How Do I Create an Audiobook?

As a voice actor, audiobook narrator, and audiobook editor, I'll often get the question from authors and writers "How do I create an audiobook"?  

It's not for a shortage of information on the interwebs that this question gets asked. But, it's because there's almost TOO MUCH information... and often, people want someone they trust to just TELL them what to do.

If you are here, it's because you've seen that I've been involved with audiobooks. It's true! Since 2019, I've edited over 70 audiobooks for publishing platforms and publishing houses, including the very recognizable ACX/Audible, Findaway Voices, Random House, Highbridge, Blackstone, BeeAudio, Harper Collins, Hachette Audio, Simon&Schuster and Pink Flamingo.

I've also narrated three science fiction audiobooks on Audible at 7+ hours each, including Relics of Dawn by A.W.Davidson, Piercing the Elastic Limit by Howard Loring and Love in Turbulent Air by M.D.Smith IV. I've also logged hundreds and hundreds of hours narrating and producing The Untold Tales Podcast, a short story science fiction anthology podcast, winner of Arizona State University's 2023 Ampie Creator Award.

Producing an audiobook involves a blend of preparation, technical setup, recording, editing, and quality control to create a professional listening experience.

There are some important decisions you need to make EVEN BEFORE you set out to publish your book.

Before anything, you'll want to decide if you want to self-publish your audiobook, or if you want to go through a traditional publishing house. While there are pros and cons to each, be assured that NEITHER choice will help you market and sell your audiobook. You'll need to create a plan or hire someone to help you do that. That's outside of my scope of expertise, but it's one of the first things to consider. Some authors like to have the publishing house street cred attached to their title. Some authors like the ability to independently control the costs, production, rights and the price of the audiobook in the marketplace. It's up to you to decide your Launch and Sales Strategy.

That stuff is left to other pros. ME? I'm all about the tech.

Here are the basic key technical steps we take to create an audiobook:

1. Preparation

 • Script and Rights: The rights to record an audiobook need to be secured, and the text must be ready, including any adjustments or permissions for abridgements. Mostly, that means it should already be for sale as a Kindle or Physical book on Amazon dot com, with an active ISBN number and everything. If you are going through a traditional publishing house, you still need to have published the ebook or physical book FIRST, so that you have an ISBN number to attach the audiobook to. Often, the hosting platforms will use programs like Whispersync, which allows you to go between the ebook and the audiobook without skipping a beat or missing your place in the story. It's pretty cool tech!

 • Casting the Narrator(s): Selecting the right voice(s) is critical for delivering the tone, style, and emotional depth of the book. In some cases, authors narrate their own books; in others, professional voice actors (like me!) are hired. Where do you find them? Well, if you are going through a traditional publisher, they will have their own method of creating the audiobook (usually through networks within their own control). They'll have a roster of narrators who will audition for your book and you can choose one. If you are self-published and use ACX, you can search for a voice in the narrator database on the ACX platform. Just put your audition out there and let the auditions roll in... It can be A LOT to handle, especially if you aren't keen with the process yet. OR! You can find someone like me... who you know has done audiobooks and also has a network of professional voice actor friends that she can recommend, should that be desired. The narrator list of choices would be more limited, but you'd have personal references for who you are working with - which has been VERY valuable to many of my clients. Makes things so much smoother.

PRO TIP ON CHOOSING A NARRATOR(S): You can take my advice or not... it's just advice, right? But, I'd say, as far as male or female - your narrator should most closely align with the character that's doing the most talking in the book. For the audiobooks I've narrated, the main character has been a strong female protagonist. My voice can cover a wide range of characters from young boys and girls, to old men and women and everything in between. However, some narrators have a signature voice that does certain voices better. MALE OR FEMALE. A male OR female narrator can voice BOTH male and female characters. It's important to listen what that narrator has to offer. The good rule of thumb is that they know how to embody the Male and Female ENERGY... they don't necessarily need to be the same sex as the character. You don't want an inexperienced narrator using offensive stereotypes to voice men and women (ie: males using high pitches and females using false baritones). It should sound natural and you'll know it when you hear it. IF YOU HAVE ANY SPECIFIC ACCENTS IN THE TEXT - make sure you narrator is comfortable doing them, as well. At least, that they can hold a consistent "flavor" of an accent. They don't need to have a degree in linguistics or anything. :)

PRO TIP ON SELF NARRATION: Many people like to hear books narrated by the authors. You are thinking, well, I have a voice, I can talk? I can create my own audiobook. SURE. You certainly can! However, you want to think about some other needs in the production process.

Can you sustain narrating your book for days and days and sometimes months at a time? Do you have the time? We'll talk about it below, but the recording process can be a bit tedious and arduous. And while many authors who are not pro-narrators have cited that they loved narrating their own audiobook? Many say, they won't do it again. I mean, the ROI just sometimes isn't there for the audiobook. You should spend your time promoting the concepts in the book, doing "what you do", warming up the audience via the socials, and selling your story. A pro-narrator will be able to crank out your book much faster than you thought possible.

 • Narrator Preparation: Whether you are self-published or go through a traditional publishing house...the narrator spends time reading and marking up the script, noting tone, pacing, and character voices. They may also work with a director to clarify character interpretations or pronunciation for specific terms or accents. An experienced narrator will know to get the voices approved by you before starting the book, and will do their due diligence and ask A LOT of questions about the story before diving in. And sometimes, you'll be working with a cast of 2+ narrators, typically with one lead narrator, and each person will do the same thing.

A NOTE REGARDING A.I. generated voice narration: You may be tempted to just use a "free" voice and upload the book to audible using a voice that is "good enough". Potentially for non-fiction books, this could be "good enough" but REMEMBER... people RETURN audiobooks in droves, and lose interest quick when they aren't following the story or topic (or if the performance sucks). Experienced HUMAN narrators generally are able to give the nuanced performance that A.I. still does not give, although A.I. can match the performance of some newer narrators who still sound like they are "reading" the script. If you want to sell books and keep them sold, you want to make sure the quality of your book is GREAT... not just GOOD ENOUGH. Spending a little money on the front end may save you from having to return a bunch of money on the back end.

2. Recording Setup

 • Studio and Equipment: Audiobooks are usually recorded in professional studios with high-quality microphones, soundproofing, and audio interfaces. If done remotely, narrators might use a home studio that meets technical quality standards. These days, most audiobooks are performed from narrator's home studios - simply because of cost. It costs more to have an in-studio engineer and studio rented, as well as a director (should you desire one). That said, it DOES elevate the audiobook quality considerably to do it this way. You just need to decide what investment level is right for you.

 • Recording Software: Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software like Pro Tools ($$$) or Audacity (FREE) is used for recording and editing. I use Adobe Audition and I love it! The recording process ensures the narrator’s voice is clear, without background noise or distractions.

3. Recording Process

 • Tracking: The narrator reads the book in sections, recording several takes if necessary for tricky passages or complex dialogue.

 • Retakes and Pickups: Narrators often pause and re-record segments if there are mistakes or inconsistencies in delivery, pacing, or tone.

 • Direction: In professional setups, a director or producer may guide the narrator during recording to ensure a consistent performance.

 A great rule of thumb is that, beside the PREPPING process (above), the narrator will spend 2-4x (or sometimes up to 8x for newer narrators) recording the audiobook, depending on it's complexity. Remember that, when we start talking about finished hour pricing towards the end of this article.

4. Editing and Proofing

 • Audio Editing: Editors remove mistakes, stumbles, or breaths and smooth transitions. They also ensure that each section flows naturally and meets timing and pacing standards.

 • Proofing: Proof listeners or audio proofers compare the recording to the text to ensure accuracy and consistency. They catch any missed lines, mispronunciations, or unwanted noises that need correction.

 Typically the editor and proofer are the same person (as in MY case). However, sometimes Editors will outsource Proofing.

5. Mastering

 • Volume and Sound Quality Adjustment: Mastering engineers adjust the overall volume and ensure a consistent audio quality across chapters. They also manage the audio to meet platform requirements (such as those for Audible or ACX) regarding loudness, background noise, and peak levels.

 • File Formatting: The audio files are formatted for the intended platform, which may involve segmenting them by chapter or section.

6. Quality Control and Review

 • Final Listening: A final review is performed to ensure the audio meets the highest quality standards, including checking for any technical or narrative issues. Typically it's the Editor who completes this process. I also have my authors listen before I give those files the final blessing on ACX/Audible.

 • Corrections: If issues are found, they go back to the appropriate stage (recording or editing) for correction.

8. Cost of hiring a Narrator

 • Royalty Share: You can learn more about this option on the platform you choose to publish on. Often, if the author already has a large following and expects to sell a lot of audiobooks, they may choose to share in the revenue of the audiobook with the narrator 50/50. While this seems great, because you don't pay the narrator to produce the book, it can be a pain to try to track all of the income and whether the narrator has been properly compensated over time.

 • Per Finished Hour (PFH): Myself, along with MANY professional narrators, choose to go the "pay per finished hour" rate, since it's a produce, pay, and DONE method of paying for the production of the audiobook. Some authors are STICKER-SHOCKED when they see how much it costs for a narrator to produce the book PFH. The current rate in 2024 is between $175 - $400 PFH. That is typically for a single-narrator voicing a relatively simple audiobook (fiction or non-fiction). If you have an audiobook with more complex terminologies (medical or technical), more than one narrator, or something special like Dual, Duet, or Multicast, expect the cost to go up even a little higher than that.

In order to calculate this, you can use ~9,600 words (some people use 9,300) words PER FINISHED HOUR OF AUDIO for an audiobook. So a 9-hour single-narrator audiobook from Introduction to Conclusion at $300 PFH would come out to a total cost of $2,700. You may think WOW THAT'S ALOT!

HOWEVER, this cost includes.

• All of the time invested in Steps 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 above: All of the narrator's time is included in this cost. Plus, the narrator PAYS THE EDITOR/PROOFER out of this total cost. Editors in 2025 are working at the going rate of $75 - $125 PFH. Therefore, if you average out the cost of producing the audiobook, a single-narrator is making something like $7/hour or less. We are NOT getting rich on this, people! lol

8. Distribution and Metadata

 • Uploading and Metadata: The final files are uploaded to audiobook platforms, with added metadata like title, author, narrator, genre, and description.

 • Marketing: Once live, audiobooks are promoted through various channels to reach listeners, often including audio samples to give a preview of the narrator’s performance. No one is going to help you with this unless you ask for help. Often, the authors who are selling the most audiobooks are out there hustling at author signing events, blowing up social media, giving talks and using their book as an up/downsell to their services, or generally being bad-ass about self-promotion (which is NECESSARY to stay in business, NOT braggadocio).

In conclusion, I love what I do! I'm not getting rich-quick doing it and I don't take every project that comes my way. But, I love stories. I love storytelling. And I love putting a book into a format that makes it easy to consume wherever and whenever your have a moment to "read". Producing a polished audiobook is a labor-intensive process that combines the skills of voice actors, audio engineers, editors, and proofers to deliver a high-quality listening experience. Good luck in your audiobook endeavors and if you have a project you'd like to discuss, feel free to email [email protected] with serious inquiries only, please. :)