The audiobook market has exploded over the last decade. According to Publisher’s Weekly, it has experienced double-digit growth every year for the past eleven years! As a self-published author, the idea of producing your own audiobook can be daunting. I’m regularly asked how I did it, what were the costs, etc.
There are three options for producing your own audiobook, and I’ve got a blog post for each.
- Narrate your own audiobook (click here to read this article)
- Hire a narrator and pay up front (what we’re talking about here)
- Hiring a narrator through royalty-share with little to no up-front cost (coming soon)
J.K. Divia on Hiring a Narrator and Paying Up Front
Because I’ve never hired a narrator before, I asked my friend and fellow author J.K. Divia to share her experience. Here’s what she had to say:
“Hey everyone, J.K Divia here to share some of my experience with creating my first audiobook. When it comes to audiobooks, there are many different ways to go about producing your book. The way I did it is by no means “the only way” or “correct way”, but it was a positive experience for me.
For my book, Berja, I started looking at narrators on the website Fiverr. Once I found someone who I felt fit my book, I began conversations with them on the best way to produce the book.
I considered two options with my narrator, both involved the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX – owned by Audible/Amazon). I could either purchase the files through Fiverr and upload the files to ACX myself, or do the entire process through ACX. I opted to do the entire process through ACX.
Once I had an agreed-upon Price Per Finished hour with my narrator, I went ahead and created the job, hired my person, and the process began! I did have to have the ebook available on Amazon to create the order on ACX. This created an issue when trying to marry up my ebook release date with the audiobook. I also opted to go exclusive with ACX for a higher royalty rate. Overall it was a really good experience!!”
But How Much Will It Cost?
I spent a few minutes perusing Fiverr and doing some math. Most narrators are offering their services on a “per word” basis. I saw rates ranging from $.10 per word to $35 for 1000 words. Based on a word count of 60,000, a complete book was adding up to anywhere from $1200 to $6000. My book Finding Gideon came in around 120,000 words, and frankly I’m glad I narrated myself. My Stories from the Barn Aisle book is only 10,000 words. That’s a much more affordable project.
However, in my experience with Fiverr, most people offer a deal if you are sending them a large project. Don’t be afraid to ask. I also saw some narrators offering payment plans. And if sticker shock is really getting you down, check out my post on narrating your own audiobook, and stay tuned for my post on hiring through royalty-share with little to no up front cost.
Thank you J.K. Divia!
Thank you J.K. Divia for sharing your experience on hiring a narrator! When you’re choosing a narrator for your book, don’t be afraid to ask for voice samples and tell people if they aren’t a good fit for your story. The perfect narrator makes all the difference! Another thing I’ve learned through watching friends go through the process is to do your best to get an entire series commitment upfront if you have a series with a consistent main character throughout. Nothing seems to upset listeners as much as a narrator change mid-series.
You can follow J.K. Divia on Instagram at @j.kdivia
Check out her books on Amazon! Berja and A Sea of Blood and Tears
Her stories are hauntingly beautiful tales grounded in Norse and Celtic mythology
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