How to Make an Audiobook: Let Me Count the Ways…

I had already embraced the idea of possibly doing my own audiobook when a production company reached out through my publisher, She Writes Press, to offer me “a deal.” Though they did not initially disclose the details, I was advised to just take it. That this was every author’s dream.

(Why Audiobooks Are Skyrocketing, and How Writers Can Take Advantage.)

But was it the dream for me? I wasn’t sure.

I am a singer and sometime podcaster, so I have some experience on the mic. I’ve trained with vocal coaches for both singing and speaking, equipping me with warm-up, reset, and cool-down routines to keep my instrument healthy and in good working condition. Plus, friends and followers have remarked over the years that I have a nice voice. For all these reasons, coupled with the fact that my nonfiction book is part memoir, I was looking forward to reading it myself.

Still, my remaining days to launching the book were running out and there was much to do. My debut full-length project, the learning curve was steep. This could be one thing off my plate—and a very big, time-consuming thing at that. I know how many hours behind the mic, then inside an audio editing app, it takes to produce a 20-25 minute podcast. A lot!

Though I wanted to narrate my book and could do so in my home studio, I wasn’t relishing the production work.

I asked for the terms. I wanted them to WOW me. They didn’t.

Perhaps I already knew too much. I had done my research. I was aware that an exclusive deal with ACX, Amazon Audible’s distribution engine, comes with a 40% royalty to the author. Whereas a non-exclusive deal reduces the author’s share to 25%, but opens the gates to Spotify, which offers 80%. Averaged out, that looked like 40% across both platforms.

The “deal” I was offered was Audible exclusivity but with a royalty of 25%. That meant the production company would be taking 15%, at least, of what should have been my 40%, while cutting me off from Spotify and three-dozen-plus other distribution platforms that have come online in the last several years. As my adult daughter and all her age-mates are on Spotify, and my father reverted to “reading” through Overdrive as blindness took him over in his final years, exclusivity was not looking like a value add at all. Quite the opposite.

Indeed, with more distribution options popping up all the time, ACX need no longer be an author’s only option. Findaway Voices, for example—oddly named because it began as a place for voice artists seeking audiobook narration opportunities to secure auditions—distributes to Spotify and beyond, including ACX. It’s a one-stop shop, giving the account owner complete control not only over platform partners but also pricing.

Audiobooks in Front of the Glass

The “deal,” what’s more, required me to relinquish control of my IP for seven years. The company would not guarantee simultaneous release of the audiobook with the print and eBook editions. When I pressed for a release date, they said only that it would follow official launch of my title three to four months later.

Now, my book, Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands, is timely: dedicated to providing a narrative of clarity to counter the divisive US immigration narrative before the November 2024 presidential election. I couldn’t afford to turn over control of publication timing to a faceless entity with no obvious link to the issue. Digging through online chat rooms, I discovered that the company is not in the habit of communicating with its authors. It does not typically disclose launch details. So I would have little hope of creating a marketing plan to aid both my title and the company’s bottom line.

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And then came the coup de grace: They would not allow me to narrate my book. They wouldn’t even let me audition. I could have final say over their shortlist of three potential readers. But that sounded to me more like a booby prize than a privilege.

At the extremes of this decision, I would either be A) giving over total control of my IP for seven years, or B) giving over all my pre-release hours to audiobook to production. Neither option was the right one for me.

So I found a third way: one that would allow me to retain control over pricing and distribution, obtain the highest royalty share, and resolve the question of narration myself, while handing over the production work to someone else. It meant I would assume the risk, paying for producer, editor, studio rental, and narrator’s fee. But if I read the book myself, I could reduce my out-of-pocket cost by at least a third, at most a half.

Audiobooks Behind the Glass

I calculated that I would have to sell 600 units, give or take, to “earn out” the upfront expense. Given that the audiobook market is booming, having grown more than 500 percent between 2013 and 2022 and expected to show a compound annual growth rate of 10 percent each year for the next five, that sounded like a good bet. Lucky for me, I was in a position to take it.

I asked my publisher to revert worldwide audio rights to me, which she did. And I booked in with Strathmore Studios in London, a 30-minute bike ride from my house.

It was exhausting, not gonna lie. But I loved every minute of the five full days it took to read through my 120,000-word text. It gave me a whole new way to view my book. I caught mistakes in the manuscript, which we fixed immediately, providing the eBook with a make-over and informing a hopeful 2nd print edition. The hardest task was the “proof-listen,” which I hadn’t anticipated having to do and which gobbled up three unplanned days from a packed pre-launch schedule. But it was worth it to achieve a fine, professional result.

Was it worth it financially? Only time will tell. Perhaps Writer’s Digest will consider an addendum to this post once sales figures are in.

In the meantime, please look for Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands (She Writes Press, June 18, 2024) wherever you get your audiobooks because it will be available everywhere, from ACX to Spotify to Nook, Kobo, Overdrive, and beyond.

Oh, and one last tip: You can distribute through Findaway with ACX turned off; then distribute directly through ACX, too. You won’t get the Audible exclusive royalty of 40%, but neither will you lose 15% from Audible to Spotify, retaining your full 25% ACX share. 

Check out Sarah Towle’s Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands here:

Bookshop | Amazon

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