One of the fastest growing formats in publishing is audiobooks. In 2019, sales in the US totaled 1.2 billion USD, around 16% higher than the previous year. Industry experts say that makes eight years of double-digit revenue growth. So if you haven’t converted your work into an audiobook format, it’s time to start now when more and more tech-savvy people are consuming books frequently.

If you’ve determined to publish your work in audiobook format, the next step — and this is one of the most important — is to determine whether to go the traditional, DIY, or independent publishing route. What’s the difference between these three?

There’s a fair bit of difference but the key ones are these: Traditional publishing companies mostly own the rights and royalties to your work. In self- and independent publishing, you do.

A traditional publisher is usually a big company or conglomerate. An independent publisher is a company that operates on its own, apart from any large corporation. A self-publisher is you doing everything by yourself.

Benefits of Independent Publishing

If owning the rights and royalties to your work does not convince you, here are more advantages to publishing with an independent company:

1. Bibliodiversity - Independent audiobook publishers are willing to take the chance and risk on an audiobook. Traditional audiobook publishers usually rely on authors who are already quite known in their field e.g. professional writers with a history of high sales, A-list actors, famous athletes, and so on.

2. Creative freedom - You have complete autonomy on all decisions and with no restrictions. Independent audiobook publishers are not confined to publishing stories that they think people will consider popular. They simply publish.

3. Help with marketing and sales - Say you’re a first-time author. An independent publisher will give you autonomy over your work but will still provide you with all the help you need every step of the way. They will record the audiobook and when that’s done, they will also help you distribute it on different platforms.

If you self-publish, you’ll have to market your audiobook yourself and find a distributor for it.

4. Profit - As mentioned above, traditional audiobook publishers usually own all or most of the rights and royalties of a book or audiobook. Traditional audiobook publishers typically pay upfront, but when the sales come in, you will only get a small cut of the earnings. In indie publishing, you will shell money out of pocket, but when the sales start to come in, you’ll get a bigger slice of the profits.

5. Professional sound quality - Independent audiobook publishers have a lineup of skilled voice talents, audio engineers, and professional recording booths. By going with an independent publisher, you will have access to all of these. Once your audiobook recording is done, they will also take care of the editing, quality-control, and mastering.

This is also one advantage of going with independent audiobook publishers rather than publishing your work yourself. Not only will you be guided every step of the publishing way, your audiobook will also sound professionally done.

We are independent publishers.

Lantern has vast experience with ADR, sound design, voiceover, audio narration, music, podcasts and client management. We’re also only 1 of 3 US publishers and only 1 of 8 worldwide that's allowed to upload audiobooks on Apple's Book platform.

So if you’re looking for skilled talents, state-of-the-art audio suites, and certified audio engineers and technicians, we’re here for you. We’ll distribute on all online digital retail and library platforms across the globe to help you make that audiobook a success. Send us a message now or email us at contact@lanternaudio.com