Introduction
This audiobook calculator does two jobs in one tool. If you write or publish books, it tells you what narration will cost. If you listen to audiobooks, it tells you how long the rest of the book will take and when you will finish.
The narration cost estimator turns your word count into finished audio hours. It uses ACX's estimate that most performers narrate about 9,300 words per hour.1 Then it multiplies those hours by your narrator's per finished hour (PFH) rate. You also get an estimate of studio time and how many recording sessions the project may need.
The listening progress planner works from the book's total length and how far you have listened. Pick your playback speed, from 0.5× up to 4×, and enter how many minutes you can listen each day. The tool shows your remaining time, how much time faster speed saves you, the days you need, and your finish date. If you have a deadline, it also shows the slowest speed that still gets you done in time.
Both tools show the full math, step by step, plus charts. Change any number and the results update right away.
How to use our Audiobook Calculator
This audiobook calculator has two parts. Fill in your book details to see narration cost, finished hours, and studio time. Fill in your listening details to see how much time is left, how many days you need, and the date you will finish.
Book Word Count: Type the number of words in your book. Count only the main text, not the extra pages. You can also tap a quick button like Novel or Novella.
Narrator Rate (Per Finished Hour): Type what the narrator charges for each finished hour of audio. Or tap a tier button, such as Budget or Premium, to fill it in fast.
Total Audiobook Length: Enter the full length of the audiobook in hours and minutes. Your app or the book page shows this number.
How Far You've Listened: Enter your current spot in the book in hours and minutes. This must be less than the total length.
Playback Speed: Drag the slider to the speed you listen at, from 0.5× to 4×. The speed only changes the part you have not heard yet.
How Many Minutes Per Day Can You Listen: Type how many minutes you listen on a normal day. This sets your finish date.
Days Until Your Deadline: Type how many days you have left. Leave it blank if you have no deadline, and the tool will just show how long the book will take.
Your Deadline Date: You do not fill this in. The tool adds your days to today's date and shows the calendar date for you.
Audiobooks: How Length, Cost, and Speed Work
An audiobook is a book read out loud and recorded. Two groups care about audiobook math: the people who make them, and the people who listen to them. Both sides come down to one thing: time.
Finished Hours: The Key Number
A "finished hour" is one hour of clean, edited audio that a listener actually hears. It is not one hour of studio work. Narrators read about 9,300 words per finished hour at a normal, easy-to-follow pace.1 So an 80,000-word novel turns into roughly 8.6 hours of audio. That works out to about 155 words a minute. Audiobooks are generally spoken at 140 to 180 words a minute.3 You can check your own out-loud pace with the WPM Calculator.
What Narration Costs
Most narrators charge a PFH rate, short for "per finished hour." You multiply the finished hours by that rate to get your cost. ACX estimates industry-standard rates for retail-ready production at roughly $200 PFH for narration and another $200 PFH for post-production (editing, QC, mixing and mastering).2 The quick-select tiers in the calculator run from $150 to $500. A higher rate usually buys better acting, cleaner sound, and fewer fixes later.
Studio Time and Timelines
Recording takes much longer than the final audio. ACX says it can take about four hours of work to produce one hour of finished audio: about two hours reading in the booth and another two to three hours editing, mixing and mastering.2 This calculator plans a more cautious 6 studio hours for every 1 finished hour, to leave room for prep, retakes and pickup lines. Since most narrators only record about 4 strong hours a day, a full novel often needs many sessions spread over weeks.
Playback Speed for Listeners
Listening apps let you speed up the voice. At 1.5×, a 12-hour book takes 8 hours. At 2×, it takes 6. The math is simple: divide the remaining time by the speed. One important note: speed only changes the part you have not heard yet. Time already spent listening does not shrink.
Research reviewed by Brysbaert found that listening comprehension declines slowly as the word rate rises until about 275 words a minute, and faster after that.3 For a narrator at about 155 words a minute, that point is near 1.75×. Speeds above 2× work better for simple nonfiction than for novels with lots of characters and voices. If you have a due date, like a book club or a library loan, you can work backward: take the audio you have left, divide by the minutes you can listen each day, and see if you need to bump up the speed.
Quick Facts
- 9,300 words ≈ 1 finished hour of audio.1
- 1 finished hour ≈ 6 hours in the studio in this calculator's plan.
- Cost = finished hours × the narrator's hourly rate
- Remaining listen time = time left ÷ playback speed
- Count only the main text, and skip copyright pages, previews, and book lists
- Progress through a book is a simple share of the whole. See the Percentage Calculator for the same math in other settings