If you have a manuscript ready and you are looking for a professional narrator, the first question is always the same: how much is this going to cost? The answer depends on a few things, but it is not as complicated as some agencies make it sound.
Here is what actually affects the price, what you should expect to pay, and where the hidden costs sit.
The short answer
Most professional audiobook narration in the UK is priced per finished hour (PFH). A finished hour is one hour of fully edited, mastered, platform-ready audio. Not one hour in the recording booth.
That distinction matters. One finished hour typically takes three to four hours to produce once you factor in recording, retakes, proofing, editing and mastering. That is why audiobook rates are higher than you might expect if you are comparing them to, say, a 30-second voiceover for a corporate video.
For a detailed breakdown of current UK rates, see our audiobook narration pricing guide.
Why quotes vary so much
You will get wildly different numbers if you ask five different agencies. Here is why:
Narrator experience. An emerging narrator with a strong voice but a shorter track record will charge less than someone who has narrated 50+ titles and can handle complex character work without breaking stride. Both have a place depending on the project.
Genre complexity. A straightforward non-fiction business book is simpler to narrate than a fantasy novel with 12 distinct character voices. The performance demands are different, and the price reflects that.
What is included in the quote. This is where most confusion sits. Some quotes cover recording only. Others include editing, mastering, proofing and delivery to ACX or Audible specifications. Always ask what you are getting before you compare numbers.
Rights and royalties. Some narrators work on a royalty share basis instead of a flat fee. This lowers your upfront cost but means sharing revenue long term. It works for some projects and not others.
The costs people forget about
The narrator fee is the biggest line item, but it is not the only one. Depending on your setup, you may also need to budget for:
Studio time. If the narrator records remotely from a professional home studio, this is usually included in the PFH rate. If you want a managed studio session in London or Birmingham, there is an additional facility cost.
Editing and mastering. If your narrator delivers raw recordings, someone needs to edit them. That means removing mouth clicks, normalising levels, adding chapter markers and ensuring the whole thing meets platform technical requirements.
Proofing. Someone needs to listen to the finished audio against the manuscript to catch mispronunciations, skipped lines and inconsistencies. On a 10-hour book, this is a full day of work.
Retakes and pickups. Most projects need at least one round of corrections. How these are handled and charged varies by narrator and agency.
How to budget for an audiobook project
A rough method: take your manuscript word count, divide by 9,300 (the average words per finished hour for most narration), and multiply by the PFH rate that matches your project scope.
For example, a 75,000-word novel is roughly 8 finished hours. At £250 PFH with full production included, that is around £2,000.
This is an estimate, not a quote. Genre, pacing and production scope all affect the final number. But it gives you a starting point for budget conversations.
When to use a full production agency
If you are an author self-publishing through ACX or a publisher with an established workflow, you may already have a narrator relationship and an editor you trust. In that case, you just need the right voice.
But if you want someone to handle the entire process – casting, recording, editing, mastering, QC and delivery – that is what a production agency does. You hand over the manuscript and get back finished audio files ready to upload.
We offer both options. If you want to browse voices and handle production yourself, explore our roster. If you want end-to-end audiobook production, see how our full service works.
Have a manuscript ready?
Tell us your word count, genre and timeline. We will come back with narrator options and a clear quote.
