After several years of strong growth there is no doubt anymore: audio books are popular, and revenues are growing for publishers, narrators, and writers. Here is even better news – the rise of audiobooks is not dampening print and e-book growth. In fact, recent evidence suggests audio books might contribute to increasing e-book sales. How can this be?
Many people like to have both the e-book version and audio version of the same book. Some retailers, like Amazon, make switching between using an e-reader and listening to a book seamless, tracking where you stop the story and allowing you to start on the other platform.
The best news of all? A survey by the Audiobook Publishers Association (APA) shows that 37% of survey respondents stated they listen to Mysteries/Thrillers/Suspense the most. The growth in our genre has been consistently increasing in the last 3 years up from 27% in 2018 and 31% in 2019. In 2020 US audiobook sales continued to grow to $1.2 billion in revenue, surpassing e-book sales for the first time.
Implications for Mystery/Thriller/Suspense writers
- For SinCNE writers this means that audiobooks are popular among our readers, and not only for young readers. 57% of frequent audiobook listeners are under the age of 45; up from 51% in 2019.
- Audiobooks are popular among urban-dwelling males age 25-44, a group that historically has not represented a large portion of the book buying segment. Therefore, audiobooks can help you reach a new audience.
- Traditionally published authors need to take a close look at their contracts – both past and future. As audiobooks begin to sell in higher volumes than e-books, you want to make sure you understand the audiobook rights clause in your contracts.
Indie-publishers and self-publishers will find that the cost of a fiction book can run $500 or more to produce an audiobook. Don’t give up the idea of doing your own audiobook if the $500 figure is beyond your budget. There are two ways to get around this cost.
1) Narrate the book yourself. This is not an impossible task, assuming you have some acting experience and are willing to invest in the equipment to produce your own audiobook. If you don’t have acting experience, this requires study and a good talking voice. That is daunting for many writers. Don’t despair. There is another solution.
2) Artificial Intelligence - AI.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Narrators
There are a growing number of companies that are working on both shortening the time to produce an audiobook and lowering the price. As sales increase the present system cannot keep up with the world-wide demand. Therefore, the publishers are looking to develop systems that can quickly turn out a novel using an AI narrator. As you can imagine, the narrator unions are not happy, but they may find a) they can’t fight the inevitable march of technology and b) narrators might be appeased by a new demand for their voices.
Publishers are investigating technologies for cloning a professional narrator’s voice. The narrators would then get paid whenever their voices are used for an audiobook project. In the future, narrators could turn into the rock stars of the audiobook world. (There are already a few narrators who are in such demand they are in fact stars of their profession.)
Hope for indie-publishers and self-publishers
Cloning voices works not only for professional narrators though, authors could also have their voices cloned. I know a woman who is both a fiction and non-fiction published author. She is a speaker in high demand. At a recent engagement she expressed her regret that her voice wasn’t professional narrator quality. Everyone present pointed out how recognizable her voice is to her world-wide seminar and panel discussion audiences. Her many fans would no doubt prefer her voice over that of a professional narrator. In fact, they might be disappointed were they to purchase her audiobook and not hear her voice.
If cloning voices is successful, and there is every indication the process will work, she could have her voice cloned and then programmed to read her books in a voice as natural as the one she possesses. The technology is already good. There is good reason to think that continued progress will be made in this area. This could eventually make creating an audiobook as simple for an indie-publisher as producing a print and e-book using Vellum. Already a company called, DeepZen offers you the ability to clone your voice and provides editing and help with producing your audiobook, if you desire.
A note for traditionally published authors
As voice cloning becomes available, be very careful about any contracts you sign that might want to clone your voice. Once cloned, anyone can create content that has you saying anything. Author rights in the age of audiobooks is becoming an area of concern and this concern will only increase as voice cloning grows. Follow this rights area carefully.
Now is the time to learn about the audiobook market
As with all new technology, the time to learn about advances is when the technology just becomes available and starts to be adapted by the market. You may not be ready to produce your own audiobook. You may not have the money to pay to have someone else turn out an audiobook for you, but the day is coming when you will find the technology affordable. A smart writing entrepreneur learns new technologies when they first come to market so they are able to be among the first to offer their books when the price does become affordable.
Want to learn more about the audiobook market, cloning your voice and producing your own audio books? Here is some further reading:
Market Statistics
Audiobook Listening Remains Strong In 2020 As Publishers Report Ninth Straight Year Of Double-Digit Growth
Audiobook software
For an excellent listing of various audiobook service companies see:
“AI Comes to Audiobooks,” by Thad McIlroy, Oct 29, 2021.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/87762-ai-comes-to-audiobooks.html
How to make your own audiobook by Daniel Sawyer.
Narrate and Record Your Own Audiobook: a simplified guide (Strategies for Success Book 4) by M. L. Buchman
Have you created your own audio book? Have you created an audiobook using AI technology? If so, please share your experience in the comments section below.
Tonya D. Price is a multi-genre published short story writer and the author of the non-fiction series, Business Books for Writers. Her thriller short story, "Payback," in the Fiction River anthology, Hard Choices, was selected for inclusion in The American Best Mystery Stories of 2019. She holds an MBA from Cornell University in Marketing and Finance. You can follow Tonya at Business Books for Writers and Tonya D. Price or on Twitter: @BusBooks4Writer.