Audiobook Empire is a full-service production and publishing house catering to independent and self published authors. Its goal is to provide these authors with a traditional production experience, while allowing them to retain all the perks of being an indie author (i.e. rights and royalties).
Being a full-service production house means that the Empire takes care of everything, with very little effort needed from the client. With a strong emphasis on value, everything we do is aimed at ensuring ease-of-experience for our clients. We send each client off with promotional graphics, a packet of marketing resources, and exclusive discounts from several PR firms with which we've partnered.
Audiobook Empire's ideal client is one who longs for a streamlined, simplified, and convenient production experience. DIY can be great, but who has time for that these days?
Audiobook Empire removes the hassle from the equation. We coordinate your production and oversee everything, while checking in with you periodically with updates. Our concierge service production style is the opposite of what you'll find at large, corporation-owned studios.
The Empire is open to all. We aren't genre-specific, although we have two imprints that cater to specific types of books.
Cats Meow Productions specializes in producing "clean reads" and Lunar Audiobooks is the home for our Science Fiction titles.
The average audiobook we produce costs between $2500 and $3500, but each audiobook is different. That's why we refrain from advertising "one-size-fits-all" pricing. Instead, we prefer to give you a custom estimate based on your book, budget, and preferences.
The final cost of your audiobook will largely depend on two things: The length of your book and the narrator(s) you choose.
With that information, we can provide you with an official estimate for the final cost.
Free to reach out to us requesting a custom quote. Email Jess with your word count and budget.
On average, a narrator can read about 9,300 words per hour of audio. You'll need to divide your book's word count by 9,300 to get an estimate of how long your audiobook will be and how much you will be paying per finished hour (PFH).
Absolutely! Educating and guiding authors is our favorite part of production. We have informational packets, flow charts, and resources coming out of our ears.
Schedule a chat with Jess to learn more.
Absolutely! We have a wide variety of incredible performers in our Talent Legion. You can choose your narrator from there or use our casting services to have a few hand-picked options presented to you for final selection.
We can also work with the narrator from outside of our Talent Legion (subject to our approval).
Dual, Duet and Multi-cast projects are always fun and we'll be happy to produce them for you. However, you may want to consider how the addition of multiple narrators will impact your overall budget. This is something we'd be happy to discuss with you.
No. That is not something we encourage or accommodate.
Having worked with hundreds of audiobook reviewers over the years, we've seen too many well-intentioned authors receive unfavorable reviews from self-narration (actually, unfavorable is putting it mildly). This results in abysmal sales and almost always results in the author pulling the title from retail sites and paying to have it professionally re-recorded.
This type of situation is not something we wish to have a hand in and we would strongly encourage you to reconsider that decision. We are more interested in working with authors who value the professional talent available through us.
Audiobook Empire partners with multiple stellar post-production teams who handle all of our projects. We prefer to let dedicated sound engineers handle your post-production work for three reasons:
- They are specialists. We believe allowing sound engineers to do the post-production work on our titles results in higher quality audiobooks.
- It's more cost-effective. Overall, sound engineers do post-production work for less than a narrator would charge for the same work. This often allows you to work with narrators for a much lower rate than if they were narrating and providing the postproduction work themselves.
- It supports another area of the audiobook industry. Sound engineers are integral to the audiobook production process, yet their work is often overlooked. Some of them have even won awards for their contributions to particular titles!
What good is an audiobook if no one can hear it?
We're happy to discuss distribution options with our production clients, such as being exclusive to Audible or "going wide" to an array of retailers. We can also guide you through the process of sending your audiobook to retail or handle it entirely on your behalf, at no additional charge.
NEW! Our distribution wing recently began accepting outside audiobooks (not produced with the Empire) for a one-time flat fee that covers the lifetime of the 7-year distribution contract.
No. For production, casting, and distribution services, Audiobook Empire operates based on a flat rate. However, publishing options are sometimes available.
Promotional support will always be part of the deal at Audiobook Empire. We have several promotional partners devoted to helping you launch your new release! These partnerships were put in place to
With our promotional contacts, a virtual army can be raised to support your title. This makes marketing an Audiobook Empire title easier and more cost-effective, with exclusive discounts on PR services.
Please note that our marketing contacts, discounts, and resources are offered exclusively to our production clients and are not available with our à la cart services (casting and/or distribution).
Yay! We're delighted that you're picking up what we're putting down. If you haven't already, consider scheduling a preliminary consultation with Jess. This isn't mandatory, but we like to start things off with a personal touch.
audiobookempire.com/booking-page
If you'd like to skip the chitchat and get right down to business, you can go ahead and request a service today.