Make Money with Audiobooks and Thrive
One of the lesser-known ways to make money is by creating and narrating audiobooks. Best of all, you don’t have to write your own books to make money (although you can earn even more by doing so). Let’s see this way to earn money without leaving home and what you need to get started.
Thanks to smartphones and mobile devices, audiobooks are more popular than ever. This represents an opportunity to earn money that many people know about.
Audiobooks are more convenient and more popular because there is no need to read. You can even listen to them while working, driving, or doing other tasks. What this means: The profit potential is high and there is a market that grows every year.
Is it difficult to narrate an audiobook?
Audiobooks are one of the lesser-known ways to earn money. You will find less competition and if you combine it with good marketing strategies (such as an effective email marketing campaign).
Another great advantage: there are books of ALL KINDS that need to be converted to audiobooks. So, if your voice doesn’t match a book, there will always be another one for you to narrate.
It is also a highly flexible profession. For example, if you are interested in narrating storybooks or fiction books, you will need to learn to portray multiple characters. If instead you are interested in narrating learning books, you can do it with a few speech techniques. The key is to captivate the attention of your listeners and produce an entertaining and interesting read.
How much money can you earn by reading audiobooks?
How much you can earn narrating audiobooks will depend on several factors, but a realistic estimate would be between $400 to $800 per month when narrating audiobooks part-time.
If you are interested in making money converting your book to an audiobook, it is reasonable to add 10-20% to what you are making with your book on Kindle. For example, you are making $ 1,000 a month on your best book, you can expect to earn an additional $100 to $200 by turning it into an audiobook for Audible and iTunes. Obviously, by narrating audiobooks full time you could earn more money.
What do you need to make money narrating audiobooks?
You don’t need much to earn money with audiobooks, but you absolutely must have a good microphone and good headphones.
The success of making money narrating audiobooks will depend on your voice and the quality of your recording. If you send something that is not good, you will not be hired again. So, do your best to avoid background noises and make your voice heard as clearly as possible.
If you’re willing to invest a little more, a good preamp or audio box will help clarify the sound and eliminate background noise. You will also need a computer to edit your audio files. Fortunately, audio editing doesn’t require a super PC or laptop. You can do this with a basic computer. We recommend having at least 6GB of RAM.
In short, all you need to make money with audiobooks will be:
- Basic computer (recommended at least 6GB of RAM)
- Download the free audio editing software:
- Good microphone
- Good headphones
Ways to Find a Job Narrating Audiobooks
The best strategy to earn more money narrating audiobooks is by recording, editing, and producing your own audio files. So, you can charge more and get a better salary since you can take care of the whole process yourself.
Remember that the goal is to hone your storytelling skills with smaller jobs and learn about the editing process to longer projects. There are several ways to find work. Everything will depend on your strategy to earn money with audiobook narration:
Make money narrating books on your own
If you’re interested in earning extra or part-time money, you can connect with authors who are looking for storytellers for their books. How do you find these actors? Start by looking for storytelling job postings online. We recommend the sites:
Start with short tasks. For example, it is common to find storytelling tasks on Fiverr for promotional videos of less than five minutes or fewer that you can record and edit between 5 and 30 minutes.
Narrate books for a company (Amazon ACX)
If you are interested in this full-time profession, you can start with an audition for Amazon’s audiobook platform, ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange). However, getting a job this way can be a long process (it usually takes up to a year).
Why does it take so long to get a long-term job? Because part of the process is learning to narrate correctly. The Amazon ACX audiobook platform connects you with authors who need your services and they will pay you to narrate their audiobooks. To be hired, you must submit a sample of your reading for each job and you must submit your portfolio of projects.
This is why it is important to make money with smaller projects before making good money working with the Amazon audiobook platform. However, if you are just getting started, the Amazon platform has a good training tutorial to hone your skills.
Practice your storytelling and editing skills through auditions, and improve from the authors’ comments. Once you get a few stories, use them as samples to get other clients. The process to find a job at Amazon ACX is straightforward. You must follow these steps:
- Register and create a profile to detail your experience
- Upload samples to your profile to show your reading skills
- Choose if you want to be paid by the hour or by royalties, or if you are open to discussing either.
- Search for books already published and record a few minutes of the manuscript for an audition
- When you are chosen by the author/editor, you will receive a recruitment offer
All of this should happen through ACX (not by phone or email) to ensure that the terms of the contract are recorded.
How can you find the best niche for you?
Use the trial and error method. We recommend recording yourself reading books of various kinds. Some books could be:
- Children’s stories
- Fiction books
- Finance
- Health
- Erotic novels
- Learning books
The key will be to read books on topics that you are passionate about. This way you will have a genuine interest in your reading that you can use to grab the attention of your listeners. After recording yourself reading a few sections, note the topics that interested you the most and the topics that you “fit in” with the best.
“I don’t like my voice”
A frequently occurring psychological phenomenon is that very few people like the sound of their own voice. So, don’t give up so quickly and ask someone you trust for their opinion on the sample readings of your audiobooks. This will help you get various opinions and suggestions on which topics are right for you.
Once you are comfortable with a topic and the genres, focus your attention on it. You will find work much faster. Just audition for books that fit your voice, and your success rate will be much higher.
Conclusions
Making money narrating audiobooks is not a way to get rich quick, but it is clearly worth your time as you can generate income in several ways. It’s possible to make a good income narrating audiobooks, or even passively earn money from your own audiobooks.
Although there is a learning curve if you can do it yourself. A decent audiobook can be created in a few hours of work and editing, and you only need a decent USB microphone and a free program called Audacity. If you have questions about how to make money with audiobooks or have questions about how to get started, leave us a comment and we will do our best to help you.
