Turn your book into an audiobookCan I turn my book into an audiobook? 5 ways.
Yes, you can. The real question is who does the work, and what each way really costs: money, time, and where the finished book is allowed to sell.
Yes. A self-published author can turn a book into an audiobook in five ways: record it yourself, build it yourself with an AI voice tool, hire a narrator (typically $1,500–$6,000), use a free store tool that sells on that one store only, or have it done for you, which with TomeVox costs from $49 Narrated or $149 Performed.
The book is finished, and readers keep asking whether there is an audiobook. There is no single answer to “how do I make one?”, because the five routes trade off three things against each other: what you pay, how many hours of your own life it takes, and where the finished audiobook is allowed to sell. Most authors only notice the third one after they have chosen.
| Route | Cash cost | Your time | Where it can sell |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free store tool | Free | Low | One store only, no file |
| Record it yourself | $0–$500 kit | 70–100 hours | Anywhere |
| AI voice tool, DIY | A subscription | Days of prep and checking | Anywhere |
| Hire a narrator | $1,500–$6,000, or a royalty split | 6–14 weeks of coordination | Anywhere, or exclusive |
| Done for you (AI) | $49–$99 Narrated, $149–$299 Performed | Upload, pick a voice | Anywhere |
For an 8-hour audiobook, about 75,000 words. Narrator prices from our audiobook cost breakdown; timings from how long audiobook production takes.
Can you turn your book into an audiobook for free?
Yes, but only on one store at a time. Three retailers will narrate your book with their own AI voices at no charge. Amazon’s Virtual Voice, inside KDP, turns an eligible Kindle book into an audiobook sold on Audible and Amazon. Apple Books digital narration produces an audiobook labelled “Narrated by Apple Books” and sold only on Apple Books, after a processing time of roughly one to two months. Google Play auto-narration generates one from your EPUB, sold only on Google Play.
The catch is the same in all three: you never receive an audio file. The audiobook exists only inside the store that made it, so you cannot also sell it on Spotify, Kobo, in libraries or from your own website. If one store is all you want, a free tool does that job. If you want the book everywhere readers listen, the free route costs you reach instead of money. We compare them in detail in Virtual Voice vs TomeVox and Apple and Google auto-narration.
What does it take to make an audiobook yourself?
Recording it yourself is the cheapest route in cash and the most expensive in time. A workable home setup costs $0–$500, but an 8-hour audiobook takes 70–100 hours of recording, re-recording, editing and mastering. That is before you learn the technical standards retailers check for, such as loudness and noise floor. For memoirs especially, an author’s own voice can be worth it; our guide to narrating a memoir yourself covers when.
Building it yourself with an AI voice tool swaps the microphone for a subscription. A tool like ElevenLabs gives you speech from text, but speech is not yet an audiobook. You still prepare the manuscript, fix names the voice mispronounces, regenerate passages that come out wrong, listen to every chapter, and assemble and master the files. For a full novel, that is days of work, and it is easy to underestimate.
What does it cost to hire a narrator?
A professional narrator typically costs $1,500–$6,000 per book. Narrators charge per finished hour, one hour of the final recording, commonly around $250. A finished hour holds about 9,300 words, so a 100,000-word novel runs to about 10.75 hours and roughly $2,700 at that rate.1 Add 6–14 weeks from auditions to a live listing.
If that is too much upfront, ACX offers royalty share: the narrator works for half of your royalties instead of a fee. Under ACX’s current model that leaves you 25% of each sale on an exclusive deal, for seven years.2 It costs nothing on day one and a great deal over time; we ran the numbers in royalty share vs a flat fee.
A human narrator is still the right call for some books, especially full-cast productions and books whose audience expects a known voice. AI vs human narrator covers when.
What does “done for you” actually mean?
Done for you means you upload the finished manuscript, pick a voice, and get back a finished audiobook. Everything between those two points is our job, and it is the work that DIY tools leave to you. With TomeVox that means preparing the text (chapters, headings, front and back matter), handling pronunciation, producing every chapter, checking it before delivery, and mastering it into the files retailers expect: an M4B with chapter markers plus MP3, with full commercial rights and no exclusivity.
What you still decide is the voice. Our Narrated range has 50+ voices in 13 languages, or your own voice from a short clip, at $49, $79 or $99 by book length. Our newer Performed range has 12 voices each in English, Spanish and Swedish that read the scene around each line and shape their tone, pacing and breath to it, at $149, $229 or $299; Performed vs Narrated lets you hear both. That is also the answer to the most common worry about AI audiobooks, that they sound robotic: you hear your own first chapter free, in the voice you pick, before paying anything. A paid audiobook is ready in about 24 hours, with 2 revision rounds on Narrated and 3 on Performed.3
Two comparisons come up often. If you would otherwise build the book yourself in ElevenLabs’ self-serve app, we do the preparation, the regenerations and the checking for you, and on a full book it costs less. If you were looking at ElevenLabs Productions, their done-for-you service, we are a direct alternative: the same quality, if not better, for a fraction of the price and with a much faster turnaround.
Which way should you turn your book into an audiobook?
Use a free store tool if one store is all you need and you never want a file of your own.
Record it yourself if your voice is part of the book, as with many memoirs, and you have the hours.
Hire a narrator if you want a human performance or a full cast and the budget or royalty split works for you.
Have it done for you if you want a finished file you own, sold everywhere, without weeks of work or a four-figure bill.
The book is already written. The audiobook does not have to be another project.
Hear your book first. Free.
Narrated $49–$99+ · Performed $149–$299+, by book length. Upload your manuscript, pick a voice and hear your own first chapter. No card.
Hear your first chapter freeCommon questions about turning a book into an audiobook
Can I turn my book into an audiobook for free?
Yes, with a store’s own tool: Amazon’s Virtual Voice in KDP, Apple Books digital narration or Google Play auto-narration. Each is free, but the audiobook sells only on that one store and you never receive a file you can sell anywhere else.
How much does it cost to turn a book into an audiobook?
A professional narrator typically costs $1,500 to $6,000 per book, priced per finished hour. Recording it yourself costs little in cash but 70 to 100 hours of your time for an 8-hour audiobook. A done-for-you AI audiobook from TomeVox costs $49 to $99 with a Narrated voice or $149 to $299 with a Performed voice.
Can I turn my Kindle book into an audiobook?
Yes. KDP’s Virtual Voice turns an eligible Kindle book into an AI-narrated audiobook for free, sold on Audible and Amazon only. For an audiobook file you can also sell on Apple, Google Play, Kobo or Spotify, use a narrator or a done-for-you service instead.
How long does it take to turn a book into an audiobook?
With a human narrator, 6 to 14 weeks from auditions to a live listing. Recording it yourself takes 70 to 100 hours of work for an 8-hour audiobook. A done-for-you AI audiobook from TomeVox is ready in about 24 hours.
Will an AI audiobook sound robotic?
Not necessarily. TomeVox Narrated voices read clearly and naturally, and the newer Performed voices read the scene around each line and shape their tone, pacing and breath to it. Your first chapter is free, so you can hear your own book before paying.