Recently, I had an online chat with Neil Gardner from Ladbroke Audio – at the top of their game within the established publishers, and winning awards in the audiobook industry;
But they are looking at helping self published authors create their own productions too.
Here’s what happened! Such fascinating insights into how it’s done, for those who don’t know.
(Nb Sign up for our newsletter if you haven’t already, to be the 1st to know, as and when we run a new retreat – specifically about audiobooks.
Please note –
Still space on September 25th writing retreat for authors with a deadline, optional crime workshop attendance. Just write, untutored week Oct 16th. And just write retreats over the next few months, from £118 pn all inc. Just WhatsApp Debbie on 07949052208.) You can find our full events listing here.

How to Create Audiobooks, with Neil Gardner
Neil Gardner is the managing director of Ladbroke audio, the Audible approved audiobook creator, based in CoxHeath, Kent. The recording studio is in Croydon. For years, they have been winning awards and providing top quality audiobooks.
I met Neil at an event some years ago, and since then the company has gone from strength to strength.
Neil agreed to explain the basics of how an audiobook comes into being, and the best way to get yours done, including some tricks of the trade. Also look out for specifics of royalties, fees, the best routes to market, and costs, all below. Enjoy!
Q. Hi Neil! I hear Ladbroke is going great guns atm! Well done. I wondered – what is the best way for one of my authors to go about getting their own book made into audio considering it’s such a burgeoning industry at the moment.
Neil:
Lovely to hear from you. Yes, thank you! We recently completed a 2 year project with Penguin Random House to produce the entire 40 book Terry Pratchett series!

Neil:
Regarding audiobooks you have two basic options:
[1] Traditional publishing – approach existing audiobook publishers (e.g. PRH, Bonnier, Audible, Hachette, etc…) and see if they would be interested in taking it in-house (just like a normal book deal).
[2] Self-publish – similar to what many have already done with their book. There are a few routes for this, but the main two are ACX (owned by Audible) and Findaway Voices (owned by Spotify). ACX gets you on all the Audible platforms globally, and if you choose the exclusive option, then you get a slightly higher % return (40%) BUT cannot sell the audiobook on any other platforms. If you use Findaway you get to sell via 42+ platforms (including Audible but at a slightly lower non-exclusive fee of 25%) including Spotify, Apple iTunes/Books, Google Play and lots more. I tend to prefer the Findaway option myself.
With option [1] the publisher will pay all the costs of audiobook production, and give you a % of all sales. But bear in mind, they are also only getting a maximum of 50% return on each Audible sale (Audible is the biggest sales platform but notoriously pays lower % on sales and keeps the majority.)
With option [2] YOU have to pay for the audiobook to be produced, and you have to manage the distribution via ACX or Findaway (not hard at all). The benefit is you keep all of the income (minus whatever commission each platform has taken) and can track sales and offer discounts etc… It is a better way to maintain overall control BUT does mean you need to pay for the production (of course you then OWN that production!)
Q. So what does audiobook production cost?
Neil:
If you worked with us, we offer a full production service, including producer, studio, editing, proofing and mastering to ACS/Findaway spec. Our studios are in Croydon, South of London. We produce 150-200 audiobooks per year for all of the major UK publishers.
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For an author direct (we love working with authors!) I am very happy to offer a reduced fee of £200 per finished hour (pfh means EDITED and COMPLETED) – so a book that is 10 hrs long after all the editing and mastering etc would cost you £2,000 + VAT.
You’ll need to consider your Return on Investment spread over a 2 year sales window. The majority of sales are via Audible, who sell most titles at £7.99 (the cost of their monthly subscription). If you did a non-exclusive deal with them via Findaway you would expect to earn 25% on each sale which is approx £2 per sale. You’d need to therefore sell 1,000 copies to recoup your investment – certainly not an impossible task for an author with a ‘name’ and a following. If you did an exclusive deal via ACX you’d get 40% per sale, so approx. £3.20 per sale and therefore 625 sales to break even. Of course, that would rule out you selling the audiobook on ANY other platform, missing out on Google, Nook, Apple, Spotify, etc… You also couldn’t sell it direct from your own website. The ACX exclusivity is global and covers ALL digital services (including streaming such as StoryTel). You COULD burn CDs and sell it that way though.

Q. What’s the timescale? And ideal length?
Most audiobooks usually need around 4 weeks to produce. We ask for 7-10 days for the narrator and producer to read through and prep the script, then recording takes between 2-5 days depending on book length (or longer of course if it is an epic!). We edit and proof as we go, but this normally requires a further 5-10 days. And then we deliver the master files in various formats depending on your distribution platform (different ones have different audio file specs).
Approx length – so the industry standard is 9,250 word equals one hour of EDITED audio, so a 90,000 word book will come out as approx. 10 hours long (depending on style and narrating speed). A professional and experienced narrator can normally record 5 hours of unedited audio per day, at a rate of approx. 1.5/2 hours for every 1 hour of edited audio (this basically means that they will take 1.5 to 2 hours to record enough raw audio to edit down to 1 hour of final audio). A 90,000 word book can be recorded in 3 days with an experienced narrator. An author read, or other non-professional narrator (journalist, TV presenter, business person, doctor etc…) normally needs another half to full day (not always, but usually… and this is ONLY because narrating all day is incredibly tiring and is a skill like any other, and those who do it rarely haven’t built up the muscles/expertise required to narrate non-stop for hours on end)
Q. What’s the timeline?
Neil:
The schedule? Well – everything depends on what your ideal on-sale date is? Most distributors take 3-6 weeks to get the audiobook on sale, so you need to work backwards from your ideal on-sale date. I always recommend that you want to be starting production 2-3 months ahead of sale date. For us, the studio is currently fully booked, but we can always find some time (we are also happy to record at weekends). The last week of September and early October are currently free (or we could look at splitting it across multiple Saturdays). If you want it on Audible in time for the Xmas period, I’d suggest having it in production by late September, so we can then deliver files by mid-October. Audible is the fastest platform to accept audiobooks, and this would mean you would be on sale by early December if you use a service such as ACX, Findaway Voices or Spokenrealms.
Q. And well done for winning so many awards!
Neil:
We just love working with authors.

Q. Thanks so much can I share your contact info? I’ll put it at the bottom of the blog.
Neil:
Of course! I know that’s a whole lot of info and can be overwhelming, so if a phone chat would help, do please feel free to call me anytime.
Righty ho, back to the editing machine for me. I hope you both have a fabulous rest of the week.
Ps Debbie – please feel free to use the info however you think it would help. And if you ever need more, or an audiobook person to chat at your retreat, I’d be more than happy to help (I also know a few Devon based narrators who might make for fascinating speakers at your retreat). I don’t have a database of authors as we traditionally work for the big publishers… but I’d love to start one. My colleague Morrison does a lot of editing for authors who are creating their audiobooks directly, and we are considering moving more into this area in 2023/24”
Neil & team at Ladbroke Audio

See below for contact information for Ladbroke audio.
What a great power-packed interview. Thanks so much to Neil and their amazing team.
Ps fancy coming to one of our retreats? Here is the lineup, more dates to be added. Some tutored, some not.

Nb Just Write Retreats – untutored. Academics & memoirs also welcome. Your own cosy room, like-minded company, be looked after, no chores, get that writing done. All meals provided, hot drinks, afternoon tea/coffee/cake, wine with supper. From £118 per night all in!
Space to write, no distractions, no chores, great Wi-Fi, quaint North Devon village, historic 1600 thatched house. Mini home gym, pretty courtyard/garden, piano, tea & coffee making in each room. Some en suites (they usually go first). Some retreats are nearly full. Check out the link online.
Nb Spaces Sept 25th – WhatsApp Debbie on 07949052208
October 16th and November 21st and February 20th – untutored.
Then roughly one retreat a month, some tutored, some not.
Contact Ladbroke Audio
Finally on the topic of Ladbroke audio, take a look at their quirky little promotion video on YouTube!
How to contact Ladbroke audio
Ladbrokeaudio.com
Spokenworldaudio.com
And sign up for newsletters (here) like this with important information for authors, via our Retreats for You newsletter database.
Audiobooks market size, share and trends report
Click here to find out more about the incredibly fast-growing audiobook market, anticipated to triple or even quadruple in size by 2030.

And you can search many podcasts on different aspects of audiobook production, or buy a how-to guide, from Joanna Penn’s website here.