How much does it cost to make an audiobook?
Updated October 2026
Audiobook pricing is quoted per finished hour, one hour of final audio. Narration runs at roughly 9,300 words per finished hour (155 words a minute), so a 90,000-word novel is about 9–10 finished hours.
| Route | Typical cost | Turnaround | Retail-ready? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional human narrator | $1,200–$2,800 per novel | 4–8 weeks | Yes, including Audible via ACX |
| Cloud AI voice service | Subscription or per-book fee | Hours to days | With mastering, on stores that accept AI |
| Free AI voice on your own computer | $0 | Hours, depending on your computer | No; a listening copy |
Human narration
Experienced narrators charge $200–$400 per finished hour, plus proofing. ACX also offers royalty share, with no upfront cost but half your audiobook royalties, and established narrators rarely accept it for unproven titles.
The break-even test
Indie audiobook royalties land around $2–$4 per sale. A $2,000 narration needs roughly 500–1,000 sales to pay for itself, which many backlist titles never reach. That's why so many books never get an audio edition at all.
The free route
Open-source AI voices now run in a web browser at no cost. Bookvox turns a PDF, Word document or EPUB into MP3s on your own computer, ideal for proof-listening, beta readers and accessibility copies, even if you later pay for a retail-grade production.
Before publishing any audiobook, check where AI narration is allowed.