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This is a question for a friend of mine. She self-published a book several years ago, and recently was contacted by a fairly well-known audiobook company. They wanted to turn her book into an audiobook, and offered her an advance and royalties.

However, we were both googling and could not figure out what would be a reasonable advance/royalties for audiobook rights for a self-published book. Has anyone been in this situation? Any advice?

Congratulations! I wish I had an answer. I'm curious, too, though.

It varies wildly. Get highest royalties possible. Have your lawyer look over the contract before signing.

Ballpark though?
Like is it more on the order of $500? $1000? $5000? Is there a number she should never accept less than?

I did not get any advance for any of my three Audible books. I get 20% royalty. I used ACX.com with a royality share agreement with a producer.

YMMV

Martin's experience is closer to typical for indie books. You make the decision to do an audio book and then either you pay outright for a narrator or do royalty share.

To be approached by a company is something that can either be a dream come true or a total scam. You say they are well known, so that's fantastic. However, that would mean they are likely part of a larger traditional publisher, so you may want to check who the parent company is and research their typical royalty rates.

The book has 300+ reviews and has been fairly successful with a good Amazon rank, so it seems reasonable a company might have scouted it out. But yeah, that was my first thought when she told me about it!

How do you find out the typical royalty rates for a publishing company?

That would probably be something you would want to research. I doubt they are open about their rates, but I'm sure larger publications like Publishers Weekly may have statistics.

You should also see the other titles they produced and contact those authors about their experience.

This seems odd to me. Make very sure that they are legitimate, and that it's not some prank or scam. I'm just thinking that it seems odd for a mainstream publisher to approach an indie author about an audiobook deal. Have others heard of that happening?

Audiobooks take a LOT of time and money to produce, and for a publisher to gamble on a self-published author seems really risky to me. Perhaps with 300 reviews (and certainly way more total reads), the publisher does find this to be a tempting proposition.

Either way, I have no experience in the area, so perhaps someone more knowledgeable can chime in. Just be careful.

I don't think it's a scam because it's an audiobook company I had already heard of, and the person was someone who works there, according to the website.... if there's a scam, it's more just undervaluing the book perhaps....

I have been looking into audio books for my series. Getting advise from those who have done in was beware of this type of scame. What you are describing is what they warned me of happening. Perhaps she should take the ball her self and find an audio producer with a bigger distribution.

Of course I'm a novice a this. Good Luck!

Wow, Janet, that's scary! What is the scam exactly though? Do you have more information on this?