How to Publish an Audio Book,
Authored by Ryan Lee, J.D.
- Start with Text
Publishing an audiobook begins with an eBook or Hard-cover of text to convert to audio. Via ACX (Amazon’s platform for distributing audio books).
With a completed eBook the process becomes
Royalties for granting exclusive distribution is a 40% Royalty.
Producers make anything from $0 to a 50-50% to a set rate.
ACX also allows for the posting of “auditions” for Voice over talent to compete and submit to read your book. Many authors prefer to read their own books which in turn saves costs for Voice-Over work while offering a more personal connection to the reader.
ACX: The distribution platform for audible, “ACX’ links to your current author account and hosts the book on Audible; Apple and iTunes.
Royalties: The percentage of the purchase price you are provided from the online distributor such as Amazon. (Eg; if the price of your Audiobook is $10 you make $4 per sale when selling exclusively through Amazon).
- Converting Text to Conversation
Each chapter and section of your book should be redacted to audio. For 90% of your current text no problems are presented. Occasionally fun additions exist for authors to expand on original thought in the Audio book version.
You may also wish to distinguish your Audiobook from the eBook version by providing these updates; thus releasing the Audiobook in a new edition and prompting earlier buyers to buy the newer version.
- Recording
The fun begins. Snagging a condenser desktop microphone for under $200 is certainly feasible. A popular option of the “Blue Yeti” gets the job done for $100 with a portable option that would have future application for mobile podcasting or recording live sets.
The bulk of this process is in the reading and editing. It is said for a book of 200 pages a narrator or self-narrator with spend ten hours reading and an editor will spend thirty hours in the mastering process to produce the best version.
Consider a production schedule for larger books. This can be as simple as “ten pagers per day” or as elaborate as “ten takes of each chapter submitted each week.”
- Posting to Audible and ACX
Amazon’s company will link to a published eBook. For those skipping and designing an Audiobook absent an eBook you’ll want to create Metadata. Metadata consists of the copyright date (in most cases the date you begin recording); the Title; the city of production and the author’s name.
While Audible is the largest platform, options exist to post to other sits as well. The issue becomes “exclusivity.” With Audible as the only site you’ll realize 40% of the royalties (sales) as profit. When using the internet as a whole and branching out Audible pays only 25%. Since Audible I generally an established monopoly many users decide to default and grant exclusivity to collect greater royalties.
- Taxes; IP; and “Leaks”
Taxes for Audiobook revenues are filed quarterly. Provided you have 100% ownership and publish through Audible you do not have to share quarterly reporting with a publisher.
Leaks occur when fans, even well intended ones, hoist your content on sites such as YouTube for users to access for free.
In the case of leaks a take down letter is best. Yanking the content down ASAP is key to contain the spread before the material is hosted on other sites and the content is widely leaked.