Frequently Asked Questions
Below are some common questions answered.
We aim to compete with audiobooks in niches that are already selling for at least $2,500+ USD per month.
We offer authors a fixed 20% commission on gross royalties received by Hillenbrand & Co.
We do not offer any guarantees of sales/commissions. Our interests are aligned when it comes to sales.
No. We will ask you for any book cover graphics or similar you may already have to support consistency and crossover benefits between hardcover promotions that you may do and the audio book promotions we do.
The Production and Distribution Agreement Agreement gives everyone peace of mind that your underlying rights to the book remains with you. You may , at any time, decide to produce audio books in any other language than the language we have agreed on.
We retain production and irrevocable and exclusive worldwide distribution rights to the audio book (english) for at 10 years unless both parties agree to extend. This allows us to invest into the project and its ongoing distribution and marketing activities.
It’s important to note that we do not become your agent.
You may use use the audiobook in your own marketing efforts.
You may access the Production and Distribution Agreement Here
On the how it works page you can see that it takes about 6 weeks to complete the pre and production steps which commences immediately after the License Agreement exists.
It then takes between 30-60 days to submit and be accepted individually on all platforms. During this time various marketing activities is already under way.
Each platform pays royalties at various times ranging from 30-60 days after the end of each month.
It is therefore realistic that the first payment to you will be about 5 months after the project starts.
We take this decision very seriously and it is based on many factors. We first conduct an analysis of similar audiobooks and the narration and importantly the reviews of the narrators. This offers important guidance of what works well. Considerations are specifically given to gender, perceived voice age, accent, tonality, pace, dynamic and overall performance.
The election process normally involves several steps including short listing and auditions based on text in the actual book. We select a narrator at our discretion.
While cost is always a factor we see this as a key required investment and are always focused on achieving the best outcome.
We are prepared to pay for quality.
We do not currently offer this option as we need to remain unbiased in our selection of narrator. Access to approved production technology is also a factor of consideration.