Inspect every finished format

Confirm audiobook narrator, producer, ISBN, and release date

If there is an audiobook, find out who produces it, who narrates, what its ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is, and when it releases, and record all of it with the other formats.

Conditional (if applicable)Owner: Publisher and Designer or producerYou: AskFreeAll publishing paths

Authors often hire help with this: design or production.

Why it matters

Audiobook listeners are a distinct market, and audio reviewers, award programs, and retailers need the audiobook's own facts. An author who doesn't know the audio ISBN or release date can't promote it, can't check its listings, and may not notice when it goes on sale. If the audio publisher is a different company, you may be the only person tracking both editions together.

Your part

What you do: Ask. Someone else normally owns it. Get an answer, then record it.
Who normally owns it: Publisher and Designer or producer. Publisher or a separate audio publisher produces; author asks and records
When: As soon as an audiobook is scheduled, and again when the narrator, ISBN, or release date is set (Inspect every finished format: as soon as finished copies and final files exist, before launch week)

Your part changes with your publishing route.

How to do it

The full walkthrough

An audiobook is a separate edition with its own producer, narrator, International Standard Book Number (ISBN), metadata, and release date, and it may be published by a different company than the print book. Audio rights are often licensed separately, so the audio publisher may be a specialist you have never spoken to, and the release date may not match the print date.

Start with the rights. Ask your editor or rights contact whether audio rights were retained by the publisher, licensed to another company, or kept by you, and with a hybrid press ask whether audio is in the package at all, at what cost, and whether the rights are yours to license elsewhere. Once you know who is producing the audiobook, get the producer, the narrator's name exactly as it should be credited, the audio ISBN, the release date, and a contact at that company if it is not your print publisher. Contracts vary on whether you have any say in narrator selection, so ask rather than assume. If you are the audio publisher, all of that is yours to decide: the production route, the ISBN, the credit, and the date.

Add the audiobook as a row in the Book Identity Sheet alongside the print and ebook formats.

Common mistakes

Assuming there is no audiobook because nobody mentioned one, when the rights were licensed and a recording is underway.
Not knowing the audio ISBN, so the audiobook is missed in every listing check.
Discovering the narrator's name from the retail page.
Promoting the audiobook for the print release date when it releases later.

Identifiers for Confirm audiobook narrator, producer, ISBN, and release date

Set a status on any record and it joins this step. All book identifiers.

Book and author identifiers
My status	Identifier	Why this matters	Cost	Yours
Not reviewed Learn more	ISBN The International Standard Book Number, printed above the barcode. Most formats sold through the book trade get their own.	Every retailer, wholesaler, and library orders and lists your book by this number, and the title, contributors, format, price, and publication date attached to it are what those systems display, so one wrong detail shows up in many places at once. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally receive the numbers from the publisher and check what is attached to each one. If you publish the book yourself, you buy the numbers and assign them, and you are the one who decides whether your imprint or a platform is recorded as the publisher. Keep one list of every ISBN beside the edition and format it identifies so you can check listings against it.	Free from a traditional publisher. Self-publishers in the United States buy them from Bowker; prices vary by quantity.	Add your ISBN-13

What done looks like

Who holds audio rights and who is producing the recording.
The narrator's name and credit line, and whether the author had input.
The audiobook ISBN and the release date, marked firm or provisional.
A contact at the audio publisher if it differs from the print publisher.
The audiobook listed as its own row in the Book Identity Sheet and in the deadline calendar.

Ask your publisher

Copy this into an email. Replace the bracketed parts with your details.

Hi [Name], is an audiobook of [Book Title] planned or scheduled? If so, could you tell me who is producing it, who the narrator is, what the audiobook ISBN is, and the planned release date? If audio rights were licensed to another company, could you share a contact there? Thank you.

Sources and last checked

Official source: No single official page for this step.
Last checked: Not checked against its source yet.
How confident we are: Verified