Audiobooks vary widely in length, and there’s not really a set definition for what qualifies as a “short” audiobook or a “long” one.
My definition is: under 4 hours is short, and over 4 hours is long.
Why you might choose to do one over the other depends on a number of things:
- Your vocal stamina
- Your project stamina
- How you want to be paid
- The author/ your enjoyment
Vocal Stamina
How long can you sit in one place and talk without your voice going all croak-y? Or worse, when you go on auto-pilot while reading?
For me, I can record for 2 hours straight before I get the croaks. That’s also about when I start to go cross eyed.
A croaky voice is an obvious problem: you won’t have the range to do different voices (and they’ll sound different than at other parts in the book where your voice was fresh). Your tone may also become annoying to listeners (and yourself). So just stop for an hour, 2 hours, or the rest of the day (whatever your voice requires) and rest your voice.
It’s dangerous to be on auto pilot when you’re narrating and is harder to recognize because the very nature of “zoning out” is that we’re not noticing things. But reading when you’re mentally tired like this leads to boring sounding vocals, misread words, and more work in general because you’ll need to re-record these parts. Your stamina will build over time, so don’t force it. If you notice yourself zoning out, don’t just try to refocus and press on because that will buy you 5 minutes before you zone out again. Just take a break, go visit the outdoors, drink a tea, eat something, then go back and try again later.
Project Stamina
How long can you work on something before you get tired of it? This goes hand-in-hand with your vocal stamina in some areas because if you’re working on a 10 hour book, but you can only record in 30 minute segments, it’s going to take you a much longer time than if you can record in 3 hour segments.
How You Want to be Paid
Audiobooks charge by length. A longer book costs more than a shorter one, thus your royalty is a larger amount when it sells. Or, if you’re getting paid per finished hour, more hours means more pay!
Since my preference is royalties, longer books make more sense. I put in more work now, but I earn royalties forever, so a larger royalty makes it worth it for me.
Something else to keep in mind is that many audiobook listeners subscribe to Audible by paying a monthly fee. This monthly fee gives them 1 audiobook per month regardless of the length. These people want to get their “money’s worth” out of that credit and are more likely to part with it for a longer book.
However, short books are over with more quickly and you can bang out more in a shorter period of time, so their lesser royalties can add up.
The Author/ Your Enjoyment
For me, I do this because I enjoy it AND to make extra money. Sometimes you may just not like an author’s style and it stinks to be stuck in a long book if you realize you’re not a good fit after you’ve already submitted your first 15 minutes. Obviously it’s important to read the whole book before you being recording, but I still get so caught up in the excitement of someone picking me and only me to narrate their book that I don’t pay close enough attention to the writing when I go through it. Instead I get wrapped up in picking character voices.
Your enjoyment is a big part of it. You won’t make working on the book a priority if you’re not enjoying it. Which will make you late on deadlines, or give you a bad reputation, or end up with a bad finished product. All of these things hurt your career as a narrator. It’s better to just make sure that BOTH parties (you AND the author) are emotionally involved in the project.
SUMMARY
In the end, it’s always about your enjoyment. I narrate longer fiction novels because I enjoy character development and having fun with dialogue. My father narrates shorter books because he can complete them quickly, there are more jobs around, and he isn’t interested in performing dialogue.
It’s up to you, but I hope I’ve given you some food for thought.
