Audiobook is rapidly presenting a growing market for publishers and voice actors alike. The fact that accessibility to the internet has been made easy today is the driving force behind the astronomical rise of audiobooks. The easy access smartphone devices provide for many people combined with long commutes makes for a market hungry for audio content.
According to the Audio Publishers Association, a survey supported by data from The Infinite Dial 2019 indicates that 50% of Americans age 12 and older have listened to an audiobook. 55% of all audiobook listeners are under the age of 45 and over half (55%) of audiobook listeners have also listened to a podcast in the last month. Statistically, about 74% of audiobook listeners do so in their car while an appreciable number prefer when engaged in non-cognitively demanding tasks.
Audiobooks are no doubt popular since more and more people spend less amount of time on actual reading. A large population prefers to listen to an audiobook on the go instead of reading an eBook. Creating an audiobook isn’t easy and may take a couple of hours to produce a high-quality audiobook, but the profit it generates in the long term is always worth the initial time spent.
If you’ve got a great voice and some acting talent, you might even have the chops to make a living on producing that content.
Who can narrate?
Audiobook sounds great as a source of passive income earnings but not everyone can be successful in the audiobook industry. Having a good voice is the key to Audiobook’s success. Also, when narrating a book, actors have to rely on many different vocal skills and the skill required depends on the genre.
In addition to having a good voice, some acting skills also come into play. Voice actors are often required to infuse energy to make a dry text come to life. Other times, they may require different voices to denote dialogues and change points of view effortlessly.
Recording an audiobook requires a lot of patience and the ability to perform consistently. While narrating text, you might have to perform multiple takes to get a passage right. Pick-ups might be required as well after recording a session. When pick-ups are done, it is important to match the tone of voice you had in your initial recording.
All in all, if you possess all these traits in the right quantity, you still have to worry about getting the necessary equipment to make the perfect audiobook. This is where many fall short. Truth be told, you don’t need fancy sets of equipment to make recordings but you need at least the basics.
Equipment needed
As stated above, the audiobook is more than just your voice and acting skills. Some trademark tools are needed to set up as a work-from-home audiobook narrator. These items are essential as winning well-paying jobs depends on the quality of the product you can deliver. Let’s do a quick rundown of some essential tools:
- A computer: on a scale of 1 through 10, with 10 being the most essential, a computer will surely get a score of 10. To record your audiobook, you need either a computer or a laptop. The important thing is that it must be able to run the latest versions of the recording and editing software you’ll be using. Your computer also needs to have matching ports for an external microphone and headphones.
- Microphone: a microphone is an essential tool for audiobook recording and if you intend to succeed in the business, then you will do well to invest in getting a quality microphone. You don’t want to skimp on your microphone. No matter how great your voice sounds and how fantastic your performance was, a cheap microphone will ruin your production.
- A pop screen: A pop screen is a circular mesh filter that is placed between you and the microphone. Its main function is to reduce any popping noises from fast-moving air after we say certain sounds like p’s and b’s. Another unofficial use of pop screen is that it protects the microphone from the possible accumulation of saliva.
- Headphones: to deliver quality audio, you must be able to hear what you’re recording. You certainly don’t want to use sub-standard when it comes to your headphones. You need a quality set that will let you hear everything so you know when you’re hitting your quality standards and when you need to try again.
- A tablet or e-reader: it’s a good practice to have your text on a device such as a tablet or an e-reader so you just touch a screen to advance your text. Since audiobook requires that you read and record simultaneously, you don’t want to introduce unnecessary noise into the mix. Also, you can adjust the text size as you desire.
- Recording & Editing Software: Recording software allows you to record clean audio with as little compression as possible. An editing tool is required as well and must be powerful enough to do all the heavy lifting for you. Your editing tool should be able to perform noise reduction, remove pieces of the recording, splicing in recordings from another file among others.
- Prepared recording space: not everyone can afford to create a dedicated home studio. Be that as it may, you need to prepare your recording space to attain the best quality sound possible during recording sessions. You can place sound-absorbing material on the walls, egg crates work just fine to filter outside noise, or buy a small desktop sound booth.
- Quiet: a good audiobook record session requires a lot of calmness and serenity. When recording from home, you should ensure that you’re set up for quiet. Anything that produces noise should be switched off such as the air conditioning and major appliances.
Why you should consider Audiobook
Earning money with audiobooks can always serve as an extra source of income for you. The best part, you can decide to sell your own audiobooks online or narrate for others for royalty. If you are still doubtful about this industry, then let’s put your doubt to rest by sharing these facts with you:
Low Start-up Costs
Starting up an audiobook business is almost free. The fact that even your cell phone can record decent sound makes it more tempting. While starting might seem free, you would in the long run need to invest in some of the aforementioned tools.
Scalability
The audiobook is all about narrating. Although narrating audiobooks for others is not scalable, but if you intend to sell your own audio content, then it becomes scalable. By selling your product, you make direct sales to consumers, and then you can increase your earnings by marketing your product appropriately.
Difficulty
Making money with audiobooks is not as hard as it might seem. If you have a great voice coupled with some acting antics and loads of patience, making money from narrating books becomes less difficult. Furthermore, if you are experienced in a rapidly growing niche, you should have no problems advertising your audiobook and selling it online.
Time-efficient
Expect to invest months building your business to make it passive. However, if you take it as a side hustle; you can make income from it fairly quickly on Fiverr and others. On the other hand, if you want to create your own audiobooks and advertise them yourself, then expect to spend quality time on building your business.
Low Risk
Narrating audiobooks involves little to no risk at all. You do not have to invest a lot of money to get started. You can start slow and still outpace other narrators in your niche. The need for audiobooks will only continue to increase as the industry expands.
Seasonality
Fortunately, the audiobook business is available all year round. Narrators can jump in at any time they want.
Return on Investment
In terms of earnings, expect to make between $10 and $50 an hour at the beginning for narrating for other people. This depends solely on your skills. Once you get the handle of things and become a pro, you can easily get to earn over $200 for just one hour of narrating.
You can choose to upload your own audiobook on third-party platforms or on your own website. And depending on your niche and profitability alongside your advertising power, you can boost your earnings to as high as over $10k/month.
How it works: The Narration Process
As a voice actor or narrator, you’ll either work directly for an author, publisher, or production company. To start a project, you’ll be provided with a text to read and a deadline for delivery of either raw recordings or the finished audio file.
On receiving your text for a project, you will have to read through the material to familiarize yourself with the text and establish the flow. Take notes of any accents required or words that you’re unable to pronounce. After that, conduct your research by listening to recordings of accents or find a pronunciation guide for unfamiliar words.
Once that is sorted, record yourself reading the text with anything else required by the project such as the appropriate level of energy, variety in voices, pronunciations, and others. If you’re working on a long piece, a safe practice is to record each chapter separately. This helps when you’re working post-recording to arrange the final product. While this sounds like a simple process, keep in mind you’ll have to keep track of your vocal transitions for uniformity.
During the post-recording phase, you’ll be serving as your own director, quality control, and sound technician. You have to ensure that all the recordings are clean and of good quality. After making the necessary edits, you then proceed to deliver to your client.
Meanwhile, if you are working with a production company, your business is to narrate and let the company handle all the post-production details. Sometimes, a director is provided to give you feedback on your performance for necessary adjustments.
How it works: The payment process
Audiobook narrators can get paid to narrate other people’s books or their own. Payment specifications differ and mostly depend on whose books you are narrating. Generally, payment can be based on an hourly rate, per project rate or on royalties.
As a freelance audiobook narrator working on other people’s books, you get paid a flat rate or hourly to use your skills. It’s also possible for you to earn money via royalty shares. To receive royalty shares, you will have to prove yourself as a seasoned audiobook narrator.
Also as an audiobook narrator, you can get paid by narrating your own content. This is the true passive income earning. You earn more money because the proceeds of the sales come directly to you and are recurring.
One key point to note is that building your own audiobook takes time. And there is the possibility of not make any sales in the first few months. However, if you use platforms such as Fiverr, ACX, or Kindle Publishing, you can sell your audiobooks directly to users who are in need of such content.
Where can I find Work as a Narrator?
There are numerous platforms available for you to sell your skills as an audiobook narrator and earn extra cash for your effort. For sake of brevity, we will discuss only a few here and request that users make research to find more means of monetizing their skills.
Fiverr is a popular freelancing platform where sellers and buyers congregate to transact. It has one of the most impressive audiobook sections with narrators offering their services for as low as $5. Fiverr takes care of the seller by allowing them to upcharge for various project features like turnaround time and more. The platform doesn’t have the highest pay rates, but it can help you achieve samples for your audio clip portfolio.
ACX is Audible’s Audiobook Creative Exchange and connects you as an audiobook producer directly with authors or rights holders. ACX requires narrators to produce a complete audiobook project. This means apart from the narration, you will have to undertake the editing and compilation of the final files. It also offers it website to sell audiobooks created via the ACX and sales with Amazon and iTunes platform. Narrators who determine their own per hour rate can as well choose to be paid via royalties.
Blogging is a critical aspect of building a narrator’s career. A narrator’s blog should be professional and show potential clients what you have to offer. It should include your contact information as well as details of the services you offer. Your main content has to display your audio clips.
Tips on Becoming a Pro-Audiobook Narrator
Here we offer some pro tips to help you ease your journey through the audiobook business industry. These tips are meant to help you create awesome content, grow your audience, and ultimately increase your earnings.
- Choose a niche you are passionate about. If you are passionate about entrepreneurship or fictional books, you should narrate books in these areas.
- Find the right platform for your needs. The platform you use to narrate your books is different from the platform you would use to narrate for others.
- To improve the quality of your audiobooks, you will probably have to invest in some hardware as well as software tools.
- Make the listening experience interesting, do not have a monotonous voice but do not overdo the intonations either.
- If you agreed to get paid on royalties, then you have to promote your content. You can promote your content in a variety of ways such as using YouTube, or blogs, or social media networks. As a narrator too, you should promote your work to create publicity for yourself and build up an audience.
Conclusion
Audiobooks can serve as a great source of extra income for anyone who is passionate about reading out loud. If you have the necessary voice alongside the acting wits and the patience, then you should give it a try.
Invest in quality tools to aid the process of audiobook creation and put in the appropriate amount of time. Be sure to create quality audiobook products that will attract consumers and eventually earn for you.
