Audiobook Editing Services for Authors, Narrators and Publishers
Proof listening, editing and mastering to the exact values Audible measures — so your book is approved on the first upload.
You recorded your book. Now it has to pass ACX, and that is where most projects stall. We remove retakes, breaths and mouth clicks, clean the noise floor, and master every chapter to spec. Send five minutes of raw audio and we will tell you exactly what yours needs, what it costs, and how long it takes.
Hear the difference
The same passage, as it arrived and as it was delivered. Headphones make the noise floor much easier to hear than laptop speakers.
Raw home recording
Audible background noise, uneven levels, breaths and mouth clicks left in. A file in this state fails the automated ACX check before a human ever hears it.
Edited and mastered
Noise floor stripped without thinning the voice, levels matched chapter to chapter, artefacts removed one at a time, and the whole file mastered inside ACX tolerance.
What audiobook editing actually includes
Most authors think editing means cutting the bad takes. A complete post-production pass has six stages, and skipping any one of them is the usual reason a file comes back.
Proof listening
We listen to the recording against your manuscript and flag every misread, skipped word, mispronunciation and repeated line. This is the step most cheap services quietly drop, and it is the one that catches errors no waveform ever shows.
Editing
Retakes, false starts, long silences, page turns, chair creaks, breaths and mouth clicks are removed by hand — without making the narration sound clipped or unnaturally tight.
Noise reduction
Room hum, HVAC rumble, fan noise and electrical buzz are stripped using spectral repair rather than blanket noise reduction, so your voice keeps its natural body instead of sounding thin or underwater.
Mastering
RMS, peak amplitude and noise floor are brought inside ACX tolerance, and levels are matched from chapter to chapter so a listener never reaches for the volume mid-book.
Formatting and metadata
Files are exported to the platform’s exact specification, named in the order the retailer expects, and tagged with title, author, narrator and chapter data.
Retail sample
A one to five minute clip cut from your strongest passage. On the product page this sample does more selling than the cover, and choosing it well is a judgement call, not an automated crop.
Also included on request: profanity and content compliance checks for retailers that require them, chapter-heading consistency, and a full quality-control listen before delivery. If you also produce episodic audio, our podcast editing service runs on the same workflow.
The ACX standards we master to
These are the values Audible checks automatically the moment you upload. Every file we deliver is measured against all of them before it leaves the studio, then checked by ear.
| Requirement | ACX specification | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| RMS (average loudness) | −23 dB to −18 dB | How loud the narration sits overall |
| Peak amplitude | −3 dB maximum | The loudest single moment in the file |
| Noise floor | −60 dB RMS maximum | Background sound when nobody is speaking |
| Room tone at file start | 0.5 – 1 second | Silence before the first word |
| Room tone at file end | 1 – 5 seconds | Silence after the last word |
| File format | 192 kbps MP3, CBR | Constant bit rate, 44.1 kHz |
| Maximum file length | 120 minutes | Split anything longer |
| Maximum file size | 170 MB | Per uploaded file |
| File structure | One file per chapter | Plus opening and closing credits |
One value out of range means a rejected upload. The narration can be excellent and the file will still bounce. That is why home-recorded books fail so often: the performance is fine, but the noise floor sits at −48 dB instead of −60 dB.
Why ACX rejects audiobooks, and how we fix each one
Five messages account for almost every rejection we see. If you have already had one, forward it with your files and we will fix that specific issue.
Fan, air conditioning, or an untreated room
We strip the noise bed with spectral editing rather than blanket noise reduction, so your voice does not end up thin or underwater.
Chapters recorded on different days
Tone and level are matched across the whole book so it plays as one continuous piece rather than a stack of sessions.
Mouth clicks, lip smacks, page turns
Removed one at a time. This is the slowest part of the job, and the part cheap services skip.
A mastering fix, in the right order
Straightforward, but only once the noise floor is clean. Compressing a noisy file just makes the noise louder.
Added to specification
Correct wording, correct order, correct placement, matched to the retailer you are publishing on.
Send us the message
Forward the exact rejection email along with your files. Most issues are correctable without re-recording a single line.
Publishing somewhere other than ACX?
Every retailer has its own specification, and they do not all match. Tell us where the book is going and we format to that platform rather than handing you a generic master.
| Platform | Loudness target | Noise floor | Delivery format |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACX / Audible | −23 to −18 dB RMS | −60 dB max | 192 kbps MP3, CBR |
| Findaway Voices | −23 to −18 dB RMS | −60 dB max | WAV 44.1 kHz preferred |
| Authors Republic | −23 to −18 dB RMS | −60 dB max | MP3 or WAV |
| Spotify Audiobooks | −19 to −14 LUFS | −60 dB max | WAV or FLAC |
| Kobo Originals | −23 to −18 dB RMS | −60 dB max | MP3 256 kbps |
Specifications change from time to time. We verify against the retailer’s current documentation before every delivery rather than trusting a saved preset.
Audiobook editing pricing
We price by raw recording time, not finished hours, because raw time is the number you actually know before the work starts. No surprise invoice at the end.
Standard
- Editing, cleanup and mastering
- Proof listening included
- Retail sample
- Delivery in 5 days
Premium
- Full production
- Metadata and retail sample
- Two revision rounds
- Delivery in 7 days
How this compares per finished hour
Most of the industry quotes PFH — per finished hour of completed, ready-to-publish audio. Narrators usually record around two hours for every finished hour, so the two numbers are not interchangeable. Here is the market as it stands, and where we sit in it.
| Service | Typical market rate | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Full production | $200 – $400 PFH | Narration, editing, mastering and proofing together |
| Editing and mastering | $90 – $150 PFH | Post-production only, on audio you supply |
| Proof listening only | $15 – $75 PFH | Manuscript check with no audio work |
| Pro Podcast Editing | from $50 PFH | Editing, mastering and proof listening |
Working out your own book in three steps
- Start with your manuscript word count. Exclude anything you will not read aloud — index, references, page furniture.
- Divide by 9,300. That is roughly one finished hour of narration. An 80,000-word novel comes to about 8.6 finished hours.
- Estimate raw time. Most narrators record around two hours per finished hour, so that same book is roughly 17 hours of raw audio.
Send the word count and a five-minute sample and we will convert it into a fixed price rather than a range. Long books, multi-narrator projects and rush turnarounds are quoted individually.
What editing can fix, and what it cannot
Worth saying plainly, because a lot of services will not.
Fixable in post-production
- Steady background noise — fans, air conditioning, computer hum, traffic rumble
- Mouth clicks, lip smacks, plosives, stomach noise and heavy breaths
- Uneven levels between chapters recorded weeks apart
- Long pauses, false starts, page turns and retakes
- RMS, peak and noise floor values outside ACX range
- Light to moderate room reflection
Not fully fixable
- Heavy room echo. Reverb is baked into the recording. It can be reduced, never fully removed, and pushing too hard leaves the voice sounding hollow.
- Clipped or distorted audio. If the signal was recorded too hot, the information is gone. Nothing recovers it.
- Severe mic technique problems. Wildly varying distance from the microphone changes the tone itself, not just the volume.
- A performance that does not work. Pacing and delivery are re-recorded, not repaired.
This is why we ask for a sample first. Five minutes tells us whether your space needs changing before you commit to recording the whole book. That check has saved authors weeks of re-recording, and it costs nothing.
How it works
Send a sample
Five minutes of raw audio is enough for us to hear exactly what the file needs.
Get a fixed quote
Price, turnaround and precisely what we will fix — before you pay anything.
Upload your files
Google Drive, Dropbox or WeTransfer. WAV preferred, but we work with whatever you have.
Editing and proof listening
Chapter by chapter. Chapter one comes back early so you can confirm the direction before we do the whole book.
Mastering and QC
Every file measured against the specification table above, then listened to end to end.
Delivery
Retail-ready files, named and tagged, plus your retail sample. If the retailer flags anything, we fix it at no charge.
Which software or microphone do I need?
It genuinely does not matter what you recorded with. We have worked with files from Audacity, GarageBand, Reaper, Adobe Audition, TwistedWave, and more than one phone backup that turned out fine.
What matters far more than your microphone is your room. A $2,000 microphone in an untreated bedroom will sound worse than a $100 USB mic in a wardrobe full of clothes. Soft surfaces absorb reflections; expensive capsules only capture them more accurately.
If you are still choosing tools, our guide to audio editing software covers the same programs most audiobook narrators end up using.
The kind of books we work on
Different genres bring different editing problems. A thriller and a business book do not need the same treatment, and pricing them identically usually means one of them is being short-changed.
Whatever the genre, the technical bar is the same one in the specification table above. What changes is how much hand-editing it takes to get there. Tell us what the book is and we will say plainly which of the three packages fits.
Who edits your book
REPLACE THIS PARAGRAPH — 100 to 150 words in first person. Your name, how long you have been editing audiobooks, roughly how many titles, which platforms you have delivered to, the software you work in, and why you take proof listening seriously. Then link to your Fiverr profile as third-party proof of the review history. A named human on this page is worth more than another five hundred words of service copy.
More about the studio on our about page.
What our clients say
Authors, narrators and publishers who have released books through this studio.
My narration finally sounds professional
I had a strong narration but the raw files were not consistent. Every chapter was cleaned up, the pacing issues were fixed, and my voice sounds natural and balanced across the whole book. The result met platform standards without losing the personality of the read.Mark DanielsProfessional Audiobook Narrator
Smooth and stress-free production
From the first chapter to the final master, everything was handled professionally. The editing was transparent, the mastering was compliant, and I felt confident releasing my audiobook knowing the technical side was done properly.Sarah EllisSelf-Published Author
Consistent quality across every title
As a publisher, consistency matters most. The same high standard was delivered across multiple audiobooks. Editing was clean, mastering was accurate, and quality control caught issues we would have missed.Michael TurnerAudiobook Publisher
Perfect handling of dual narration
Our audiobook used two narrators and the transitions were handled perfectly. Pacing, tone balance and chapter flow were smooth throughout. The finished audiobook feels immersive and properly produced.Jessica GreenbergAuthor & Audiobook Narrator
Frequently asked questions
The questions authors and narrators ask us most often, answered plainly.
What does an audiobook editing service include?
A complete service covers proof listening against your manuscript, removal of retakes, misreads, long pauses, breaths and mouth clicks, noise reduction, and mastering to the platform’s technical standards. It should also include file formatting, metadata tagging and a retail sample. If a quote does not mention proof listening, it is an editing service rather than a full one.
How much does audiobook editing cost?
Most of the industry quotes per finished hour. Editing and mastering typically runs $90 to $150 PFH, proof listening on its own runs $15 to $75 PFH, and full production including narration runs $200 to $400 PFH.
We price by raw recording time instead — $60 for up to an hour, $200 for up to four hours, $500 for up to ten. That works out from around $50 per finished hour, and it means you know the price before the work starts rather than after.
Do I need professional editing before publishing my audiobook?
Almost always. ACX applies automated technical checks to every upload, and home-recorded narration rarely meets the noise floor and RMS requirements straight out of the box. Professional editing is what stands between a good performance and an approved listing.
Can you edit audiobooks recorded at home?
Yes, and most of what we edit is home-recorded. Room echo, fan noise, inconsistent mic distance and background hum are all fixable in post-production. Send five minutes first and we will tell you honestly whether your recording space needs changing before you commit to the whole book.
How long does audiobook editing take?
Plan for roughly two to four hours of work per finished hour of audio, depending on how clean the raw recording is. A six-hour audiobook typically takes five to seven days. Rush turnaround is available, and we always send chapter one back early so you can confirm the direction before we work through the rest.
My audiobook was rejected by ACX. Can you fix it?
Yes, and it is one of the most common jobs we take. Forward the exact rejection message along with your files. Most rejections come down to noise floor or RMS, and both are correctable in post-production without re-recording a single line.
Can room echo be removed from an audiobook recording?
Light to moderate room reflection can be reduced substantially. Heavy echo cannot be fully removed — reverb is baked into the recording, and pushing the processing too hard leaves the voice sounding hollow and unnatural.
This is the one problem worth solving before you record rather than after. Soft surfaces in the room, or recording inside a wardrobe, will do more than any plugin.
What is proof listening, and do I need it?
Proof listening means someone listens to the finished audio against your written manuscript, word by word, and flags misreads, skipped words, mispronunciations and repeated lines.
It catches the errors no waveform ever shows. A file can be technically perfect and still have the narrator say “casual” where the manuscript says “causal”. Most listener complaints and return requests come from exactly this, not from audio quality.
Will my audiobook meet Audible and ACX requirements after editing?
Yes. Every file is measured against ACX RMS, peak amplitude and noise floor specifications before delivery, then checked by ear from start to finish. If ACX flags anything after submission, we correct it at no charge.
Do you edit for platforms other than ACX?
Yes. Findaway Voices, Authors Republic, Spotify Audiobooks and Kobo each have their own specification, and they do not all match — Spotify measures in LUFS while ACX measures in RMS, for example. Tell us where the book is going and we format to that platform.
What file format should I send you?
WAV at 44.1 kHz is ideal because nothing has been discarded yet. That said, we work with MP3, AIFF, FLAC and whatever your recording software produced. Send the files however is easiest — Google Drive, Dropbox or WeTransfer all work.
Do you also offer podcast editing?
Yes. We handle podcast editing, general audio editing and video editing alongside audiobook work, so authors who also run a show can keep everything with one team and one consistent sound.
Other services and useful reading
Authors who narrate their own books usually have other audio to look after too. Everything below runs through the same studio.
Ready to get your audiobook approved?
Send five minutes of your raw narration. We will tell you what it needs, what it will cost, and how long it will take — with no obligation and no pressure.