What an audiobook costs to narrate, in plain numbers

The first question most authors ask us isn't about voices. It's "what will my book cost?" The answer depends on two things: how many words you narrate, and which lane you narrate them on. You can work it out in about a minute.

The two numbers you need

Narration is priced per 1,000 words:

• Quick: 32 credits per 1,000 words.
• Standard: 52 credits per 1,000 words.
• Studio: 52 credits per 1,000 words. Same price as Standard, with 30 voices and emotional markup tags.

Credits come in packs, and on the Single pack one credit costs one euro cent. Every chunk (about a printed page) rounds up to a whole credit, so a real book comes out a few per cent above these figures: closer to 34 and 55 credits per 1,000 words. Treat the figures below as a floor, not exact totals.

Three books, worked out

A 25,000-word novella or guide, all on Standard: about 1,300 credits, roughly €13.

A 70,000-word novel, all on Standard: about 3,640 credits, roughly €36.40. The same book on Quick comes to about 2,240 credits, roughly €22.40.

A 120,000-word epic, all on Standard or Studio: about 6,240 credits, closer to 6,600 once each chunk rounds up. That's just over the 6,500-credit Single pack, so plan on the Trilogy pack or a custom top-up.

To price your own book, take its word count, divide by 1,000 and multiply by 32 or 52. That's your figure in credits.

Picking a pack

• Single: 6,500 credits for €65. Enough for one long book on Standard.
• Trilogy: 18,000 credits for €170. Built for a series, and each credit costs a little less.
• Studio: 60,000 credits for €499. For publishers and prolific authors narrating a whole backlist.

If none of those fits, you can top up a custom amount instead.

Where the money actually goes

A finished audiobook rarely costs exactly its word count. What changes the bill is how many times you narrate each chapter. Here's how to keep that number low.

Draft on Quick. While you're still changing the text, narrate on the cheapest lane. You're checking the phrasing, not the final sound. Move a chapter up to Standard or Studio once it's settled. Quick and Standard use the same narrator voice. Studio pairs your narrator with a matching voice from a different engine, so listen again after you switch.

Fix the words before you re-render. If a sentence comes out wrong, re-rendering it unchanged usually gives you the same problem again. Change the text first: add a comma, split the sentence, respell the name. Then render once.

Re-render the chunk, not the chapter. Your book is split into short chunks of about a printed page each. Only the chunk you changed has to be narrated again, and you only pay for its words.

Don't worry about failures. If a render fails, the credits it used go back to your balance automatically. A failed chunk never costs you anything.

A sensible budget

For a first book we suggest this: work out the word count at Standard, then add about 15% for drafts and re-renders. For a 70,000-word novel that's about 4,200 credits. It fits inside a Single pack, with room to narrate your sample chapter on Studio and compare.

Not sure yet? Listen to the narrator samples on the voices page before you buy any credits.