With so many audiobook production companies out there, how do you know which providers match your requirements and budget?
While some authors will look for an all-in-one recording, editing and distribution package for their audiobook, others will elect to get the best bang for their buck on each individual service.
Either way, ensuring a high-quality product with the help of an audiobook production company is essential to the success of your project.
Discover the top audiobook production services here:
Voquent
At Voquent, we have recently upgraded the way we produce audiobooks. We realised that most audiobook production companies list one price for a completed audiobook based on the word count or PFH (per finished hour) of completed audio.
However, not every audiobook is built the same.
Some audiobook projects only require one narrator and basic audio processing, while others require multiple character voices, music, SFX, and full mixing and mastering services. There shouldn’t be one price PFH.
Voquent’s audiobook production packages have three tiers, allowing you to match the package to your audiobook’s requirements and never pay for more than you need, all produced to ACX standards.
The best part? Why cast from a handful of narrators when you have our entire database of professional voice actors to choose from? You can even use the search bar to browse audiobook narrators specialising in your genre or niche!
Get in touch for a quick, no-obligation quote, and let’s grow your audience together.
Audible
Audible isn’t just a platform for purchasing audiobooks; it is an audiobook production company, too!
While they don’t manage the production themselves, they can introduce you to narrators, producers, and audio engineers individually. This means you will have to play a more prominent role in managing the project yourself and negotiating rates.
However, the combination of audiobook production and audiobook distribution can often simplify the overall process for authors.
After completing the audiobook production, you will then have the option of selling the audiobook exclusively or non-exclusively through the platform, each offering you a different cut of the royalties. You can also pay for the production by offering them half of your share of the book’s profits (20%), but if you achieve great success, this could be shooting yourself in the foot.
Blackstone Publishing
Blackstone Publishing is an audiobook production company and publishing house based in Ashland, Oregon, USA.
Their website is more geared towards selling books than producing audiobooks, so it’s difficult to learn more about their audiobook production process and prices. However, they have produced Grammy award-winning audio productions!
Blackstone has its own recording studios in Oregon and New York, so it takes a very hands-on approach. However, if authors are using the on-site facilities, this could result in them casting only Oregon-based or New York-based narrators.
Unfortunately, Blackstone Publishing does not accept open submissions, so you can only apply for them to produce your audiobook through a literary agent.
Deyan Audio
Over the last 30 years, Deyan Audio has produced over 15,000 audiobooks and has won multiple awards for its production quality.
Their services include project management, pre-production, pronunciation research, recording, editing, QC, mastering, and pickups. Full audiobook production costs are charged PFH (per finished hour) and range between $460 – $750. You simply need to get in touch through their contact form and submit a PDF of your manuscript for an accurate quote. And yes, they accept unsolicited manuscripts!
Individual services are priced as follows: audio editing is $75 PFH, quality control is $50 PFH, and mastering is $25 PFH. Deyan Audio isn’t just an audiobook production company, but it also has a distribution partnership with Author’s Republic, which offers a better royalty deal when you produce your project with them.
John Marshall Media
John Marshall Media is an audiobook production company that also provides distribution and marketing services.
The most unique aspect of their service is their ability to provide authors with the opportunity to narrate their own books within a range of their global studios. While we wouldn’t usually recommend narrating your own book (professionals can guide your audience and keep them engaged much better), it’s a nice option for those who want it or already have professional narration experience.
Jony Studios
Jony Studios is an audiobook production company that does not offer distribution services or include them in its production services.
While it does offer traditional professional narrator casting, this site specialises in working with authors who want to narrate their own audiobooks, including equipment coaching.
Narrating your own non-fiction book can lend a fantastic sense of authenticity, but it’s worth weighing up whether your voice has the power to guide an audience like a professional narrator can and whether you can act convincingly in fiction content.
Listening Books
Listening Books doesn’t only create audiobooks within a specific niche but works on all kinds of content.
Its services only focus on audiobook production, not distribution, and they include casting narrators, recording, direction, sound engineering, editing, proofing, and mastering. However, this audiobook production company does not charge PFH (per finished hour) but per hour of production time.
With prices starting from $40 per hour, it’s difficult to estimate the production costs without getting in touch for a more specific quote, as narrators, audio engineers, and directors all work at different speeds.
Mosaic Audio
With multiple high-end studios based in LA, Mosaic Audio is a full-service audiobook production company that also provides VIP services for celebrity audiobooks, including those of Keke Palmer and Priscilla Presley.
Although Mosaic Audio has plenty of titles under its belt, its services seem to only be available in Los Angeles. This could lead to a lack of variety in narrator options if you had your heart set on a particular accent. It’s also not clear from their one-page website if they can record audiobooks in languages other than English. However, there is no harm in asking through their contact link.
Novel Audio
Novel Audio is another audiobook production company on this list that offers both production and distribution services. It also has an impressive list of distribution partners, including Audible and Nook.
Working with both published and self-published authors, including in languages other than English, Novel Audio will purchase the audio rights of the book they are working on. However, their site does not specify whether they buy the full rights in one lump sum or if authors/ rights holders are given a cut of royalties.
This site accepts unsolicited submissions but states that a proven history of sales is important to make it through. They primarily work on adult fiction and nonfiction, but they have also produced some children’s titles, too.
Oasis Audio
Oasis Audio specialises in the production of religious, uplifting, classical, and self-help audiobooks. If your book falls into this category, then Oasis might be your perfect partnership.
They also specify on the website that they only work with human talent, not AI, to bring warmth and quality to their work. So, you can rest assured knowing that corners are not being cut in the narration.
Podium Publishing
Podium Publishing is another audiobook production company that offers distribution services and has a particular niche within fantasy, romance, and sci-fi.
Although it does consider unsolicited submissions from published authors and literary agents, it mainly works with indie writers, including those who publish their work on Wattpad, Patreon or other digital-first platforms.
Podium Publishing offers an all-in-one service, so you can’t simply buy audiobook recordings and editing, but if the company is interested in working with you, then it will acquire, record, edit, and distribute your audiobook.
When getting in touch, you can send your stories and social media through the website’s contact form.
Punch Audio
Based in LA and Florida, Punch Audio offers audiobook production within their own on-location studios.
Whether you need a professional narrator or intend to narrate your own book, this audiobook production company offers both. Self-narration is priced at $600 – $725 per 10,000 words (which is a little over one finished hour of audio), and professional narration is priced at $575 – $750 PFH. This service also has an optional royalty share scheme to cut costs if you choose.
Raconteurs
Combining production and distribution services, Raconteurs have won multiple awards for its audiobooks.
Its audiobook services include pre-production, casting, recording, proofing, editing, mastering, and distribution to its 30 partners, including Indigo and Apple.
All production staff, from editors to narrators, work remotely, so a team is assigned to each project under the supervision of a project manager. However, their site does not offer pricing before you get in touch for a quote.
Scribe Media
Scribe Media produces and distributes audiobooks without ever taking royalties and also provides production services on its own.
This provider offers high-quality audio to the specs of its distribution partners or to the specs of a platform of your choice if you don’t need their distribution services. However, it’s included in the fee.
Scribe Media’s site states that audiobook prices start from $8,000, and a consultation is required to get a more accurate quote.
Simon & Schuster Audio
Simon & Schuster Audio is one of the biggest audiobook distributors in the world, winning five Grammy awards for its audiobooks, but it does not offer audiobook production services as a stand-alone service.
This company also do not accept unsolicited manuscripts, so you can only apply for their combined distribution and audiobook production service through a literary agent.
Strathmore Publishing
Based in London, Strathmore Publishing comes with three recording studios in the city but also works with global studios should you be based elsewhere.
This audiobook production company doesn’t offer distribution options but does provide recording services for children’s audiobooks, podcasts, celebrity narrators and multi-voice productions.
However, this site also gives costs based on recording time, not per finished hour of recording, so it might be difficult to calculate costs in advance.
Conclusion
There are many audiobook production companies, but they each offer different pricing structures and service options, so it’s worth looking around.
At Voquent, our audiobook production prices are tiers, so you can match the service with your audiobook’s requirements and budget – easy!
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