4. You can partner with your narrator on a royalty sharing (RS) deal.
This option carries the least out-of-pocket expense for you, but carries significant risk for the narrator, as there is no guaranty of income for them - only the hope of good royalty returns. Narrators must weigh the time they invest in a project against its possible financial return for them. Every narrator has there own criteria for deciding which books constitute a good project for a royalty share deal. Some number-related considerations:
What is the book’s Kindle store ranking at a given moment?
How many reviews has the book garnered compared to how long the book has been available? Are listeners already drawn to other audiobooks this author has produced?
Does the author have a great website? Does the author have a strong social media presence, or any other demonstrable outreach?
It would be nice if there was a solid formula for figuring this out, but really, in the end the numbers matter, the writing quality matters, and the narrator’s gut response matters. Some other factors, too:
Is the cover amazing?
Is this book in a genre that the narrator would like to add to their portfolio?
Does the writing style “click” with how the narrator’s brain works? (How natural will it be to perform?)
If a narrator decides that your book is a good candidate for a RS deal, there are three ways to proceed:
