Audio Books - Options, Pros, Cons, Dos, and Don’ts

Several years ago, audio books were tanking faster than mass market paperbacks. EBooks were taking a large chunk out of both and the rest of the market share. But in the past two years, audio book sales have soared. This is the result of lower production costs and more options for listening.

For authors and publishers looking to take the plunge into audio books, there are several options:

Royalty-share platforms - ACX is one of the largest, and it also offers producers for hire. With royalty-share, the distribution company keeps a portion of profit and the narrator and author/publisher split the rest 50/50.

Hire a producer and narrator - this can be done on your own (using a company like CDBaby for distribution) or through a company that will do it all for you like Infinity Publishing or Dog Ear Publishing.

Produce and narrate yourself - for those with the resources and equipment to complete an audio book for uploading to a distribution platform. After paying the distributor, all of the profit goes to the author or author/publisher.





What are the advantages and disadvantages of audio books?

Pros-

• Exposure - There are a lot of companies distributing and selling audio books now. Plus there are fewer audio books, so you are more visible to buyers.
• Another source of income - Multiple streams of money is better than all of your eggs in one basket, and it’s an additional boost to your current income.
• Reach a wider audience - There are people who don’t read a lot of books. Some may not have time or they struggle with reading. You’ll reach non-readers, active people, and those with poor vision.
• Always in stock - Like an eBook, your audio book is always in stock.

Cons-

• Cost - The biggest one comes from producing the book yourself or paying someone to narrate and/or produce. Unless you are doing royalty-share, you have to weigh the cost (usually in the thousands) versus return on investment.
• Time involved - An eight hour audio book requires an average of sixty hours to produce. Narrators often take several weeks and if you’re doing it yourself, it could take even longer.
• Promotions - Audio books aren’t instant sales. The author and publisher still have to promote the titles just as they would a print or eBook.

While some authors will tackle the narration themselves, most will work either directly or indirectly with a narrator. Both the author and the narrator invest time in the story and consideration is required from both sides. There’s etiquette to consider and dos and don’ts:

Do -

• Provide pronunciations, character accents, and character descriptions. Make it easy for the narrator to do his or her job.
• Expect professionalism. The narrator should provide a quality product in a timely fashion.
• Plan marketing with the narrator, especially if it is a royalty-share project.
• The key - communicate!

Don’t - 

• Accept shoddy or extremely late work. The narration should be high quality and delivered on time as promised.
• Expect perfectionism. The audio book will NOT sound exactly as you imagined it. The end result will be the narrator’s interpretation, just as a movie is the director’s interpretation. Remember, your readers will also have formed an idea of the character’s voices and doubtful those match up with yours, either.
• Be overly demanding. You do not want to be a pain to work with! Like any industry, word gets around. No one wants a miserable experience.

The audio book market is wide open and booming - weigh your options and be prepared. Are audio books right for you? Have you already taken the plunge?

Audio Books for Indie Authors

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Many (including author Joanna Penn) have predicted that audio, via podcasting and audio books, will increase in popularity due to the launch of Apple CarPlay and Google Cars.

And indie authors do have the option to publish to an audio book format through ACX.

Questions to ask ourselves before delving in:

There are a few things to consider before we get started. First of all, are we qualified to narrate our books ourselves (do we have the necessary equipment and expertise…and time…to take it on)?

If we would rather use a professional narrator/producer, would we rather pay the narrator/producer upfront (do we have the cash on-hand) or would we rather participate in a royalty-share option?

Do we want our audio book exclusive to ACX or non-exclusive? My opinion…ACX gets our audio books on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes and ensures us a 40% royalty (unless we opt to share that royalty with a narrator). Although I usually don’t condone exclusivity for authors, here I can’t see the point in going non-exclusive and getting the 25% royalty. Besides, anyone interested in the royalty-share option must be exclusive to ACX.

If we choose royalty-share, are our book sales and social media presence strong enough that our project looks appealing to narrators? If so, we need to pitch our presence and our sales on our audio book audition listing under “additional comments.” We should understand that narrators who consider royalty-share options are taking a tremendous risk in terms of their time—this may result in fewer auditions for us to choose from unless we’re fairly successful authors with a good track record.

We also need to consider how we want our books to sound while being read. More about that below.

Production options:

When we list our book for audition, we have the opportunity to choose what type of voice we’re ideally looking for. This includes gender and age of narrator, but also the style of voice. Here’s a sampling of the style options:

announcer, articulate, brooding, deadpan, engaging, enthusiastic, female narrating a male part, feminine, flirtatious, frightened, girlish, hip, host-interviewer, husky, hysterical, informed, ingénue, inspirational, intimidating, male narrating a female part, masculine, mature, nasal, perky, raspy, refined, snarky, sheepish, soothing, storyteller, sultry, upper-class…you get the idea.

My thoughts on ACX: Although audio books don’t supply me with a staggering amount of income, the income it does provide is pure profit and a consistent monthly payment. My only part in the process has been choosing narrators, listening/proofing the finished audio, modest attempts at promoting the audio book, and then receiving checks. The narrator, as the producer, has the bulk of the work…taping, editing, and formatting/uploading the finished product.

Have you explored going into audio books yet? Are you an audio book listener?

Elizabeth writes the Southern Quilting mysteries and Memphis Barbeque mysteries for Penguin Random House and the Myrtle Clover series for Midnight Ink and independently. She blogs HERE and curates links on Twitter as @elizabethscraig that are later shared in the free search engine WritersKB.com.