How much does it cost to make an audiobook?
An average audiobook created with Findaway Voices has about 50,000 words and costs between $1,000 and $2,000. We can estimate the cost of your audiobook by multiplying a per finished hour narrator rate with the estimated length of your finished recording. The longer the book, the higher the estimate will be.
Authors and Publishers
A professional narrator will be contracted for your audiobook production. After learning a bit about your book, our casting team will provide you with a list of recommended performers at a range of different prices. You get to choose the talent that best fits your needs.
Play with the numbers now.
Number of words in your manuscript
Narrator cost per finished hour
Your estimate
Once you have your audiobook, what's next?
We take the complexity out of distribution and sales.
Be everywhere your listeners are.
Findaway Voices is a global leader in audiobook distribution, giving you access to the entire listening world through retail and library partners ranging from major global brands to fresh new startups.
Each partner reaches a different and diverse listening audience. And they represent a variety of business models from one-time retail purchases to Cost Per Checkout circulation opportunities.
The more partners you choose, the greater your exposure and opportunity. We recommend casting a wide net and distributing to every available option.
Listing is Free.
We want you to succeed. That's why we handle the entire distribution process for you with a single contract and absolutely no listing fee.
We take a small percentage of the royalties when your audiobook sells. We only make money when you make money.
Let's break it down.
Say you set your list price to $10 — here’s how the money is paid out for each sale. In this example, an a la carte retailer is paying 40% royalties, and sells the book at list price.
You keep 80% of the royalties.
We manage all the payments and royalties and then pay you monthly.
There are a variety of business models used by different distributors. Actual numbers will vary per sale.
Distributor Details
While our distribution fee is always just 20% of your royalty share, the different business models used by retailers and libraries will impact that number in significant ways.
Some business models will pay you up to 50% on every sale and others will offer slightly lower pay outs with broad exposure to listeners who can check out your audiobook as part of a subscription.
By selecting all (or most) of the distributors on our list, you will achieve a balance of maximum royalties and broad audience exposure — that's a strong sales strategy.
Getting to know the different models is an important part of understanding the many ways your audiobook can be sold and the value of using an array of distributors to get it out to the world. Read more about each business model and how your royalties are calculated here: