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Voice talent for audiobooks
A narrator who can hold a listener for nine hours.
Audiobooks are not long adverts. They need stamina, consistent character voices from chapter one to forty, and audio clean enough for retail. Hear a sample chapter of your own manuscript before you commit to the whole book.
- Free auditions of your script
- Published rates, no haggling
- Per finished hour, published
On the prompterTake 1
AUDIOBOOK · CHAPTER ONE · TAKE ONE
Retail readySample chapter firstConsistent characters
Narrators
Voices that go the distance.
Narrators from the roster. For a book, listen past the first line: you are choosing the voice you will hear for hours.
Voices who record this kind of work. Names are first names only until you book.
More narration voicesManuscript to budget
How long is your book out loud?
Audiobooks are priced per hour of finished audio, not per word, because an hour you listen to takes a narrator several to record, punch and proof. Put your word count in and the arithmetic happens here.
0finished hours of audio
0hours in the booth, roughly
0at the published per-hour rate, US dollars
Worked at nine thousand three hundred words per finished hour, which is a normal narration pace, and at the current rate card figure of $280 per finished hour for books over three hours. A real quote comes back with your casting; dense non-fiction and heavy dialogue read slower than the average, and a sample chapter settles it before anyone commits.
Post a chapter
A chapter with dialogue in it, as a free casting. You hear your own book in several voices instead of guessing from showreels.
Settle the sample
Pace, pronunciation list, character voices. Fixing these in one chapter is what stops a nine hour book drifting.
Record in batches
Files arrive as chapters are finished, so you proof along the way rather than all at once at the end.
Retail-ready delivery
Chaptered, level-matched, with room tone that matches from the first file to the last.
What a book job involves
Three things that make it different work.
Finished hours, not script minutes
Audiobooks are priced per hour of finished audio, because an hour you hear takes several to record, punch and proof. The calculator here turns a manuscript word count into that number.
A sample chapter first
Before a long book is booked, have the narrator record a chapter. It settles pace, pronunciation and every character voice while changing them is still cheap.
Retail-ready audio
Chaptered files, consistent levels, room tone that matches from first file to last, and a narrator who knows what the retail platforms reject.
How hiring works here
Three steps, no middleman.
You deal with the voice, the site holds the money, and the price is the one on the rate card before you start.
Post a casting, or pick a voice
Paste a few lines of your script and post a free casting; voices who suit it read those lines back to you. Already heard the one you want? Book them straight from their profile.
Choose from real reads
Auditions arrive as recordings of your words in their voice, usually within hours. Pick the one that fits, or none of them. Nothing is owed until you book.
Pay once, files arrive
The price comes off the published rate card, paid to the site before recording. Most jobs come back within 24 to 48 hours, covered by the satisfaction guarantee.
Books over three hours are their own line on the rate card; shorter titles and single chapters are priced by word count like any narration.
In more depth
Casting a narrator for a long book.
What makes audiobook work different
Most voice over jobs are measured in seconds. An audiobook is measured in hours, and everything about the work changes because of it. A narrator has to sound the same in chapter forty as in chapter one, with the same microphone position, the same room tone and the same energy, weeks apart. They have to keep a listener company for nine hours without becoming irritating, which rules out most of the tricks that make a thirty second commercial work.
They also have to manage a text they did not write, in real time: knowing which clause the sentence turns on, when a paragraph is a thought rather than speech, and how to voice fourteen characters without the book turning into a pantomime. It is the closest voice work gets to acting, and it is why the good narrators are booked months ahead.
Why the price is per finished hour
An hour of finished audiobook takes several hours of work. There is the reading itself, which stops for every stumble; the punching in of corrections; the proof listen against the manuscript; and the file preparation for retail. Pricing per finished hour pays for all of it in one number, and it is why a word count is the only thing you need for a useful estimate.
A normal narration pace runs around nine thousand three hundred words per finished hour, so a ninety thousand word novel lands near ten hours of audio. Dense non-fiction with technical vocabulary reads slower; dialogue-heavy fiction can run faster. The calculator above uses the average, and a casting gives you the real number.
The sample chapter is the whole audition
Never book a long book without hearing a chapter of it first. Post a section with dialogue in it, ideally one containing a character you are unsure about, and let a handful of narrators read it. In twenty minutes of listening you will settle pace, accent, how much characterisation you actually want, and whether the narrator has understood the book's humour, which is the thing that most often goes wrong.
Use the sample to agree the practicalities too: a pronunciation list for names, places and anything invented, a note on which characters need distinct voices, and whether you want the narrator to perform or simply to read. Changing any of that in chapter one is free; changing it in chapter thirty is a re-record.
What retail-ready delivery means
Distribution platforms reject audio for technical reasons far more often than artistic ones: inconsistent levels between chapters, room tone that changes mid-book, files named in an order the platform cannot follow, opening and closing credits missing. A narrator who works in audiobooks knows those requirements and delivers to them chapter by chapter, so you proof as the book is recorded rather than discovering a problem at the end.
Rights, series and second books
Narration here is a buyout in perpetuity, so the finished audiobook is yours to distribute wherever you publish, with no licence to renew. If the book is part of a series, book the same narrator for the next one while the listener's memory of the voice is still fresh: a change of narrator between volumes is one of the most common complaints in audiobook reviews, and it is entirely avoidable if you plan for it at the first booking.
Questions people ask
Audiobook questions, answered.
How much does an audiobook narrator cost?
Books longer than three hours are priced per hour of finished audio on the rate card, and the calculator on this page converts your manuscript into that figure. A typical novel runs eight to eleven finished hours; a business book is often four to six.
How long is my book in audio?
Narration runs at roughly nine thousand three hundred words per finished hour, so a ninety thousand word novel lands near ten hours. The calculator does the arithmetic and shows the price band beside it.
Can I hear the narrator read my book before booking?
Yes, and you should. Post a chapter, or a few pages with dialogue in them, as a free casting: the reads that come back are your book in their voice, which is the only test that matters.
Do I get chaptered files?
Yes, one file per chapter as standard, named in order, at consistent levels. Say if your distributor wants a particular sample rate or opening and closing credits and they will be recorded too.
What about pronunciation and character voices?
Send a pronunciation list with the manuscript, names, places and anything invented, and mark who speaks where. Settling that in the sample chapter is what keeps a long book consistent.
Who owns the finished audiobook?
You do. Narration is a buyout in perpetuity, so you can distribute it wherever you publish without a further licence.
Hear chapter one this week.
Post a chapter as a free casting and listen to your own book in a handful of voices before you commit to the whole thing.
Related: audio narration and narrator voices.