Can I Upload My Own Audiobook to Audible

Audiobooks are all the fizz and we accept been getting questions from authors on what the process and options are for turning an ebook into an audiobook. Nosotros did the research and hither are our findings.

There are ii components to self-publishing your audiobook: 1) Audiobook Product and 2) Audiobook Distribution

Audiobook Product

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 lot take two options: Y'all tin can tape the audiobook yourself or y'all can hire a professional to record your audiobook.

Recording an Audiobook yourself

To narrate your own audiobook you will need a tranquility identify to record, equipment and software, time and some technical expertise. The equipment and software you lot need will likely cost less than $200. By far the biggest investment will be in the times it takes you lot to narrate your book and the time it takes you to edit your audio files in post-production.

How long will it take to read your volume?

Audible uses 9,400 words per hour as the estimate for professional narrators. If you apply this to your volume, y'all can assume that a seventy,000-word novel will exist approximately 7.five finished hours every bit an audiobook. It'southward fair to upkeep near two times the length of the finished audiobook for total recording fourth dimension to account for retakes, breaks during the session, and giving your phonation some time to rest!

How long will it take to edit your audio files?

Later on you lot accept recorded your audiobook you volition have to listen to the entire book and fix or re-record poor audio spots. You will also accept to become the files ready for upload. This procedure volition likely take three-4 times the length of the fully recorded audiobook. So, for an audiobook of lxx,000 words, yous can budget an boosted 20-30 hours of mail-production piece of work.

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

It is nearly common for authors to perform their audiobook themselves in non-fiction where the vocalisation 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 vocalization ages, accents, or dialects tin can get overwhelming and, mayhap, meliorate suited for a professional trained vocalization player.

Hiring a professional to record your audiobook

Many authors choose to hire a professional to record their audiobook. When hiring a professional narrator the process commonly goes like this:

• Yous create an business relationship at i of the audiobook publishers or production companies (I'll walk you through some popular options below)
• You lot find a narrator (sometimes chosen producer) by listening to their auditions
• You and the narrator reach an agreement on how much they will get paid for each finished hour of the audiobook.
• The narrator will record and upload the audiobook, which you will then corroborate. You pay the producer and receive your sound file.

How much does professional person narration cost?

The cost to produce a professionally narrated audiobook depends on the length of your book, the service you employ and the quality of the narrator. Many ACX actors are members of the SAG-AFTRA union, and as members, they can accept no less than $250 per finished hour for audiobook projects. You can use our computer beneath to estimate the toll of professional audiobook production. Nosotros recommend using $225-$300 for the per finished hour price.

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Note: ACX has an choice to pay the narrator a reduced upfront fee in exchange for future royalties. We accept outlined how this works in Option i beneath.

Once you accept your audio file you are ready to distribute your audiobook!

Audiobook Distribution

Source: Wall Street Periodical Jan 2018

As with eBooks, Amazon has the lion's share of the sound market through Audible. Just in that location are other players out there in addition to Audible. Audiobooks.com and iTunes have the #ii and #3 spots with services like Google Play, Kobo, Overdrive and Scribd growing within the "Other" segment of the market for online sales.

Your start determination will be whether you lot desire to be exclusive to Amazon/Audible/iTunes past distributing through ACX or whether you want to have non-sectional distribution that will enable yous to get your book on Amazon/Audible/iTunes AND other retailers, services and libraries similar Google Play, Kobo, Nook, Overdrive and Scribd. The benefit to being sectional to Amazon is that you will receive college royalty rates as discussed below. The benefit to non-exclusive distribution is that your book will exist available at many more retailers.

AudioBook Distributors

1) ACX

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

Exclusive to ACX Options

Option i – Yous make up one's mind to exist exclusive to ACX. You lot notice a narrator that is willing to record your audiobook for a reduced upfront cost in render for a share of future royalties. ACX pays you forty% in royalties, which are split 50/50 with the narrator.

Option ii – You make up one's mind to exist exclusive to ACX. You detect a narrator and pay them the full upfront fee for narrating our audiobook. ACX pays you 40% in royalties and y'all keep 100% of the royalties. The producer does not receive a share of royalties.

With these two sectional options, yous are tied into a 7-twelvemonth exclusivity contract with ACX. Some authors accept had luck asking ACX to interruption their contract afterwards the commencement 12 months of the contract has passed, nonetheless you will need to enter into the agreement expecting that your book will be exclusive for the full seven years.

Not-Exclusive to ACX Options

Option three – You decide not to be exclusive to ACX. Yous discover a narrator and pay them the full upfront fee for narrating your audiobook. ACX pays you 25% in royalties and you go along 100% of the royalties. Y'all cannot split royalties with a producer if yous option thie not-sectional option with ACX. Notation that ACX penalizes yous on the royalty rate if yous choose the not-exclusive agreement. Nevertheless, if y'all determine to be non-exclusive to ACX, you have other options for your audiobook production and distribution.

A Note on ACX Pricing

Authors who publish through ACX cannot set up the price of their audiobook. The ACX website provides the following guidelines on pricing:

While non e'er the case, the regular cost on Audible for the product is generally priced based on its length, as follows:
• under 1 hour: nether $seven
• 1 – iii hours: $7 – $10
• three – 5 hours: $10 – $xx
• 5 – 10 hours: $15 – $25
• 10 – xx hours: $20 – $thirty
• over 20 hours: $25 – 35

To be clear, although the above represents general guidelines for Audiobooks sold on the Audible website, Audible retains sole discretion to set the price of the Audiobooks it sells.

The following table summarizes the iii ACX distribution options that we outline to a higher place:

2) Findaway Voices

Findaway Voices provides audiobook production and distribution services. Findaway Voices champions an open audiobook market where authors and publishers choose where to sell their audiobooks and at what price to sell them. They've congenital a robust, global distribution network that makes it easy for authors to sell their audiobooks through more than twenty audiobook sellers across retail, library, and schoolhouse markets. This distribution network reaches more than than 170 countries around the globe. They also give authors total control over pricing (with the exception of Audible which prices based on length every bit noted above). Findaway Voices also has a unique partnership with Draft2Digital, where Draft2Digital authors tin easily connect to Findaway Voices through their Draft2Digital account and speedily outset creating a new audiobook or distributing an existing one.

"Audible has been the main game in boondocks for and so many years, which means about audiobooks are sold through their credit-subscription model. That's irresolute, now, as new entrants into audiobooks are providing more pure play retail options where authors will have the freedom to command their prices, run discounts and promotions, and generally experiment with distribution strategies that were previously unavailable. Nosotros're barely scratching the surface at what will exist bachelor for authors with sales, marketing, and distribution!" says Kelly Lytle of Findaway Voices.

Royalty Share: Findaway Voices pays authors 80% of the royalties they receive from retailers. If you are distributing to Aural/Amazon/iTunes through Findaway Voices, Audible will pay Findaway Voices the 25% non-exclusive royalty (ACX option three above) and Findaway Voices will give the author 80% of the royalty and go along 20% of the royalty. We have illustrated this in the pie chart beneath.

For non-Audible retailers, Findaway will receive a xl%-l% royalty from these retailers. Findaway Voices will give the author 80% of the royalty and go on xx% of the royalty. For example, on a book that retails for $10 on Nook, Nook will pay Findaway Voices a 45% royalty on the book price, which is a $four.50 royalty. Findaway will give the author $iii.60 (80% of the $4.50 royalty) and keep $0.90 (20% of the $4.50 royalty).

three) ListenUp

Located in Atlanta, since 2009, ListenUp Audiobooks has been one of the publishing industry's peak audio production companies. ListenUp offers Indie Author's 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 can fix their ain prices with ListenUp, and are informed of each Distributor's singled-out parameters for how they price their audiobooks, with a determining gene being the length of the audiobook.

At that place is a $149-$199 upfront fee to distribute with ListenUp merely this fee is waived if you use ListenUp to produce your audiobook. "We have infrequent Narrators and Producers and are always striving to create a perfect audiobook, offering 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 are distributing to Audible/Amazon/iTunes through ListenUp, Audible will pay ListenUp the 25% not-exclusive royalty (ACX option 3) and ListenUp will give the writer lxxx% of the royalty and keep 20% of the royalty. We take illustrated this in the pie chart below.

For not-Audible retailers like Google, Kobo, and Nook, ListenUp will receive a forty%-50% royalty from these retailers. ListenUp will give the author lxxx% of the royalty and keep twenty% of the royalty.

iv) Writer'south Republic

Author'south Republic is a distributor of Audiobooks. They exercise not provide any product services themselves. All the same, they practise have a production deal with Deyan Audio where, if you utilise their services, authors receive a larger pct of the royalties from Author's Republic. ""Writer'southward Republic has very relaxed publisher understanding terms, and you lot can terminate your agreement with them at any time if you so cull," says Mike of Author's Republic.

Royalty Share: Writer'due south Democracy pays authors 70% of the royalties they receive from retailers. If you are distributing to Audible/Amazon/iTunes through Author'south Republic, Audible volition pay Author's Republic the 25% non-exclusive royalty (discussed above) and Author'southward Republic will give the writer seventy% 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 Democracy's royalty rates differ by partner – some use the writer provided MSRP, some are rental prices, and some are library prices.  Generally, Author's Republic receives a 50% royalty rate from their retail partners. Writer's Republic volition give the author seventy% of the royalty and go along 30% of the royalty.

5) Kobo Writing Life

An offshoot of Kobo, Kobo Writing Life is the brand's platform defended to self-publishers. KWL enables cocky-publishers to upload, promote, and sell eBooks and audiobooks. As of September 2019, authors who use KWL can now begin making sales on audiobooks through the site. Self-publishers interested in promoting their audiobook hither will see distribution to Kobo.com, Walmart, Indigo (Canada's largest bookstore), and Bol (a shopping platform in the Netherlands and Belgium). Yet, your audiobook is not required to be exclusive to KWL and its partners once it is distributed in that location.

Royalty Share: The royalty thresholds for audiobooks is cleaved downward to 32% (applicative to subscription purchases) and 45% (this is for a-la-card buys greater than, or equal to, $2.99 USD). With that beingness said, in that location are stipulations. If your audiobook is priced below the prices listed hither, you earn 35% royalties. And of course, y'all besides take the option of offering your audiobook for costless through KWL.

five) Publish Drive

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

If y'all 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'due south promotional options like automatic toll promotions, Amazon Ads, and review tracking. The combination of managing, distributing, and promoting bundles much of a self-publisher's daily piece of work into a  one-cease-store.

Royalty Share: PublishDrive enables authors to go on 100% of their royalties through their pricing model, which is dependent on the number of titles in an writer's catalogue (for more information, check out this folio ). For more than information on royalties by store, check out this folio.

The following tabular array summarizes the information we have discussed above for non-exclusive audiobook distribution. Delight note that you lot could accept a hybrid arroyo and distribute directly through ACX Non-Sectional to get the full 25% royalty rate and then utilise one of the other audiobook distributors to get your book onto Audiobooks.com, Google, Nook, Scribd etc. Click on the epitome to open a larger version.

Those are the ins and outs of publishing your audiobook. As we've covered in this article, audiobook product and audiobook distribution are generally closely linked due to the exclusivity precedent set by ACX. However, as with most things cocky-publishing, authors can cull betwixt exclusivity and control for audiobook distribution, and DIY or professional aid for audiobook production. We hope this commodity has helped to clearly lay out all the options so you lot can easily evaluate how to accept the side by side footstep. Have you published an audiobook? Tell u.s. about information technology in the comments.

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

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