Audiobook Production
Starting at $1,699
Product Summary: Audiobooks help you reach a wider audience and bring your book to life. And a larger audience means more readers and royalties. With gripping storytelling from a professional voice actor, we work to get your audiobook as you envisioned.
Have questions? Go to our FAQs.
NOTE: If your publication exceeds 144,000 words, please request a quote.
Add-on Options
Sound Effect (SFX) Placement – $49 per placement
Want to add sound effects to your children’s book? Then, add our SFX Placement option.
Please note that our “Up to 2,000 words” option includes 10 SFX Placements.
Without audiobooks, folding laundry, sitting in traffic, doing yard work, exercising, and many other activities would be a lot less tolerable. Which we suspect is why the audiobook market is growing faster than any other digital publishing format.
At BookReady, we understand the intricacies of producing audiobooks and preparing them for distribution, like separate files for each chapter, encoding, and bit & sample rate. We will work with you to get your character’s tone, delivery, and pronunciation as you envisioned. You will receive your final audiobook files that you can upload to the platform of your choice.
To start producing your audiobook, we will need:
- Final manuscript PDF
- Original cover-art file (optional)
- Completed questionnaire
After your purchase, we will send you an email with information on sending us the above.
NOTE: Our audiobooks utilize the talents of one voice actor per book for narration-style delivery.
- Getting Started items sent to BookReady.
- We will send you 2-3 narrator audition tapes for your selection.
If we do not receive a selection within 30 days, we will need to start the audition process over, as the narrator’s schedule may be booked. - We will create and send a 15-minute sample to review for tone, delivery, and mispronunciation.
If we do not receive any feedback after 30 calendar days, we will consider the sample stage approved and move on to the next stage. - Once feedback or approval is received, we will create and send the entire audiobook.
- If needed, there is one round of edits.
We will consider the project approved if we do not receive any feedback after 5 business days. - Once approved, we will send you the final audio files.
Once we have your Getting Started items, producing an audiobook will take approximately 8-10 weeks, depending on your book’s length. As with all our processes, our timeline depends on the author’s availability for feedback.
FAQs About Our Audiobook Services
What type of voice-over talent do you offer?
We have a range of professional narrators from the audiobook industry. On your questionnaire, you will be able to tell us about your book and your narrator preferences. Then we will match you with 2-3 narrators and send you their audition tapes for your final selection.
Can I have multiple narrators?
Single-narrated books are the most common type of audiobook and the only kind we do at BookReady. We have narrators who distinguish the primary three character voices well, whether male or female.
Can I have music?
No, because music can be a distraction. When it comes to audiobook narration, the voice is the star of the show. Therefore, having music play during an audiobook can detract from the listening experience.
Here’s why: music is a powerful tool that can evoke strong emotions in the listener. However, when it plays in the background, it competes with the voice and distracts from the spoken words. As a result, music can make it harder for the listener to focus on the story and fully immerse themselves in the world being presented to them.
Do you narrate children’s books?
Yes, our “Up to 2,000 words” option was specifically created for children’s book authors who wanted an audiobook. It includes 10 sound effect (SFX) placements. For example, if you wanted a fire alarm 3 times in your narration, it would count as 3 of the 10 sound effects.
Do I keep my copyright?
Yes, you or the current owner of the copyright will keep it. Creating an audiobook with us will not change that.
How long will my audiobook be?
A typical narration is about 8,000 words per hour. So a 70,000-word book would be 8-9 hours long.