Daddy, where do audiobooks come from?

Who makes audiobooks; when, where, and for what money they make them; and what to expect with regard to your own audiobook (assuming you have a book deal with a big/big-ish publisher).

How have I been writing this newsletter pretty much every week for three and a half years and still not managed to address the matter of audiobooks? OOPS.

Let’s rectify that this week. Forthwith, I’ll address frequently-asked audiobook questions—the sort authors ask agents in the context of a traditional book deal.

Namely:

• What is an audiobook? (The answer to this is less obvious than it sounds.)

• Who controls audio rights?

• How hard is it to hang onto audio rights?

• What kind of income can I expect from my audiobook sales?

• Who makes audiobooks?

• When does an audiobook get made?

• How does an audiobook get made?

• Can I read my own audiobook? Can we get the publisher to promise I can read it?

• If I can’t read or don’t want to, who’ll read it instead? Do I have any say in that selection?

• What tends to sell better: audiobooks read by authors, or audiobooks read by professional actors?

• Is reading my own audiobook worth it?

• Relatively speaking, how much royalty income from the average book deal comes through audiobook sales?

• I want to make a podcast that overlaps with the contents of my book. If I’ve sold audio rights to my publisher, will this pose a problem under the noncompete clause in my contract?

This newsletter will not address any questions about audiobooks that are outside my purview as a literary agent, e.g.:

• How can I record my own professional audiobook?

• What sound equipment and recording studios do the pros use?

• Can you recommend any freelance audiobook producers?

• Who are the all-time greatest audiobook readers who aren’t your clients? Haha jk I can answer this one: Meryl Streep (surprise); Streep’s daughter Grace Gummer; and in the children’s space, weirdly enough, Barbara Bush. Runner up: Julia Whelan.

OK? OK!

Here come your answers. Subscribers, free to ask any questions I missed at the bottom; I’ll answer them if I have any clue.

What is an audiobook?

An audiobook is—surprise!—a recording of you or someone else reading your book, made available for purchase to the general public, ideally the same day as your print and ebook editions.

If you don’t have a book deal yet or don’t want one, that’s all the definition you need to remember.

If you do have a book deal—or you anticipate having one soon—it’s important to understand not just the abstract principle of what an audiobook is, but the highly specific ways in which a well-negotiated publishing contract defines “audiobook” and “audio rights.”