How To Create An Audiobook In Itunes

Not having an audiobook version of your book might, quite likely, be the death of your success. Which means you must know how to make an audiobook to fix that.

Because as an author…you have a need to fulfill, and if you do that successfully, it results in book sales.

We're in the age of podcasts, radio apps, and audiobooks, and now couldn't be a better time to convert your book into an audiobook. But many writers get scared off by the thought of creating an audiobook because it seems like a major production.

We get questions all the time from our Become a Bestseller students, like:

"Isn't it expensive?"

"Won't it take a ton of time?"

"How do I even do it?!?"

Thankfully, self-publishing an audiobook now is as easy as self-publishing your book. It has become cost-effective and approachable for self-published authors, and there is a range of options depending on the budget you want to spend on it.

Here are the steps for making a good audiobook:

Prep for recording
Narrator options
Hire a narrator
Record the audiobook
Work with an audiobook producer
Create the audiobook at home
Upload your audiobook to ACX

Here are the exact steps you need to follow, and our suggestions for turning your book into the next big audiobook.

How to Make an Audiobook: Steps, Tutorial, & Resources

Audiobooks are on the rise, and if you're an author who's not pursuing this book format, you're missing out on an entire audience who could be enjoying your story.

Here are our top steps for creating an audiobook.

If you're the type who learns best with videos, we have even more tips and tricks in the video below that you might not find in this blog post, click play to watch it below:

#1 – Prep Your eBook Content for Audiobook Recording

If you're starting from the beginning, you may have no idea how to convert your manuscript from writing to audio. Your first step will be to prep your eBook content for audiobook recording.

This creates a script you can read as you record the audio version of your book. You don't want to get tripped up while you (or someone else) is reading through the manuscript, so you need to remove everything that won't make sense in the audio version.

Here are a few to-dos to prep your audiobook for recording:

Delete hyperlinks
Delete captions
Delete visuals
Remove any calls to actions or click here prompts (unless you still want them to visit a certain link to download a lead magnet – in this case, make it a short/pretty link that's easy to remember like Self-publishingschool.com/published)

Once you've created your new script, read through it one last time to make sure it all makes sense in audio form.

Another thing to think about is if you have a hard time reading over things outloud. Some section may read better than they sound aloud, so reword or rewrite anything to sound as natural as you can.

#2 – Decide who will record your audiobook

The next step in the creation of your audiobook is actually recording the book. But before you can do that, you have to decide who will record the book.

Here are your choices when deciding who will record your audiobook:

Hire someone to record it for you
Record the book yourself in a studio
Work with an audiobook producer
Do it yourself at home (with a hacked-together studio setup we'll explain below)
Hire an ACX narrator

You now get to pick which option to take.

If you're writing nonfiction, particularly a story about your life, you may want to record the book yourself. However, if you aren't confident in producing the best quality audiobook, you can still hire a narrator.

For those of you writing a fiction novel, you'll likely want to hire an audiobook narrator, as these stories often need a narrator with an acting skillset.

At our live event, Author Advantage Live this year, our fiction coach R.E. Vance answered this question from an aspiring author:

Aspiring Author: "If I'm writing fiction, can I record the audiobook myself?"

R.E. Vance: "Are you an actor?"

Aspiring Author: "…no."

R.E. Vance: "Then no."

#3 – Hiring an audiobook narrator

Most authors find that hiring a professional to record their audiobook is the most expeditious and least painful route. You may be concerned about the cost of hiring a pro for voice work, but you may be surprised to learn that the cost of this service can be quite reasonable.

And when it comes to audiobook narration, most authors are concerned about the cost most.

How much does it cost to hire an audiobook narrator?

Turns out, converting your self-published book into an audiobook using a pro can cost less than half the price of doing the work yourself, mostly because you don't have to buy equipment.

Many freelancers will quote a price of under $500 for a full eBook to audio conversion (nonfiction); so don't let the perceived high cost deter you.

That said, fiction can cost much more because of the acting skills involved. However, with certain packages, a narrator will also share their audience with you—meaning you could potentially be paying for the narration + promotion.

How to find an audiobook narrator to hire

If you've never worked with a freelancer before, you might not be familiar with the steps necessary to find the right talent. First, you'll need a proposal.

The purpose of your proposal is to help delineate the work that's needed. You'll want to make sure to include the scope of the work and terms of your offer in your proposal. Your second step is to create sample audio content to share with potential freelance narrators. This is your "retail audio sample."

The purpose of your retail audio sample is two-fold:

It can be shared with potential narrators during the freelance-hiring phase, and
It can later be shared with your future audience on Amazon to pique their interest in your book.

Have some fun creating your retail audio clip—it can be anything you want it to be! You may opt to read a full chapter, or simply condense a summary of plot highlights.

The ultimate goal of your retail audio sample is to intrigue both potential narrators and your potential audience. If you can capture their collective attention and pique their interest in your book, they'll want to hear more.

If you've never worked with a freelancer, check out Voices or Upwork for a list of narrator pros.

You can also do a simple Google search to find those who have a career in narrating audiobooks.

#4 – Record the audiobook yourself

Your second option for creating an audiobook is self-recording in a studio. Realize that self-recording may be more costly in terms of effort, time, and money, especially from the paid time to use a pro recording studio.

We recommend that you block out a significant amount of time to complete your self-recorded audiobook.

Here's a good timeline for self-recorded audiobook production:

Book your recording studio three weeks ahead of time.
Record your book in-studio. Plan for up to sixteen hours of recording studio time.
Plan for at least two weeks of post-recording editing.

Of course, these times are just guides; the time frame may change once you start your project. Obviously, a longer book will take longer to record and edit.

Plan accordingly, and give yourself plenty of time to polish, edit, and finalize a professional product.

#5 – Work with an audiobook producer

The third path to creating an audiobook is to hire a professional producer. If you have never recorded an audiobook before, working with a producer would help you through the technical difficulties.

For example, when Joanna Penn did the recording for her own book Business for Authors, she hired a professional producer, Andy Marlow.

A producer for your audiobook can ensure the quality of the audio tracks as well as mastering the file for the final production load.

You can find audiobook producers [audiobook engineers] on freelancing sites such as Fiverr or, again, Upwork.

Simply log in to Fiverr or Upwork and type "audiobooks" in the search bar, as seen in the example below.

If you go on Fiverr, select the "mixing and mastering" option on the left side. This will give you plenty of choices for finding audio engineers, editors and producers.

#6 – Create an audiobook at home

Many authors feel very close their work and would rather the content be told in their own voice. This is particularly true if the book is focused on personal stories or a family memoir.

There are many books that do sound better when told from the voice of the author.

Do you have the confidence and the voice to create your own audiobook at home? If yes, then here is what you need to know to get started in doing that.

Equipment for Making an Audiobook:

If you are a podcaster or music recording talent, you may already have access to the necessary equipment for recording your audiobook.

Here's what you need to make an audiobook:

A good USB mic. The Blue Snowball condenser mic or the Samson Meteor Mic USB Studio Microphone are recommended.
A pop filter. The Earamble Studio Microphone Pop Filter is recommended.
Audacity. Audacity is a free, open source cross-platform audio software for multi-track recording and editing. You can download Audacity here.

You could go fancier and get higher-end equipment, but these tools should be more than enough to get the job done.

example of audiobook narration equipment

Location and Space for Recording an Audiobook Yourself at Home:

You want to find an isolated, padded room or recording box. "Room Tone, or "Noise Floor" can bring in all sorts of sounds from around the environment.

Recording in your room is an option but make sure your space is set up for recording and that it is "silent." If this is difficult, hiring a producer, in this case, would be a recommended option.

Next, you need to make sure you avoid any random noises that might pop up, and any variances in the recording quality.

Here are some tips to help make sure additional noise doesn't ruin your audiobook recording:

Turn off all fans and machines.

Read in a small, carpeted area

Stay a consistent distance away from the microphone.

Be prepared to make mistakes and record sentences over when necessary.

Read the chapter through from start to end.

Keep your voice at a similar level and tone across recording sessions.

Modulate your breathing and don't hold your breath.

Read from a Kindle or device. No page turning sounds.

Schedule sessions several days apart. Avoid sounding exhausted.

With the Audacity software and your mic, you should be able to get a decent quality recording of your book. But keep in mind that, recording you own audiobook is an exhausting process and it isn't for everyone.

You have to set yourself up with the proper environment, and set aside the time for recording. If you have never used Audacity or any type of recording equipment before, there is a learning curve that adds weeks to the audiobook production.

For these reasons you may decide to hire someone for the first audiobook, learn what you can, and then try it for your next book.

#7 – Upload your audiobook to Audiobook Creation Exchange

Now that you've recorded your book, either by yourself or with the help of a freelancer, you'll need to upload your book to Audiobook Creation Exchange, also known as ACX.

When you publish on the ACX, your audiobook will be made available on Amazon, Audible, and the Apple audiobook store.

It's the only place you need to go to make sure your audiobook gets heard by as many people as possible. You retain all of the audio rights, while ACX handles all of the distribution for you, similar to how the Kindle Direct Publishing platform works.

While there are a lot of steps, uploading is a user-friendly and self-explanatory process.

Here's a step-by-step guide of how to upload your audiobook on ACX:

Go to the ACX website.
Log in to your account at amazon.com.
Click "Add Your Title." [Note: You must have a Kindle ebook published]
Search and find your book then click on "This is My Book" prompt.
Click on the "I have this book in audio and I want to sell it" prompt.
Choose your territory and distribution.
(Note: We recommend the "World" rights options with 40% royalties for the best results.)
Choose the language(s) you'd like to sell the book in.
Agree to the "Audiobook License and Distribution Agreement" terms
Complete the "About My Book" section.
(Note: You can duplicate the content from your Amazon page or create original content.)
Complete the proper copyright information.
Complete the info about the narrator, audiobook publisher, and any reviews.
Click the "add audio file" prompt.
Go to browse for the first section of your audiobook to ensure it was added.
Continue this process until your entire book is uploaded.
Don't forget to change the chapters and section titles as you go.
Finally, upload your book cover.

Make sure all info from your printed book matches that of your audiobook. Your author name should be the same and the book cover should be the same as appears on your eBook.

ACX will not allow you to continue if there are discrepancies in identifying information.

What are audiobook royalties on ACX?

When you publish your audiobook on the ACX, you'll earn between 20%-40% of their title royalties. If you work with a producer, then you'll have a royalty share with them, and the rate that you receive is dependent on how your producer is compensated.

If you work by yourself, you keep the whole 40%, if you split it with a producer, you could each earn 20%.

This is typically why authors like to produce their own audiobook if they can, it'll give you a bigger pay bump for the outcome—but sometimes this is at the cost of quality.

It all depends on how you decide to share it, and you can read more details on the ACX site or check out this directly from their site:

Also, a quick heads up : Your audiobook will not post immediately. ACX will hold your submission to confirm that all is in order before it posts you audiobook.

Don't be alarmed if you see an ACX note telling you "This title is: Pending audio review."

That's a normal part of the process and not something wrong on your end. When ACX approves your book, you'll then have the green light to sell the audio copies online.

For a detailed, step-by-step explanation of the entire process—from production to distribution—check out ACX Author's page.

Even if you've never done it before, technology makes the process of creating your audiobook easier than you can imagine.

A well-produced audiobook can help you expand your fan base and earn you new readers.

Don't be deterred by the idea that creating an audiobook is outside of your wheelhouse—we promise it's not!

With pro help (or even a little elbow grease on your part), you can have a completed audiobook within weeks, and be on your way to boosting those book sale numbers!

How to Make an Audiobook: Resources for Help

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