The Cost of Audiobooks

Ann M.
Richardson

At the urging of a friend, you just created your profile at Audible.com and downloaded the app to your phone. Now you’re eager to pick your first audiobook and start listening on that long commute to work. You’ve heard that “Jerusalem” by Alan Moore, is a great book, and the narrator, Simon Vance, comes very highly praised. You find it on the site, and almost have a heart attack when you see that this audiobook is priced at $41.99! If you join Audible, it only costs $29.39, or if you wait until your monthly free credit arrives, it’s free. You think: “Why on earth are these things so expensive?”

NARRATORS ARE RICH!
In general, well-established professional narrators can expect to make $250-$400 per finished hour of narration. “Jerusalem” is 60 hours and 41 minutes. You think “WOW! That’s a handsome paycheck!” But wait…This payment is not calculated to include the actual amount of time Simon Vance was in the studio recording, or researching, pre-reading, visiting with the author, or recording corrections. It is calculated purely on the length of the finished audiobook.

Read the entire article in the June 2017 issue of InD'Tale magazine.

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