An audio recording of a book, narrated by a professional voice actor or the author, that listeners can play on phones, speakers, or in their cars.
An audiobook is a spoken-word recording of a book, typically narrated chapter by chapter. They can be performed by professional narrators who voice multiple characters, read by the author for a more personal feel, or produced with a full cast of actors for a dramatic experience. Audiobooks are distributed through platforms like Audible, Libro.fm, Apple Books, and Google Play, and they've become one of the fastest-growing segments of the book market. For many readers, audiobooks aren't a replacement for reading but a way to consume books during commutes, workouts, and chores.
Audiobooks open your work to an audience that might never pick up the print or ebook version. The audiobook market has grown dramatically, and a significant chunk of book consumers now prefer audio as their primary format. For authors, adding an audiobook edition means reaching listeners who consider themselves avid readers but whose 'reading' happens through their earbuds. The production cost is higher than ebooks or print-on-demand, but the per-unit revenue and the growing market make it increasingly worthwhile.
The narrator's voice is how listeners experience your entire book. A flat or mismatched narration can kill an otherwise great story. Listen to auditions carefully and choose a narrator whose voice fits your book's tone and characters.
Professional audiobook narration typically costs between $200 and $400 per finished hour, and a novel runs 8 to 12 hours. Budget for this upfront, or explore royalty-share arrangements where the narrator works for a percentage of sales instead of an upfront fee.
Tongue-twisters, overly long sentences, and confusing dialogue tags become painfully obvious in audio. Read sections of your manuscript out loud during revision to catch passages that will trip up a narrator.
Read one chapter of your manuscript out loud as if you were narrating an audiobook. Record yourself on your phone. Listen back and note every place where you stumbled, lost your breath mid-sentence, or couldn't figure out which character was speaking from the dialogue tags alone. These are exactly the passages that need revision before your book goes to audio production.