How Long Does It Take to Make an Audiobook? (2026)

Most audiobooks take about 2 to 3 months from the day you post the book to the day it's in stores. Recording is the biggest part: about 4 to 6 weeks for a book under 50,000 words. Before that, casting and a 15-minute sample take about 2 weeks. After it, checks and store approval take another 3 to 5 weeks.

Below is every stage, how long each one really takes, what the numbers look like for your book's length, and a worked example with real dates, so you can plan a launch around it.

How long does it take to make an audiobook, stage by stage?

An audiobook moves through five stages. Here is how long each one takes on Academy Voices, where you post your book, hear auditions from real narrators and approve the work before anything is published.

The audiobook timeline, from posting your book to the stores

Stage	What happens	How long
Auditions	Narrators read a short passage. You pick a voice and send an offer.	About 1 week
Sample	Your narrator records the first 15 minutes. You approve it or ask for changes.	About 1 week
Recording	The whole book is narrated, edited and proofed against your manuscript.	4 to 6 weeks under 50,000 words
Checks and mastering	We check every file against retailer specs and master the audio.	About 1 week
Stores	Retailers and libraries review and list the book.	2 to 4 weeks, some faster
Total		Usually 2 to 3 months

Longer books get a recording date agreed up front. Store times vary by store, and a few take longer.

The two stages you control are the first two. Pick a narrator quickly and give clear feedback on the sample, and you take a week or more off the total.

How long will my audiobook be?

Before you can plan the schedule, you need the length. ACX, Audible's audiobook marketplace, puts the average at 9,300 words per finished hour. Divide your word count by 9,300 and you have a close estimate. A finished hour is one hour of the final audiobook, the way a listener hears it.

Book length and the time it takes to record

Word count	Finished length	Narrator work (about 5 hours per finished hour)
30,000	About 3.2 hours	About 16 hours
50,000	About 5.4 hours	About 27 hours
60,000	About 6.5 hours	About 33 hours
80,000	About 8.6 hours	About 43 hours
100,000	About 10.8 hours	About 54 hours

Finished length uses ACX's 9,300 words per hour. Pace varies: a thriller reads faster than a book full of dialogue and accents.

Your narrator's pace changes the result a little. Fast, plain prose runs shorter. A book with lots of characters, accents or pauses runs longer. Use the number as a planning figure, not a promise.

How many hours does it take to record one finished hour?

Far more than one. An experienced narrator who edits their own audio usually spends about 4 to 6 hours of work on each finished hour. First-timers take longer, and ACX puts it at 5 to 7 hours for most producers. Pozotron, which makes proofing software for narrators, breaks a similar total down step by step in its realistic production timeline:

Reading and prep: 1 to 2 hours per finished hour. The narrator reads the book, marks the characters and looks up every name and word they can't pronounce.
Recording: 2 to 3 hours per finished hour, with retakes and breaks.
Editing and proofing: several hours more. Someone listens to every word against the manuscript, cuts mistakes and breaths, and marks lines to re-record.
Pickups: the narrator re-records the lines that were wrong and they're edited back in.
Mastering: the files are leveled so every chapter sounds the same and meets the retailers' audio specs.

So a 6.5-hour book is roughly 26 to 39 hours of skilled work. That's the main reason recording is measured in weeks.

Why recording takes weeks, not days

A voice is a muscle. Most narrators rarely record more than 1 to 2 finished hours a day. Push past that and the voice tires, the tone drifts and the retakes pile up, which costs more time than it saves.

Most working narrators also have more than one project going, and they need quiet. Traffic, lawn mowers and a dog next door all stop a session. Then the edit and proof take as long as the recording, or longer. Put together, 4 to 6 weeks for a book under 50,000 words is a steady, realistic pace. We agree a date with longer books before recording starts, so you know when to expect it.

How long do Audible, Apple and the other stores take?

Once the finished audiobook is sent out, each store reviews it on its own clock.

Audible through ACX: ACX's quality review can take up to 10 business days. If it finds a problem and the files are sent again, those 10 days start over. After it passes, ACX says the book posts to Audible and Amazon within about 10 business days, and to Apple Books faster.
Wide distribution: Authors Republic, the distributor we use for stores and libraries, says a title can go on sale anywhere from about 5 to 60 business days after it's sent, because each store runs its own approval. In our experience most of the big stores list a book in 2 to 4 weeks.

This is why our files go through our own checks before they're sent. A rejected file costs you the review time twice.

A worked example: a 60,000-word novel, with dates

Here is a realistic plan for a 60,000-word novel, about 6.5 finished hours, posted on a Monday in early November. It's over 50,000 words, so the recording date is agreed with the narrator up front. We've used 6 weeks.

Example timeline for a 60,000-word novel

Date	Step
Mon, Nov 2	Book posted. Auditions open.
Mon, Nov 9	Auditions close. You pick a narrator and send the offer.
Mon, Nov 16	You approve the 15-minute sample.
Mon, Dec 28	Recording, editing and proofing finished. You listen and approve.
Mon, Jan 4	Our checks and mastering done. The book goes to the stores.
Jan 11 to Feb 1	Most stores list it.

Holidays, a busy narrator or slow feedback can push any step back a week. Plan your launch for the end of the range, not the start.

About 3 months from posting to the stores, with the holidays in the middle. Start in early September instead and the same book can be on sale before Christmas.

What slows an audiobook down, and how to keep it moving

Most delays come from a handful of things, and most of them are easy to prevent.

Waiting to choose. Auditions are waiting for you. Listen the week they arrive and send your offer.
Vague feedback on the sample. Say exactly what to change: pace, a character's voice, a name. A clear note costs one round. A vague one costs three.
Unknown names and words. Send a pronunciation list with the manuscript, especially for fantasy names, places and foreign phrases. It saves pickups later.
Manuscript changes mid-recording. Lock the text before recording starts. Every edit after that means re-recording.
Long books on royalty share. With royalty share the narrator is paid from future sales instead of up front, so long royalty share books can take longer to cast. Paying per finished hour, or a small payment on top of royalties, usually brings more auditions faster.
Rejected files. A file that fails a store's specs restarts that store's review. That's why every file is checked before it leaves us.

How long it takes to narrate your own audiobook

Reading your own book is a real option, especially for memoir and nonfiction. Plan on more time than you think. Scribe Media, an author services company, says a 60,000-word book takes about 20 hours of studio time, usually three six-hour sessions, before editing and mastering. In your first home setup, add time to treat a room, learn your recording software and redo early chapters once your sound settles.

If you record it yourself, you can still sell it with us. Finished audiobooks read by a real person can be listed in our store, and if you want stores and libraries too, we can publish it for you.

What you do at each stage

Most of the work is the narrator's, but a few steps are yours, and each one keeps the clock moving.

Before auditions: upload the final manuscript, a short passage for narrators to read, and a note on the voice you hear for the book: age, accent, tone. The clearer the note, the closer the auditions.
During auditions: listen to each one in full, not just the first line. Narrators often settle in after a few sentences.
At the sample: listen with the manuscript open. Check names, pace and the main characters' voices. This is the cheapest moment to change anything.
During recording: answer your narrator's questions within a day or two. A narrator stuck on one name can lose a whole session.
At the finish: listen to the final audio and approve it. Then it goes to our checks and out to the stores.

How to plan your launch around the timeline

Work backward from the date you want the audiobook on sale.

Want it with a new book's release? Post the audiobook about 3 months before launch day.
Want it for a season or a holiday? Start 3 to 4 months ahead. Stores slow down around the end of the year.
Running a series? Post book one first and keep the same narrator for the rest, so each book after the first goes faster.

Not sure what it will cost alongside the time? Read how much it costs to make an audiobook, with a worked example for a 60,000-word book.

Questions authors ask about audiobook timelines

How long does it take to make an audiobook?

Usually 2 to 3 months from posting the book to seeing it in stores. Recording is 4 to 6 weeks for a book under 50,000 words. Casting and the sample take about 2 weeks, and stores take a few days to a few weeks.

How long does it take to record an audiobook?

About 4 to 6 hours of work for every finished hour for an experienced narrator, and more for a first-timer. For a 60,000-word book that's around 26 to 39 hours of recording, editing and proofing, spread over several weeks.

How many words is a one-hour audiobook?

About 9,300 words. Divide your word count by 9,300 to estimate the finished length.

How long does ACX take to approve an audiobook?

Up to 10 business days for the quality review, then up to about 10 business days more to post on Audible and Amazon. If the files are rejected and sent again, the review starts over.

Can I get my audiobook made faster?

Yes, within limits. Choose a narrator the week auditions arrive, give clear notes on the sample and send a pronunciation list. Shorter books are faster too. What you can't rush is the narrator's voice: 1 to 2 finished hours a day is a healthy pace.

Is every narrator a real person?

Yes. Every Academy Voices audiobook is performed by a real person, in their own voice. That's what our Certified Human Voice badge means.

Ready to start the clock? See how it works, post your book for free and hear auditions from real narrators within about a week. You can also browse our narrators first.

Review and listing times are from ACX and Authors Republic, and our own timeline is from our site, as of October 2026. We'll update this post if they change.