How to Submit Your Audiobook for a Chirp Deal

To submit your audiobook for a Chirp deal, distribute it through a Chirp partner. For an externally produced AI file like a TomeVox audiobook, that means Author's Republic. Enable Chirp as a channel, set a list price, turn on discount pricing, then nominate the title via the Chirp deals form four to eight weeks ahead. Chirp takes no direct submissions.

Chirp deals are featured, limited-time discount promotions run by BookBub's audiobook platform, and they are one of the strongest discovery tools available to indie authors. A Chirp deal places a deeply discounted audiobook in front of BookBub's large audience of audiobook buyers, often driving a sales spike that no single retail listing can match. For a broader explanation of what the platform is and how it fits a wide-distribution strategy, see our overview of how Chirp audiobook deals work.

Submitting for a Chirp deal is a tactical, multi-step process with specific eligibility, pricing, and timing rules. This guide walks through each step: getting eligible through a distribution partner, meeting the audio specifications, structuring your discount price, nominating your title, and optimizing for acceptance. Chirp curates featured deals manually, so following the rules precisely improves your odds of getting picked.

Step 1: How do you become eligible for a Chirp deal?

You become eligible for a Chirp deal by distributing your audiobook through a Chirp distribution partner. Chirp has no self-publishing portal and does not accept audiobooks directly from authors — it is fed by aggregators and distributors that opt titles into Chirp. For an externally produced AI-narrated audiobook, such as a file you generated with TomeVox, the realistic conduit is Author's Republic, which explicitly accepts third-party AI narration and is a Chirp distribution partner. Crucially, INaudio (formerly Findaway Voices) is not a route for an external AI file: INaudio accepts AI narration only when it was produced via Google Play Books, ElevenLabs, or Spoken Press, and rejects modified or externally produced AI audio. Your title must be distributed through Author's Republic and live on Chirp before you can nominate it for a featured deal.

After your Author's Republic account is set up, confirm that Chirp is enabled as one of your active retail channels and that the AI/digital-voice narration is disclosed in your metadata. Author's Republic distributes to a wide network of stores and library systems, and Chirp is one of the channels you toggle on. Without Chirp enabled as a sales channel, your audiobook will not appear on Chirp at all, and an unlisted title cannot be nominated for a deal.

Step 2: What audio specifications must your audiobook meet?

Your audiobook must meet professional distribution specifications before a distribution partner like Author's Republic will accept it for any channel, including Chirp. These specifications originated with ACX and are now the shared standard across audiobook platforms. A file that fails on sample rate, loudness, or chapter structure will be rejected at distribution, long before it ever reaches a Chirp deal queue.

TomeVox generates audiobook files meeting every one of these distribution specifications automatically, delivering an M4B with chapter markers plus per-chapter MP3 files within 48 hours. The output is the same format Author's Republic and Chirp expect, so the files can go straight into your Author's Republic upload with no re-encoding. If a chapter needs a fix, you can re-generate any chapter at no extra cost before you distribute. For the technical detail behind these numbers, see our ACX audio requirements guide.

Step 3: How should you price your audiobook for a Chirp deal?

Chirp deals are discount-driven, so your pricing strategy decides whether your title is attractive to Chirp's curation team. Set a regular list price for your audiobook in Author's Republic first, then enable promotional or sale pricing so Chirp can feature the title at a reduced rate. Featured Chirp deals are typically priced between $0.99 and $4.99 for the promotion window, and a steeper markdown against a credible everyday price reads as a stronger offer.

Set your everyday list price high enough that the deal price looks like a genuine bargain. A full-length audiobook listed at $14.99 to $24.99 that drops to $1.99 or $2.99 for a Chirp deal shows an obvious, compelling discount. For guidance on setting both your regular price and your promotional price across platforms, read our guide to pricing your audiobook.

Remember that a Chirp deal is a marketing event, not a primary revenue source. The goal of a deeply discounted Chirp promotion is discovery — putting your audiobook in front of new listeners who may buy the rest of your catalogue at full price. Treat the discounted deal price as the cost of acquiring a new reader rather than as the margin you live on.

Step 4: How do you submit your title for a Chirp deal?

Submit your title for a Chirp deal through the Chirp deals nomination form once your audiobook is live on Chirp via Author's Republic. The submission asks for your discount price, the promotion window you are requesting, and your book metadata — title, author, genre categories, and cover. Author's Republic surfaces the Chirp deal submission options inside its promotions area, so you nominate from the same dashboard where you manage distribution.

Provide complete and accurate metadata at submission, because Chirp's editorial team uses it to decide placement. Choose genre categories that match the book's actual content, write a clear and benefit-led description, and double-check that your cover art is the correct square format. After you submit, Chirp reviews the nomination manually and notifies you whether your title has been accepted for a featured deal and on which date.

Step 5: How do you time and optimize a Chirp deal for acceptance?

Submit your Chirp deal nomination four to eight weeks ahead of your target promotion date. Chirp curates featured deals manually and slots fill in advance, so an early submission gives you a real chance at the date you want and lets you align the promotion with a new release, a series launch, or a seasonal buying period. A last-minute nomination is far more likely to be declined simply because the calendar is full.

Optimize your acceptance odds with the factors Chirp's editors weigh: professional square cover art, accurate and competitive genre placement, existing reviews and ratings, a meaningful discount, and broad listener appeal. Standalone titles and the first book in a series tend to perform best in Chirp deals because they are easy entry points for new listeners. The table below summarizes what raises and lowers your chances.

The key takeaway from the table is that a Chirp deal acceptance rewards preparation: an early submission, a genuine discount, a professional cover, social proof from reviews, and an entry-point title together give your audiobook its best shot at a featured slot.

What if your Chirp deal nomination is declined?

A declined Chirp deal nomination is common and is not the end of the road. Chirp's editorial team has limited featured slots and turns down many qualified titles for capacity reasons alone. If your nomination is declined, you can re-submit for a later date, deepen your discount, refresh your cover or description, and gather more reviews in the meantime to strengthen the next attempt.

While you wait for a Chirp deal, keep selling your audiobook everywhere else. Upload directly to Google Play Books and Kobo, reach Apple Books and Spotify through an AI-friendly aggregator, and let Author's Republic distribute you to its wide network of stores and library systems — so your audiobook earns and gains reviews regardless of any one promotion. For the full picture of where an AI-narrated audiobook can sell, see our guide to where to sell an AI-narrated audiobook.

How long does it take and what does it cost to get Chirp-ready?

Getting Chirp-ready starts with a finished, spec-compliant audiobook file, and that is the part TomeVox handles fastest. AI audiobook production via TomeVox delivers distribution-ready files within 48 hours for $49–$99 at early bird pricing, compared with 6–12 weeks and $3,000–$8,000 for traditional human narration. The table below maps the path from manuscript to a live Chirp deal.

The key takeaway is that production is the quick part and timing is the long part: your audiobook can be finished and distributed in under a week, but the Chirp deal itself needs a four-to-eight-week runway. For the complete workflow from manuscript to finished audio, see the AI audiobook production guide, and for a full cost breakdown read how much it costs to make an audiobook.