seven-year exclusivity contract with ACX. Some authors have had luck asking ACX to pause their contract after the first 12 months of the contract has passed, still you lot will need to enter into the understanding expecting that your book will be exclusive for the total seven years.

Non-Exclusive to ACX Options

Choice three – You make up one's mind not to be exclusive to ACX. You lot find a narrator and pay them the full upfront fee for narrating your audiobook. ACX pays you 25% in royalties and y'all keep 100% of the royalties. You cannot split royalties with a producer if you pick thie non-exclusive option with ACX. Note that ACX penalizes you on the royalty charge per unit if you cull the non-exclusive agreement. Still, if you decide to be not-sectional to ACX, you have other options for your audiobook production and distribution.

A Note on ACX Pricing

Authors who publish through ACX cannot prepare the toll of their audiobook. The ACX website provides the following guidelines on pricing:

While not always the instance, the regular price on Aural for the product is generally priced based on its length, as follows:
• under 1 hr: under $7
• ane – 3 hours: $seven – $10
• three – 5 hours: $ten – $20
• v – 10 hours: $15 – $25
• 10 – 20 hours: $20 – $30
• over twenty hours: $25 – 35

To be clear, although the to a higher place represents full general guidelines for Audiobooks sold on the Aural website, Audible retains sole discretion to fix the price of the Audiobooks it sells.

The following tabular array summarizes the three ACX distribution options that we outline above:

2) Findaway Voices

Findaway Voices provides audiobook product and distribution services. Findaway Voices champions an open audiobook market place where authors and publishers choose where to sell their audiobooks and at what toll to sell them. They've built a robust, global distribution network that makes it like shooting fish in a barrel for authors to sell their audiobooks through more than than 20 audiobook sellers across retail, library, and school markets. This distribution network reaches more than 170 countries around the world. They also requite authors full control over pricing (with the exception of Audible which prices based on length as noted above). Findaway Voices also has a unique partnership with Draft2Digital, where Draft2Digital authors can easily connect to Findaway Voices through their Draft2Digital account and quickly commencement creating a new audiobook or distributing an existing i.

"Audible has been the chief game in boondocks for then many years, which means almost audiobooks are sold through their credit-subscription model. That's irresolute, at present, as new entrants into audiobooks are providing more than pure play retail options where authors volition take the liberty to control their prices, run discounts and promotions, and generally experiment with distribution strategies that were previously unavailable. Nosotros're barely scratching the surface at what volition be available for authors with sales, marketing, and distribution!" says Kelly Lytle of Findaway Voices.

Royalty Share: Findaway Voices pays authors lxxx% of the royalties they receive from retailers. If you are distributing to Audible/Amazon/iTunes through Findaway Voices, Audible will pay Findaway Voices the 25% non-exclusive royalty (ACX selection 3 above) and Findaway Voices will requite the writer fourscore% of the royalty and keep 20% of the royalty. We have illustrated this in the pie chart beneath.

For not-Audible retailers, Findaway will receive a 40%-fifty% royalty from these retailers. Findaway Voices will give the writer lxxx% of the royalty and keep 20% of the royalty. For instance, on a book that retails for $x on Nook, Nook volition pay Findaway Voices a 45% royalty on the book price, which is a $four.50 royalty. Findaway volition give the author $3.sixty (80% of the $4.50 royalty) and keep $0.90 (20% of the $four.l royalty).

3) ListenUp

Located in Atlanta, since 2009, ListenUp Audiobooks has been i of the publishing industry's top audio production companies. ListenUp offers Indie Author'due south and Publishers Audiobook production and non-exclusive distribution services, paying 80% to Authors of the royalties they receive from retailers and libraries in over 190 Countries. Authors tin gear up their ain prices with ListenUp, and are informed of each Distributor'due south distinct parameters for how they toll their audiobooks, with a determining factor being the length of the audiobook.

There is a $149-$199 upfront fee to distribute with ListenUp simply this fee is waived if you use ListenUp to produce your audiobook. "We have exceptional Narrators and Producers and are always striving to create a perfect audiobook, offer the ears a wonderful listening experience," says Diane Lasek of Listenup.

Royalty Share: ListenUp pays authors 80% of the royalties they receive from retailers. If you lot are distributing to Audible/Amazon/iTunes through ListenUp, Audible will pay ListenUp the 25% non-exclusive royalty (ACX choice iii) and ListenUp volition give the writer 80% of the royalty and keep xx% of the royalty. We have illustrated this in the pie chart below.

For non-Audible retailers like Google, Kobo, and Nook, ListenUp volition receive a twoscore%-50% royalty from these retailers. ListenUp volition give the writer 80% of the royalty and keep 20% of the royalty.

4) Author'southward Republic

Writer'south Commonwealth is a distributor of Audiobooks. They do non provide any product services themselves. However, they do have a production deal with Deyan Audio where, if y'all use their services, authors receive a larger percentage of the royalties from Author'southward Republic. ""Author's Republic has very relaxed publisher agreement terms, and you can end your agreement with them at whatever fourth dimension if you then cull," says Mike of Author's Commonwealth.

Royalty Share: Author's Republic pays authors 70% of the royalties they receive from retailers. If you are distributing to Aural/Amazon/iTunes through Author's Republic, Audible will pay Author's Republic the 25% non-exclusive royalty (discussed higher up) and Author's Commonwealth will give the author lxx% of the royalty and keep 30% of the royalty. We have illustrated this in the pie chart below. For non-Audible retailers like Google, Kobo, Nook, Overdrive, Scribd etc,  Author's Republic'due south royalty rates differ by partner – some utilise the writer provided MSRP, some are rental prices, and some are library prices.  More often than not, Author's Democracy receives a 50% royalty rate from their retail partners. Writer'southward Republic volition give the writer 70% of the royalty and keep xxx% of the royalty.

5) Kobo Writing Life

An offshoot of Kobo, Kobo Writing Life is the brand's platform dedicated to cocky-publishers. KWL enables self-publishers to upload, promote, and sell eBooks and audiobooks. As of September 2019, authors who utilize KWL tin can now brainstorm making sales on audiobooks through the site. Self-publishers interested in promoting their audiobook here will run across distribution to Kobo.com, Walmart, Indigo (Canada's largest bookstore), and Bol (a shopping platform in the Netherlands and Belgium). All the same, your audiobook is not required to be sectional to KWL and its partners one time it is distributed there.

Royalty Share: The royalty thresholds for audiobooks is broken down to 32% (applicable to subscription purchases) and 45% (this is for a-la-carte buys greater than, or equal to, $2.99 USD). With that being said, there are stipulations. If your audiobook is priced below the prices listed hither, you lot earn 35% royalties. And of grade, you also accept the option of offering your audiobook for free through KWL.

5) Publish Drive

Many of you are likely familiar with PublishDrive, a self-publishing service that reaches 400+ online stores and 240,000+ libraries. Not just does the PublishDrive team provide services for eBook and print-on-demand distribution, but they also enable authors to get their audiobooks out into the world.

If yous begin distributing your audiobooks through PublishDrive, you lot'll exist reaching markets in North America, Europe, and China with partners including Aural, Kobo, and OverDrive. Additionally, you'll have the opportunity to tap into some of PublishDrive'south promotional options like automatic price promotions, Amazon Ads, and review tracking. The combination of managing, distributing, and promoting bundles much of a cocky-publisher's daily piece of work into a  one-stop-shop.

Royalty Share: PublishDrive enables authors to keep 100% of their royalties through their pricing model, which is dependent on the number of titles in an author'southward catalogue (for more information, check out this page ). For more information on royalties past shop, check out this page.

The following table summarizes the information we have discussed to a higher place for non-exclusive audiobook distribution. Please note that you could take a hybrid arroyo and distribute directly through ACX Non-Exclusive to become the full 25% royalty rate then utilise one of the other audiobook distributors to get your book onto Audiobooks.com, Google, Nook, Scribd etc. Click on the image to open up a larger version.

Those are the ins and outs of publishing your audiobook. Equally we've covered in this article, audiobook production and audiobook distribution are generally closely linked due to the exclusivity precedent set by ACX. However, as with most things self-publishing, authors tin can cull between exclusivity and command for audiobook distribution, and DIY or professional help for audiobook production. Nosotros hope this commodity has helped to clearly lay out all the options and then you tin easily evaluate how to take the adjacent step. Have y'all published an audiobook? Tell us about information technology in the comments.

masseywounieve1981.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.writtenwordmedia.com/self-publish-audiobook-production-and-distribution/