Elbowsnapper
patreon
Investigating the cost of an Audiobook
🕑 Added 2021-03-30 02:40:18 +0000 UTCYo, I've been looking into audiobook production and everything that goes into it with the intent of converting Systematic Soul Sorting(and other novels in the future) from an eBook to a fully narrated Audiobook. I've been spending more of my free time lately fixing up more of the mistakes during an editing pass, and converting it into a more script-like(Makes sense when read aloud, reducing the wall of stats/ability/menus)
I thought what I've learned investigating this so far might be interesting information for you guys once summarized.
So! here is what I learned: Keep in mind I'm not a math guy, and this is all based on estimations, so take it with a mountain of salt.
First off, if you're from outside of America you are shit out of luck. ACX, which appears to be a smooth service for exactly this job doesn't work for those in Australia. RIP. Depending on whether or not you go through a publisher that has listing fees there might be more hidden costs there as well. I did manage to find a service called Author's Republic that seems to have zero listing fees but still pushes to all of the normal platforms, audible, apple, etc.
So assuming we have the novel written already and edited. We can figure out the rough price of creating an Audiobook based on length. Systematic Soul Sorting comes in at 75K words, although that might change a little bit as I finish off editing it.
10,000 words = 1 hour of finished audio narration.
1 hour of finished audio narration = $150-$300+ depending on the Narrator.
75,000 words = 7.5 hours of finished audio narration.
7.5 x $150 = $1125
7.5 x $300 = $2250
Systematic Soul Sorting will at a minimum cost $1200($75 safety margin) to convert into an audiobook. Further investigation shows that you have roughly zero control over the retail price of your audiobook, most likely because of how platforms like audible and others provide their content. The average price of an audiobook is between $20-$30. The stated return of 70% per sale of audiobook that Author's republic suggests puts that at a range of $14-$21 per book. That's 60-80 audiobook sales to cover the cost of production.
Whew!
So $1125-$2250 isn't exactly pocket change, but I'm pretty interested in going through the process if only to see if I'm capable of getting something like this done.
What do you guys think about all this nonsense? Any audiobook fanatics in our little community? Any tips on getting this done or things that you think I might not have considered yet? And lastly, any of my other original stuff you think you would enjoy in audiobook format?
Comments
Awesome, thanks for the support! From a equipment standpoint I imagine you would start with an stable recording space without background noise, find a good microphone, work out the best audio settings. For the gig side, creating a portfolio of sample readings that you can show to customers and then market yourself. Fiverr has a lot of this type of gig.
KatherineSupports
This is really interesting, I wonder how one goes about becoming a narrator for this sort of thing - I've recently started reading stories to my friends and occasionally livestreams, and find it a lot of fun.
I'm in a few writing communities that sometimes talk about stuff like this. I'll make a post on one of them, and see if I can get some feedback. I don't mind jumping in wallet first on these things though, I'll probably get a test chapter done to see how it reads in audio form before making the final decision.
Yeah like NomadicSoul’s been saying, you really need a good narrator. Are you in contact with other authors that could potentially give you some advice? If not, I’m sure you could find a writer’s group on Reddit or Facebook. There’s a good chance another writer whose been through the same process could give you advice, or generally advise you of its feasibility.
NomadicSoul
Well this gonna sound odd but get a few opinions on that. I talked with a random dude on a discord server that I'd pay to read a damn phone book and he thinks his buttery smooth voice isn't anything special. That guy got his girl by talking no one can convince me otherwise.
I considered that for all of five seconds before I decided that I really don't have the voice for it.
NomadicSoul
The house of blades: travelers series. Great magic world trash mc and the author kinda gave up on it. Makes me sad but whatcha gonna do. If your voice is decent could always narrate it yourself.
NomadicSoul
Bobiverse narrator is perfect, dritz narrator killed a whole series. Hard facts. One series the author narrated it and damn I don't even like his books that much the mc is such trash but he did it so well iv listened to his whole series like 6 times.
That makes sense to me. I've only listened to a few so far, two of the narrators were solid, and one of them took me out of the story.
NomadicSoul
Personally I love audible books I listen to them on long drives. Getting a good narrator is critical tho and a bit of a gamble iv given up on the dritz series because the narrator was crap and ruined it for me. Couldn't even go back to reading the books because I'd hear his voice talking over the characters. End of the day I'd say throw the dice and do it gotta take risks to make it anywhere but the end of the day it's all you bro. I'll probably buy a copy though if the narrator isn't terrible 🤣
