You’ve made the decision to turn the children’s book you’ve written, into an audiobook – that’s great! There are huge benefits to offering your book in audio format.
So… how do you get started?
Of course, you are going to need a narrator. You want someone that’s fun, engaging, easy to work with, has an array of interesting character voices, and that kids will respond well to.
If that’s you, we’ve shared in previous posts how you might consider narrating it yourself. This can be a great choice, if you have the vocal ability, equipment, suitable space, experience and time.
If you’d rather leave it “to an expert” then there are some great options as well.
- Post your book an ACX. AXC stands for Audiobook Creation Exchange. It’s owned by Amazon, which also owns Audible.com. It’s a great way for authors and publishers (known as Rights Holders in ACX terms) to connect with narrators (known as Producers on ACX), to create great audiobooks together.
To do so, you would create an account at ACX as a publisher, set up your audition posting, and wait for hundreds of prospective narrators to submit their auditions.
This process can be overwhelming – you will be amazed at the range of skill level, and rates, among the narrators on ACX. But with time and patience, you stand a good chance of finding a good match for your book.
You can offer a flat rate for the audiobook production – you will pay an agreed upon amount Per Finished Hour (PFH), but the final audiobook will be owned by you, outright.
You can offer the producer/narrator a royalty share. In this scenario, you and the narrator will split the 40% royalty that ACX pays, meaning you will each get 20%. However, it will not have cost you anything up front.
And you can also offer Royalty Share Plus – in which you offer a small stipend PFH rate, plus half of the royalties.
However you choose to go, you can definitely find a great narrator on ACX. - Freelance sites. There are many sites such as Fiverr, UpWork, People Per Hour, that are teaming with voice over artists just waiting for you to find them and hire them to narrate your book. They have the experience, the equipment and the expertise to create a great audiobook for you. Well, many of them do. Some of them, anyway.
It can take time to sift through many hundreds of potential VO artists looking for the right one. He or she is out there! You just have to find them.
Many of these artists are general purpose – meaning, they are ready for any type of work. Finding one that specializes in the narration and production of children’s books specifically might be a little tricky. And, it’s not likely that they will be able to guide you through the production process, and offer advisement on distribution and marketing.
But if you are just looking for a great voice actor – and have the time to search – you are bound to end up with some great options, going this route. - Work with a dedicated, experienced children’s book narrator. Working with a dedicated children’s book narration service such as KidsBookNarration.com has some huge upsides. We understand the process intimately and have brought over 100 books over into audio format for Audible, Youtube, Apple Music, Spotify, and mobile apps. We deeply understand the nuance of the process, and have talented, dedicated voice actors with experience narrating books like yours.
Additionally, we’re here to help you with uploading your book to ACX, or even offering world-wide distribution through the streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify (and dozens of others!).
We can also keep our pricing sensible for independently published author and publishers, and small presses. This is the work we love – it’s not just another voice job in between voicing car commercials and eLearning modules.
So, there you go! Four great options for finding a narrator for your audiobook – do it yourself, ACX, freelance sites, or a dedicated service such as KidsBookNarration.com.
If you’d like to work with us to get your book into audio format, please reach out – we’d love to help you bring your children’s book to life!