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AUDIOBOOK NARRATION What Do Your Audiobook Narration Sales Numbers Tell You About Your Career?  By Tom Jordan Voice Actor & Audiobook Narrator I recently made a post in the ACX Narrators Facebook
Group showing a milestone for my ACX Royalty Share and Royalty Share Plus
sales: 13,000 as of March 25th, 2021. Within the post, I also
shared some numbers that illustrated how long it took to reach milestones along
the way – something I kept track of, thinking someday I'd find it useful. Turns
out, plenty of people in that group found those numbers useful, as well. So I
thought I'd share them with you here and talk a little bit more about my
journey. The 13K sales number, to me, isn't really brag-worthy. I know
several narrators, who, after being at this for about four years as I have
been, have sold twice that – even more. I remember talking to a narrator in his
20s at the 2019 VO Atlanta Conference who hit the 50K mark after only three
years. But, for me – someone who has a day job and narrates "in the margins" - I
felt the number was, at least, worth sharing and sparking conversations, which
it certainly did. The ACX
Narrators group is great, by the way, and filled with quite a few people
who are just starting out in their narration and who eagerly absorb information
and ask a lot of good questions. Check it out and join if you'd like. MY MILESTONE NUMBERS
So, as promised, here are the numbers that show the
milestone timeline and my path to that 13K number. I have about 50 titles up in
Audible and the numbers below represent RS
and RS+ titles. I have only done about seven Per
Finished Hour titles, and I don't have sales numbers from those. None of
those were blockbusters, from what I can tell, so these numbers won't be
skewed too far from where they are.
WHAT TO LEARN FROM THIS? What do these numbers tell me? What could you learn from
them? I see a lot of time and effort spent reaching that first 1K mark; and am
glad that I stuck with it. Loving audiobook narration as I do, though, the idea
of giving up simply didn't enter my mind. If you're in your first year of
narration and are disappointed with your sales to the point where you're
considering giving up, then you might ask yourself if you really love narration,
because this is truly a labor of love. That answer you come up with, combined
with whatever financial considerations you have to make, may be your best indicators
as to whether narration is right for you. But I'm coming from a place where my day
job pays my mortgage, so keep this in mind. If narration was my sole
source of income, well… let's just say that I'm glad that's not the case. THE NUMBERS GAME Although this phrase is overused, it certainly is true: Audiobook
sales is a numbers game. Sure, the more audiobooks I narrated, the more
audiobooks sold, so the milestones are a little misleading in the sense that
that variable in the equation continued to change throughout time. Still, sales
ramped up, generally, and continued doing so, especially during the halcyon
days of massive ACX promo code redemptions, which is a subject for another
article. If you are conidering getting into audiobook narration and
are reading this thinking, "There seems to be very little chance I could make a
living in the first few years of narration," then, in general, you'd be correct,
unless you get very lucky. As I stated in my previous
articles in VoiceOverXtra, audiobook narration isn't for everyone, and it
certainly isn't a get-rich-quick path. It's a slow burn, a marathon. Read my articles and also visit Karen Commins' excellent "Narrators Roadmap" to learn more
about what it takes to make it as an audiobook narrator.
Wherever you are in your narration journey, remember that
innate skill, hard work, coaching, and the ability to choose the right projects
are the four most important elements to success. I wish you much luck, and if
you have questions or would like to chat more about what it takes to succeed as
an audiobook narrator, please
reach out. If I don't have the answers, I have a list of experts whom I can
recommend who can certainly help you find your path and stay on it.
-------------------- ABOUT TOM Tom Jordan is an award-winning audiobook narrator and
Audible Approved Producer who entered the world of professional voice acting in
1994. He has worked for hundreds of clients in a broad variety of voice over
genres from commercials to E-learning, and everything in between. A few years
back, Tom steered his talents toward audiobook narration and has found his true
calling with this creative and infinitely-rewarding endeavor. Tom is a 2018
RONE Audiobook Award Finalist, a 2019 Independent Audiobook Award winner, and a
2021 Independent Audiobook Award finalist. He will also be a presenter at the
VO Atlanta 2021 Conference this April where he will talk about transitioning
between VO and audiobook narration. |
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While it's good to understand sales figures, also key to success is performance--learning voice acting, audiobook performance, and constantly improving your craft.
Plus, in the case of ACX, making your post production work more accurate and more efficient--or choosing a good editor to outsource that part of the ACX "producer" role.
Make sure you not only sell a lot, but sell quality. Be looking for new publishers, beyond ACX. Your sales numbers won't impress the mainline publishers, but your skill and quality will.