Question 1

What does it cost?

Accepted Answer

Three packs, each a flat price per book for up to 10 finished hours. Publisher, $199: a full cast of voices, music and sound effects, and we publish it to Audible, Spotify and 20+ stores for you. Scored, $99: the same production with music, and you get the files to publish yourself. Voiceover, $49: narration only, files to publish yourself. When we send you a sample, it comes with 20% off for 24 hours (Publisher $159).

Question 2

Which pack should I pick: Publisher, Scored or Voiceover?

Accepted Answer

If you want it on Audible, Publisher. Audible's self-serve platform, ACX, does not accept AI narration, so an AI-narrated book reaches Audible only when we publish it for you. Scored and Voiceover suit authors who sell the audio themselves, on their own site, or through a store that takes AI narration. You can upgrade to Publisher later and pay only the difference.

Question 3

What does the $199 include? Any hidden or yearly fees?

Accepted Answer

Narration with up to 5 cast voices, music and sound effects, mastering to store specs, spoken opening and closing credits, and publishing to every store. No yearly fee, no distribution fee, and Lex takes no royalties. The only extras are ones you choose: your own voice clone ($50), more cast voices ($25 per 5), and $20 per finished hour past 10.

Question 4

How long is my book, and what if it runs over 10 hours?

Accepted Answer

A finished hour is about 9,000 words, so 10 hours fits most books up to about 90,000 words. Longer books are $20 per extra hour, and we tell you the exact total before anything is billed.

Question 5

Is there a discount for more than one book?

Accepted Answer

Yes. 20% off every book when you commission three or more, each with its own free sample. The 24-hour 20% that comes with a sample is a one-time offer and isn't reopened.

Question 6

How do I pay? Can I pay in installments?

Accepted Answer

You pay in your private room, by card. US checkout also offers Klarna Pay in 4, so you can split the cost into four payments.

Question 7

Who is Lex? Is this legit?

Accepted Answer

Lex is an audiobook studio run by LexBooks, Inc., a Delaware company. We produce audiobooks for indie authors and publishers and publish them to Audible, Spotify and 20+ stores. You can hear finished books on our showcase.

Question 8

How did you make a sample of my book?

Accepted Answer

From the public Amazon preview of your book (the Look Inside pages). It sits at a private link made for you, and it is never sold or shared. Your book is never used to train any AI model.

Question 9

Is the sample really free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. It's a short passage from your book, free, with no obligation, and yours to keep. Nothing is billed unless you choose a pack in your room.

Question 10

Is it AI or a human narrator?

Accepted Answer

AI voices, yes. The production is made by people: we cast every voice and set the music and sound effects by hand. You listen through the whole book in your private room and send back anything you want fixed.

Question 11

What is a scored audiobook?

Accepted Answer

Narration with a quiet film-style layer underneath: music under key moments, a little ambience, and a few sound effects. The voice always stays on top. Prefer voice only? We take the music out at no charge.

Question 12

Can I hear books you've finished?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Full chapters from finished books are on our showcase, across fiction, nonfiction and children's books.

Question 13

Does Audible accept AI narration? Do I upload it to ACX?

Accepted Answer

ACX takes human narration only, so an AI-narrated book can't be uploaded there. With Publisher you don't upload anything: we publish it to Audible through Lex's own direct agreement with Audible, and to the other stores through our accounts.

Question 14

Which stores, and who does the uploading?

Accepted Answer

We do. Audible, Spotify, Apple Books, Google Play, Kobo, Everand, Audiobooks.com, Chirp, Libro.fm, Storytel, Nextory, BookBeat and more, plus library apps like OverDrive/Libby and Hoopla. We handle the files, cover, metadata, categories and pricing. Your only step is a five-minute payout form for bank and tax details.

Question 15

How long until it's live in stores?

Accepted Answer

Spotify is usually first, often within a few days. Audible takes about 15 business days, and the other stores follow over the next few weeks. Each store lights up in your room as it goes live, and we send you the links.

Question 16

How do royalties work? What's your cut?

Accepted Answer

Lex takes no royalties. The Publisher pack price is the whole Lex fee. On Audible and Spotify you keep the full author share. On every other store the distribution partner keeps 20% of net, deducted before remittance. We forward the rest monthly with a per-store statement.

Question 17

Do I keep my rights? Is it exclusive?

Accepted Answer

You keep your book's rights and own the finished audio. It's non-exclusive, so you're free to sell it anywhere else too.

Question 18

What about my Virtual Voice edition, or KDP Select?

Accepted Answer

Virtual Voice is Amazon's own program, US only. When your Lex audiobook is ready, you unpublish the Virtual Voice edition in KDP and ours replaces it, sold worldwide. In a KDP Select or 90-day term? We make the book now, release it on Audible first, and take it to the other stores the day your term ends.

Question 19

Can readers buy it on Lex itself?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Your audiobook is listed on the Lex Store, where Lex readers buy it and listen in the Lex player. You keep 100% of what a reader pays, less payment processing and tax, paid monthly as its own zero-fee line on your statement. You set the price, it is non-exclusive, and one email delists it within five business days. It is a signed addendum, not a checkbox: if you do not sign, we do not list.

Question 20

How does it work? What happens next?

Accepted Answer

1. Choose a pack in your private room (the link in our email). 2. Upload your manuscript there. 3. We make chapter one, you listen and leave notes. 4. We make the rest of the book on the same voices. 5. You approve it, and we publish it to the stores.

Question 21

What file do I send?

Accepted Answer

Your final manuscript as a Word file, PDF or EPUB. Upload it in your room, or reply to our email with it attached. We narrate the book itself and skip things like the table of contents and copyright page, then add spoken opening and closing credits.

Question 22

How long does it take?

Accepted Answer

Usually chapter one within a day of getting your manuscript, and the full book about a week after that.

Question 23

Can I choose or change the voices?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We cast a voice for each role, and you can swap any of them in your room from our voice library. Publisher includes up to 5 cast voices; more are $25 per 5.

Question 24

Can it be narrated in my own voice?

Accepted Answer

Yes, for $50 on top of your pack. Record 2 to 3 minutes in your browser, and your voice reads the whole book, with our cast, music and publishing around it. Your clone is private and only ever reads your books.

Question 25

Can you get names and invented words right?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Add them to the Glossary in your room, or tell us how they sound. Once a word is fixed, we fix it everywhere in the book and lock it for every later chapter.

Question 26

How do corrections work? Do they cost extra?

Accepted Answer

Corrections are free for 30 days after we deliver. Listen in your room and leave a comment at the moment something is wrong. We fix it and tell you when the new take is up.

Question 27

Can I remove or change the music and sound effects?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Ask for less, different, or none at all, and we change it at no charge. Voice-only audiobooks are common.

Question 28

What do I get at the end?

Accepted Answer

Store-ready MP3s, one per chapter, and the whole book as a single download, yours to keep. With Publisher we also publish it for you.

Question 29

Is my book used to train AI?

Accepted Answer

No. Your text and your audiobook are never used to train, fine-tune or test any AI model, ours or anyone's. That's in our author agreement.

Question 30

Why not make it myself with an AI voice tool?

Accepted Answer

A voice tool gives you a voice. You'd still do the casting, every pronunciation, the music, mastering, store specs and every upload, and ACX won't take it. Lex does all of that and publishes it.

Question 31

How much recording do you need from me?

Accepted Answer

2 to 3 minutes of you reading aloud in a quiet room, recorded in your browser. A podcast or video of you speaking alone, with no music under it, often works too.

Question 32

Who owns the clone of my voice?

Accepted Answer

You keep the rights to your voice. Lex holds a private clone only to produce the audiobooks you ask for. It is never shared, sold, listed in a voice library, or used for anyone else.

Question 33

Can my clone be used for anything else?

Accepted Answer

No. It only reads your books. Not other authors' books, not demos, not ads, and it is never used to train any AI model.

Question 34

Can I have the clone and my recordings deleted?

Accepted Answer

Yes, any time. Email us and we delete the clone and the recordings it was made from.

Question 35

What if the clone doesn't sound like me?

Accepted Answer

Tell us before full production. We re-record or retrain from a cleaner sample until it matches your accent and pace, or cast a voice you approve instead.

Questions authors ask before they send a chapter

Publisher pack and pricing

About Lex and your sample

Audible, stores and royalties

Making your audiobook

Voice cloning

Hear your book before you commit.