I am already published. Can I still do something with you guys?
Do you buy the audio rights or do you work differently than traditional publishers?
What rights exactly are we talking about here?
Why iTunes, Amazon and Audible?
What exactly do I have to provide?
Can I record the audio book myself?
Does my accent matter?
If I want to engage Hudson Audio Publishing to get my book read and turned into an audio book, what is the process, the cost and time frame?
On the sale price of an audio book, how much do I get as a royalty?
How do I get my royalties?
How do I know I am getting the right amount?
What about copyright issues?
Why wouldn't I just go direct to the platforms?
Can I sell my audio book elsewhere if I sell it through you?
How long does it take to get my work onto the platforms?
I am already published. Can I still do something with you guys?
The first and most important thing to identify is who has the audio rights to your book. Quite often publishers own the audio rights to your work however many contracts have clauses whereby the audio rights revert back to you (the author) automatically if the publisher hasn't done anything with those rights within a certain period of time (usually five years). So check your agreement. After chatting with us, many of our clients simply ask their publisher if they can get the audio rights returned to them and they do get them simply beacaue their publisher has no plans on that front. Even if the publisher has the audio rights and won't release them to you that is not necessarily a problem either. We deal with quite a few publishers that are happy for us to generate new revenue from the asset via the audio book channel. That revenue is then shared with you anyway on the terms you have with your print publisher.
Do you buy the audio rights or do you work differently than traditional publishers?
We work differently to a print publisher because the digital space is an entirely different industry. The way consumers find and buy digital products is nothing like the offline world. Today, your books can be downloaded onto all kinds of mobile devices with no shipping, no cost of manufacture and zero out-of stock issues. Where traditional publishers held the power over writers because of the large investment they would be making into printing and marketing your book, the digital world creates an entirely new landscape where old rules do not apply.
Today, you can produce and audio book for under $3,000 (or free if you read and produce it yourself) and have unlimited copies of it sold worldwide by highly trusted e-commerce retaileres like iTunes and Amazon without spening a cent on producing even one physical copy. There is no need for any additional capital or a publisher. What is important though is knowing how to produce, merchadise and sell that product in those platforms and actually getting the job done - which most authors simply don't get around to because the whole process is simply too daunting.
Our value proposition is simple. We save you time, work and mistakes in entering this digital world and we will actually do the job - instead of thinking about it which is what most of clients were doing before they engaged us. We charge nothing up front (unless you need to hire an actor to do the reading and production) and we only make money if you make money. It is a genuine win-win scenario that creates additional and ongoing revenue from work you have already done.
We do not buy audio rights, we simply revenue share - heavily in your favor and we make it easy. You give us the audio files and that's it - or you give us the book and we will get it recorded, edited and up into the platforms.
What rights exactly are we talking about here?
The only rights we require are the digital download rights to the audio files of your book. This means that you can still sell your audio book as a CD or cassette (are they still around?) and you can still sell print versions or eBook versions of your book elsewhere.
Why iTunes, Amazon and Audible?
iTunes is the largest audio distribution platform in the world, now selling almost one Billion audio files per month to its 200 Million + users. Audible.com is the largest audio book platform in the world and the exclusive provider of audio books to iTunes. When you include Amazon in the mix, a $20 Billion company, you are accessing the three largest digitial distribution channels in existence. There simply isn't a bigger distribution channel if you own audio content that is sold via these platforms.
What exactly do I have to provide?
We submit audio files to Audible as MP3 files. Each chapter of the book or seminar must be made as a separate MP3 file. Generally audio files are sent to use via www.yousendit.com one chapter at a time. This is a free FTP service.
Can I record the audio book myself?
Yes you can. It is not compulsory to use Hudson Audio Publishing to record your work. If you do it yourself you will avoid paying any production costs which is great news. There is a very useful blog post here that includes two video tutorials that will show you how to record your own audio book using free software on either a Mac or a PC.
Does my accent matter?
Most royalties will be earned through North American markets. We find that aside from British English accents, North American accents work best. We can have the work read by voice over artists at very reasonable rates for you - probably better than you could source yourself. When we first got quotes and were looking for voice over professionals, quotes varied on a single book from as low as $500 to as high as $30,000. For most average books (100,000 words) we can have your work read for about $1,000 - $1,500 including all editing, music etc.
If I want to engage Hudson Audio Publishing to get my book read and turned into an audio book, what is the process, the cost and time frame?
To begin this process we require a simple brief from you in respect to what kind of voice you would like - older, younger, male, female etc. In all cases we recommend North American accent as most buying activity on these platforms is from within the United States - although we will sell the books through many other countries as well such as England, Australia, Canada, Germany and more.
Once we have the brief and a PDF copy of the book we will tender the job out to our network of readers. These people are independent contractors so their prices vary. We will then present you with a short list of potential readers including a sample of their voice - usually reading an excerpt from your book. You can then select the one you like based on their voice and their price. The prices quoted include everything to be 'sale ready'. The audio book will be fully produced with all ownership of the material being retained by you.
At this point we will invoice you for the reader you like and once paid we will instruct the talent to begin. Payment is made through PayPal. Prices vary widely depending on the length of your work and who you choose. As a guide, for a 100,000 word book you should expect to pay between $1,500 (on the low side) up to $2,500 (on the high side). To put this in perspective, a good title should return that outlay to the content owner (you) within one or two royalty payments.
In regard to timing, we can tender the job out within a day of receiving your simple brief and will have a short list within 7-10 days. Once appointed it usually takes between 14 and 21 days to produce the entire audio book.
You can off course record and produce the audio book yourself if you have some simple software and recording equipment. If you do it yourself there will be no cost to produce your recording - it is not compulsory to use us, we simply offer it as a service.
On the sale price of an audio book, how much do I get as a royalty?
There are two contracts offered by Amazon/Audible for audio books. Exclusive or non-exclusive. If you are prepared to grant a 5 year exclusive contract then royalties will be 20% of the sale price. If you wish to sell your audio book elsewhere then you will receive 12% of the sale price as royalty. Generally speaking our clients opt for exclusive contracts because these three platforms are the largest audio book distribution platforms in the world by a very long way. The figures quoted here are exactly what you would get if you went direct to the platforms. Hudson Audio Publishing has not taken a cut before they reach your royalty statement.
How do I get my royalties?
We pay our content partners by PayPal.
What about copyright issues?
You can only submit content to Hudson Audio Publishing that you or your company owns the copyright on. This includes any sound tracks or sound effects that you use.
Why wouldn't I just go direct to the platforms?
You can do this however it will take you a lot longer than it will if you use us - especially if you are a non-US resident. For non-US residennts you will need to contact the IRS to establish a tax ID as an alien, then you will need to procure certain tax status forms not to mention establishing all the contracts and royalty agreements with Audible. We have all of this done and we know the process. Even for US based content owners it is very time consuming. It took us over 9 months to establish our first title and we were focussed on it.
Can I sell my audio book elsewhere if I sell it through you?
It depends on whether or not you decided to grant exclusive or non-exclusive rights. Please read here about these terms.
How long does it take before the work is uploaded onto the platforms?
Once we have the audio file it takes us about 2 weeks to prepare and lodge an application into all three platforms. At present there is about an 8 week processing timeline within the platforms themselves so in total we would encourage you to allow 90 days before you will see your work appearing for sale.
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