How long does it take to record an audiobook?
Recording an audiobook takes about 4 to 6.2 hours of work per finished hour, roughly 39 to 60 hours for a 90,000-word novel, before review and store approval.
How long does it take to record an audiobook? Recording an audiobook takes about 4 hours of work per finished hour for an experienced narrator and about 6.2 hours once review is included, according to ACX. A 90,000-word novel runs about 9.7 finished hours, so it comes to roughly 39 to 60 hours of work, more for a first-time narrator. Review and store approval add calendar time on top.
The answer depends on who does the work: you, a hired narrator, or AI voices. AudioForge is a production tool that turns a manuscript into a multi-voice audiobook, with a distinct voice for every character.
Below: how long a book is in audio, what the hours go into, a timeline for each route, and what slows a release down.
How long will your audiobook be?
An audiobook of a 90,000-word novel runs about 9.7 finished hours. A finished hour is one hour of the final, edited audiobook a listener hears, and it is the unit narrators and ACX use to measure work and price. ACX is Audible's self-publishing service, the route independent authors use to reach Audible.
ACX's page on how long a narrated audiobook will be says most performers narrate about 9,300 words per hour. Divide your word count by 9,300 to estimate your own book:
- 60,000 words: about 6.5 finished hours
- 90,000 words: about 9.7 finished hours
- 120,000 words: about 12.9 finished hours
Every estimate below starts from that number.
How many hours of work goes into one finished hour?
One finished hour of an audiobook takes about 4 to 6.2 hours of work, according to two ACX help pages.
Recording, editing and reviewing one finished hour takes about 6.2 hours, or about 60 hours for a 90,000-word novel, according to ACX's page on producing and recording your audiobook (dated August 2025):
| Task | Hours per finished hour | For a 90,000-word novel |
|---|---|---|
| Recording | About 2 | About 19 |
| Editing | About 3 | About 29 |
| Reviewing | About 1.2 | About 12 |
| Total | About 6.2 | About 60 |
ACX's page on managing offers (dated September 2025) gives a lower figure for working narrators: about four hours per finished hour, two reading and two editing, which is about 39 hours for the same book. The first page also says new narrators generally take 5 to 7 hours just to record one finished hour, so a first book can run well past 60 hours. Other guides, such as the one cited in our post on how to create an audiobook, put self-narration at 3 to 5 hours per finished hour; ACX's own figures are the more conservative.
Mastering is the final pass that brings every file to the store's technical standard. ACX's audio submission requirements are specific as of November 2026 (page dated April 2026): average loudness (RMS) between -23 dB and -18 dB, peaks no higher than -3 dB, one chapter per file and no file longer than 120 minutes.
How long does each route take for a 90,000-word novel?
Each way of producing an audiobook of a 90,000-word novel spends its time in a different place: narrating yourself costs your hours, hiring a narrator costs calendar weeks, and AI production moves the work to checking and listening.
| Route | Your hands-on time (estimate) | Calendar time before upload | Main wait |
|---|---|---|---|
| Narrate it yourself | About 39 to 60 hours, more as a beginner | About 4 to 6 weeks at 10 hours a week | Your own schedule |
| Hire a narrator on ACX | Reviewing auditions and the sample, then about 10 hours to hear the finished book | Up to 30 days of auditions, the narrator's production time, then your review | The narrator's schedule |
| AI production with AudioForge | About 10 hours to hear the book at least once, plus checking the script and fixing lines | Set by how fast you review each chapter | Your review pass |
The AI route has one limit the others do not: as of November 2026, ACX requires a human narrator unless it has authorized otherwise, so AI audio cannot go to Audible through ACX. If Audible is your main market, a human narrator is the better choice.
The hire-a-narrator steps come from ACX's own rules. ACX's audition page keeps a title open until you accept an offer or 30 days pass. A producer is ACX's term for the narrator or studio that records the book.
Under ACX's production standard terms, you aim to send the manuscript within 3 business days of an accepted offer and to review the 15-minute checkpoint, a first sample you approve before the rest is recorded, within 4 business days. You then aim to review the finished audiobook within 10 business days, after which ACX treats it as approved. ACX's checkpoint page says a producer can usually deliver that sample within a day or two of starting.
In AudioForge, generation runs in the background, so your time goes into the parts that need a person: checking who speaks each line, choosing a voice for each character and listening back. The steps are in the help center, and fixing one line means regenerating only that line, not the chapter.
What slows an audiobook down after recording?
Review and store approval slow an audiobook down after recording, and an author cannot hurry either one.
- ACX's quality check. ACX's audio review page gives no fixed time as of November 2026 and says to contact ACX if a title has been in review for more than a few days. Its last published target, in a 2021 announcement, was sale within 10 business days for titles that meet requirements. ACX's selling page adds that Apple Books may take up to two more business days.
- Distributors. Authors Republic says in its October 2025 self-publishing guide that an audiobook can appear as soon as five days after distributor approval but may take up to 60 days.
- Files that fail the standard. A chapter that misses the loudness or peak limits goes back for another edit and another check. Measuring each file before you upload saves a round trip.
Stores that accept AI narration are listed in where you can publish an AI-narrated audiobook.
How to record an audiobook yourself: how do you plan the time?
Self-narration time for an audiobook is your word count divided by 9,300, multiplied by your hours per finished hour, divided by the hours you can record each week.
- Measure your book. Divide the word count by 9,300 for finished hours.
- Multiply by your rate. Use 6.2 hours per finished hour as a floor for a first book, and about 4 once you are practiced.
- Divide by your weekly hours. At 10 hours a week, a 60-hour job is about six weeks.
- Record a test chapter first. Time the recording and the editing separately, then redo the sum with your real numbers.
If the total is more time than you can spare from writing, the same post on creating an audiobook sets out what hiring a narrator costs.
The bottom line
Recording an audiobook takes about 4 to 6.2 hours of work per finished hour, or roughly 39 to 60 hours for a 90,000-word novel, and review and store approval add days to weeks after that. Narrating it yourself costs your time, hiring a narrator costs calendar weeks, and AI production turns the job into checking and listening. AudioForge is free during early access, so add one chapter and compare two voices for your lead character, following the steps in the help center.
FAQ
How many hours does it take to record one hour of an audiobook?
One finished hour of an audiobook takes about 2 hours to record and about 6.2 hours in total with editing and review, according to ACX's help pages as of November 2026. ACX says experienced narrators average about 4 hours of reading and editing per finished hour, while new narrators can take 5 to 7 hours just to record one.
How long is the audiobook of a 90,000-word novel?
The audiobook of a 90,000-word novel runs about 9.7 finished hours. ACX says most performers narrate about 9,300 words per hour, and 90,000 divided by 9,300 is 9.68.
How long does ACX take to review an audiobook?
ACX's audio review has no fixed length on its current help page, which says to contact ACX if a title has been in review for more than a few days, as of November 2026. ACX's last published target, from 2021, was to put titles that meet its requirements on sale within 10 business days.
How long does it take to record an audiobook yourself?
Recording an audiobook yourself takes about 39 to 60 hours of work for a 90,000-word novel, using ACX's figures of 4 to 6.2 hours per finished hour. At 10 hours a week, that is about 4 to 6 weeks. A first-time narrator should expect longer, because ACX says new narrators take 5 to 7 hours just to record one finished hour.
