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Audio Books

What is an audio book? It is a book that has been read aloud by a narrator and recorded. After the audio book is edited and mastered, it is then sold either as a package of CDs as a complete set or as a downloadable audio book. There is a real art involved in recording an audio book. Audio books are priced around 45% higher than their printed book counterpart, making them excellent generators of revenue.

Our audio books on CD come with full color front and back cover inserts. The back cover contains a synopsis of the book, a picture of the author (if the author chooses), a barcode, our logo, the total run time in hours, minutes and seconds, and biographical information on the author and the narrator.

Our downloadable audio books are the same recording as our audio books on CD, but are available for purchase and download from Audible.com and Apple's The iTunes Store. These are the two biggest and best retailers of downloadable audio books. The downloadable audio book, once purchased by the consumer, can be listened to on that person's computer and/or MP3 player.

Who Buys Audio books?

Millions of people. Whether on the train, in the car, at work, at the gym, on the bus or traveling abroad, people are wearing headphones and enjoying audio books. There is only so much music you can listen to before it gets stale. But an audio book may be hours long; enough to provide a heavy commuter a week's worth of travel. There were about a billion dollars of sales in the audio book segment last year alone. Your book can grab a piece of this market.

Audio book list prices: All audio books have a list price which is displayed on the back cover. This is what all consumers, retailers, stores, etc. will reference when purchasing the book.

In the table below, use the number of words in your book to see how many CDs your audio book will comprised of and what its minimum list price will be. Our minimum list prices are competitively set below typical market pricing for most audio books. This makes them attractive to purchasers, and gives you the option of increasing your royalty percentages by setting the list price higher.

Maximum Word Count <11,000 <22,000 <33,000 <44,000 <55,000 <66,000
CDs per audiobook 1 CD 2 CD 3 CD 4 CD 5 CD 6 CD
Minimum list price 9.95 12.95 15.95 18.95 21.95 24.95

continued...

Maximum Word Count <77,000 <88,000 <99,000 <110,000 <121,000 <132,000
CDs per audiobook 7 CD 8 CD 9 CD 10 CD 11 CD 12 CD
Minimum list price 27.95 30.95 33.95 36.95 39.95 42.95

Determining the word count is easy, as there is a feature in your word processing program that will provide you with the document's "statistics." For example, in Microsoft Word, just pull down the Tools menu and choose Word Count. Note that if you choose to set your audio book's list price higher than those above, you might sell fewer audio books, though your royalty percentages will be greatly increased.

All sales of the audio books earn you, the author, a portion of the sale. These royalties are paid monthly and are accompanied by a sales statement. Click here to be directed to our detailed royalties page, which provides information on how much you will earn on audio books sold.

To submit for review, please visit our submissions page.
We look forward to reading your book!
 




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Did you know?

Audio Book Segment:
the fastest growing in
the book publishing
industry, with over a billion
dollars in sales annually
.

Over 40 million audio books were sold last year
alone.

Millions of avid listeners
enjoy listening to books in
their car, while traveling,
and at work. You can
reach this audience.

Many people with vision
problems
have been able
to discover books again for
the first time in years.

Learn More Now:
Our submissions page is
designed for authors, while
publishers can click here.

 

All rights reserved. Copyright 2007 Spoken Books Publishing