Lesley Taylor: The Audiobook Publishing Boom

Lesley Taylor

Audiobooks may have experienced a worldwide boom during the pandemic, but I fell in love with them years ago. They are great travelling companions and make it more enjoyable to do boring things like housework! Audiobooks are not new, in fact, the first audiobook was recorded by Thomas Edison in 1877.

The current audiobook boom is a blessing for authors as there are still fewer audiobooks than print and e-books, making it easier for us to get our books discovered.

Here’s what you need to know in order to make the most of this publishing boom.

The good news is that the majority of large publishing houses and some smaller publishers now have their own “in-house” audiobook producers, so if you have a traditional publishing contract your publisher may recommend turning your print book into an audiobook.

But according to Heidi Waechtler, executive director of the Association of Book Publishers of BC, the not-so-good news is that, like print and e-books, not all traditional publishers will jump at the opportunity to turn your book into an audiobook if they can’t see a market for it.

If you find that your publisher is unwilling to take the leap, or if you are independently published, you can do it yourself, or pay someone to create your audiobook, also known as “A-Z” services.

Choosing option #1 will probably save you some money, especially if you narrate the book yourself. If you go this route you will need to purchase equipment such as a high-quality USB microphone, a pop filter shield, an external hard drive, and an audio recorder.

Good equipment is key as you must ensure that your audio recording meets industry standards or you won’t be able to distribute the book you’ve created.

The single largest expense in creating an audiobook is hiring a narrator and this applies to “do it yourself” as well as A-Z. Option #2, using an A-Z service, may cost more money, but in the end you will have a professional product in a shorter period of time.

Post Hypnotic Press can produce an audiobook in three to six weeks according to co-owner Carlyn Craig.

Here are four companies that provide audiobook publishing services:

Post Hypnotic Press, www.posthypnoticpress.com, is the only audiobook production company in BC; it has studios in Mt. Pleasant and in New Westminster. Post Hypnotic Press has been in business since 2010, publishing audiobooks by bestselling authors such as Gabor Maté, bell hooks, and Gail Bowen. This company can provide A-Z services or produce your finished audio.

Author’s Republic, www.authorsrepublic.com, an audiobook distributor, provides a short list of A-Z services on its website as well as limited information for authors who want to produce their own audiobooks.

ACX www.acx.com is Audible’s (owned by Amazon) full-service audiobook production and distribution business. Jerena Tobiasen, author of The Prophecy Saga, told me that “ACX has a simple process” and when I asked her how long it took to produce one audiobook she said, “If I was telling anyone I would say allow yourself two months.” eBookIt, www.ebookit.com, has expanded its focus from e-books to audiobooks. The website provides a very detailed step-by-step guide for recording your own audiobook plus information about how to calculate the cost of paying for a narrator.

All of these companies distribute to Audible, Amazon and iTunes. In addition, Post Hypnotic Press, Author’s Republic, and eBookIt distribute to Canadian libraries through Hoopla and Overdrive.

If you don’t feel confident narrating your own book but the cost of hiring a narrator seems prohibitive here are a couple of options to consider:

Pick a narrator in your price range. Narrators charge from $150.00 to $450.00 and up per finished hour.

Choose a payment method that works for you: e.g., pay the narrator outright and keep all the royalties or split the royalties with the narrator until their bill is paid.

There are lots of reasons to create an audiobook. According to Jerena Tobiasen, “Seeing your book in print for the first time is a thrill, but hearing someone else tell the story raises the experience to another level.”