Last updated 6/10/25

 

I received an email this week from a narrator who is considering making an offer to license the audio rights of a book. They asked me what an industry-standard offer would be.

It seems like a simple question, but it doesn’t have a simple answer.

In 2008 when I first wrote about licensing audio rights, audiobooks were not the mainstream entertainment and hot commodity that they have become. Most books were not produced in audio at that time. A literary agent suggested to me back then that an advance of $1000 might seal the deal.

Even though audio licensing deals are routine these days, an “industry-standard” offer for audio rights still doesn’t exist. It really depends on the skill of the negotiator, the book, the rights holder’s approach, and any competing offers.

Before I continue, let me point out that you will want to research the copyright status of the book. You may discover that books published in the US prior to 1963 are in the Public Domain (PD) or soon will be.

• If you find the book is already Public Domain, you can narrate and publish it now without asking anyone’s permission or owing anyone any form of compensation!
• If it will become Public Domain within a few years, I might approach the RH about hiring me, but I wouldn’t license the rights. Instead, I’d create some sort of reminder no later than June of the year preceding the book’s entry in to the Public Domain.
  • That way, you can record and produce the audiobook so that you are ready to distribute it starting 1 January the following year when the book becomes Public Domain. As an example, my farthest PD entry date at the moment is 1/1/2032, so I know that I’ll be reminded to start recording that book in the summer of 2031.
  • I keep my reminders in Evernote, but you can just as easily add them to your calendar. You could even create a new calendar to track your upcoming Public Domain projects! This article shows a picture of my color-coded calendars in iCloud.
• If the book was published in the US in or after 1964, it’s still copyrighted, so read on.

As a narrator hoping to persuade a rights holder that you should record their copyrighted book, you have 3 options to suggest and negotiate with the audio rights holder:

1. Per Finished Hour (PFH)
2. Royalty Share (RS)
3. Licensing

You must be clear which option you are pursuing and the outcome that you want to achieve BEFORE you contact the rights holder!

This article has more details about finding and contacting the rights holder.

 

[Read more…] about What’s an industry-standard offer for audio rights?