How should I set the price of my audiobook?

You’ve finally finished writing your book, and you’ve even narrated it for the audiobook. The next step is to publish your work. If you have decided to become a self-publishing author, you’ll need to figure out where you will publish your audiobook and how much you will charge for it.

In this article, we’ll give you some tips for setting the price of your own audiobook as an author.

The tips for setting your audiobook price

Setting a price for an audiobook that makes sense is extremely important, and it can directly affect audiobook sales. If it’s overpriced, no one will want to buy it, but if it’s sold for a lower price, you might be selling yourself short.

Here are a few important things to keep in mind when choosing the retail price of your audiobook:

Choose the right audiobook platform

The first step of publishing your audiobook is to choose the right audiobook platform. Some of the best audiobook distributors include Speechify, Amazon’s Audible, Chirp Books, Rakuten’s Kobo, OverDrive, iTunes, Apple Books, and Scribd. All of these platforms offer different royalty rates to the authors, but it’s never 100%.

Speechify is a top audiobook service with more than 60,000 titles. It’s the best alternative to Audible, and it’s also a great audiobook platform for publishers.

Consider the cost of voice acting

The price of your audiobook should also depend on whether you’re using your own voice or if you hired voice actors. If you’re looking for good narration websites for your audiobook, we recommend ACX, Findaway Voices, Fiverr, and Voices.com. If you do hire professional narrators, you can set a higher price for your audiobook. That way, the sales to readers can cover the cost of narration at an appropriate price.

In addition, if you work with Findaway Voices, you can use their audiobook pricing tool. You will be able to get a suggested library list price and a suggested retail price for your audiobook. To find this tool, all you need to do is go to the Findaway Voices interface, which is on your audiobook’s metadata page.

Consider Audible’s guidelines for pricing

Audible is Amazon’s audiobook platform that has the greatest library of fiction and non-fiction audiobooks and podcasts. It’s the most popular audiobook platform in the world and owns 41% of the audiobook market. But, if you choose to publish your audiobook on Audible, you won’t be able to assign the price for it.

If you don’t choose Audible, most other audiobook platforms recommend pricing your audiobook based on its time length. If it’s under one hour, then it shouldn’t be more than $7. If it’s one to three hours long, its price should vary from $7 to $10. However, if the audiobook is three to five hours long, you can price it at $10 to $20.

Some audiobook platforms don’t let you choose the price of your audiobook. For instance, most indie authors choose Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX) as their audiobook platform. Authors can keep 40% of the royalty share, but they aren’t allowed to publish their books on any other platform. In addition, you can’t choose the price of your audiobook if you want to publish it on ACX.

Audible is another platform that sets their own pricing guides which are out of the author’s full control. If you want to be able to choose your own price, Findaway Voices is a better option.

Consider how your book generally affects demand

According to Authors Republic, you should also take into consideration how your audiobook will affect demand. First, you need to ask yourself how much you think the book is worth. What genre is your book? Is it fiction or non-fiction? Look at similar audiobooks and check their pricing.

Another thing you can do is compare the audiobook price with the price of the eBook or print book. Remember, an audiobook is usually twice as expensive as its physical copy.

Set goals for how many copies you wish to sell

Setting the price of your book would be easier if you knew how many copies you plan to sell. This part can be rather tricky. If you think the book will be a hit and will sell many copies, setting a lower price wouldn’t be a bad idea. But if you’re an indie author, this plan might be too risky, as you never know how the public will react to it.

Note that “bargain” prices aren’t always the best options

If the price of the audiobook is too low, not only do you risk not being able to break even, but it might even reflect poorly on your brand. The price you set for the book will be tied to its perceived value. In other words, if a reader finds your audiobook in the “cheaper” section, they might think it’s not good. That’s why books that are initially low-priced don’t do as well as the more expensive ones.

Publish your audiobook on Speechify

Speechify isn’t only a great place to find all your favorite audiobooks, but it’s also the ideal platform for publishing your audiobook. What makes it stand out from other platforms is that it has good deals for authors.

Speechify has a vast library of public domain and premium books. Readers can even listen to some audiobooks for free. You can even download Speechify on the Apple Store and Google Play.

If you want to see more of what Speechify has to offer, check out our website.

FAQ

What's the average price of an audiobook?

The average price of an audiobook is between $20 and $30.

How much will I be charged for audiobook narration?

Audiobook narrators charge different hourly rates. Beginner narrators usually charge $28 per hour, while more advanced narrators can charge a few hundred dollars per hour.

Is making an audiobook profitable?

Yes, making an audiobook is extremely profitable for the author. Audiobooks tend to cost twice as much as their physical copies due to the production costs.