Free tool

Word count to audiobook length calculator

Paste your manuscript word count and see how many hours of audio it produces — at the narration speed used by professional audiobook narrators and Audible's ACX guidelines. Then pick the Audibloom plan that fits.

Industry-standard 155 wpm
Used by ACX, Audible, narrators
No signup required
Audio runtime
8h 36m
516 minutes total
Recommended plan
Author Pro
$39 / month
Start with Author Pro
You'll save vs. human narrator
~$2,151
ACX rate of $250/finished hour
Why 155 words per minute?

ACX, Audible, and most professional audiobook narrators target 150–160 wpm for fiction and 140–155 wpm for non-fiction. Audibloom's voices are tuned to the same pacing.

The math

Audio minutes = word count ÷ words-per-minute. A typical 80,000-word novel ≈ 8.6 hours of finished audio at 155 wpm.

Calculate, then ship

Now that you know the runtime, pick a plan and start generating in beta.

FAQ

Questions, answered

Why does my book's runtime depend on words per minute?

Audiobook narration speed varies by genre. Fiction is typically delivered at 150–160 wpm; non-fiction and academic at 140–150 wpm; children's books at 160–170 wpm. We default to 155 wpm because that's the ACX sweet spot for fiction.

How do I count words in my manuscript?

In Word, use Tools → Word Count. In Google Docs, Tools → Word count. Most writing apps (Scrivener, Pages) display word count in the status bar. KDP also shows the word count of your published EPUB in your Bookshelf.

How accurate is this estimate?

Within ~3–5% of final runtime. Final audio length depends on character voices, pause shaping, and silence padding for ACX compliance. The estimate is reliable for plan selection.

Can my plan handle a longer book?

Yes. If your book exceeds your plan's monthly hours, the Per-book Pack ($29) covers any single book up to 12 hours. For longer or multi-volume works, Studio (30 hours/month) is the better fit.