Long
Island
Romance
Writers
Upcoming Workshops
Join LIRW for monthly classes and workshops via Zoom! Most classes are free for members. Non-members may sign-up for classes for a fee by clicking REGISTER below
or emailing longislandromancewriters@gmail.com
September 19, 2026
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Karen White: Publishing Audio on a Budget
Publishing in Audio on a Budget
Or, How to get your books narrated by human professionals without breaking the bank
20+ year veteran of the audiobook industry and indie author Karen White shares her insights and experience in this practical workshop. We’ll cover:
● Paths to Publishing an Audiobook
○ Who owns your audio rights?
○ Working with a dedicated audiobook publisher as a trad or indie author ○ Working with an Audiobook Producer
○ Working directly with SAG-AFTRA (the actors’ union)
● Understanding the production process
● Finding, choosing and hiring narrators
○ Why casting matters and what listeners expect
○ Reasons to work with professional, human narrators
○ The Low Cost - High Value Narrator Unicorn
○ Narrator research
○ What you need to know before approaching a narrator or producer ○ Questions to ask and what they’ll need from you
● Budgeting and payment
○ How to estimate your book’s per finished hours
○ Where your dollars go
○ How to save money by being your own paymaster
● Distribution options overview
○ ACX exclusive vs. Wide
○ Working with aggregators (Author’s Republic, InAudio, Dreamscape Select) ○ Selling on your direct shop
Karen White narrated audiobooks from 1999 - 2022. With more than 400 titles to her credit, she recorded for Audible Studios, Blackstone Audio, Books-on-Tape, Dreamscape, Harper Audio, Hachette Audio, Highbridge Audio, Penguin Random House Audio, and Tantor Audio as well as indie authors and publishers. She’s a multiple winner of Earphones Awards, Publisher’s Weekly and Listening Journal Starred Reviews, and is a three-time Audie Finalist.
She has also worked as a director, proof listener, editor, and casting director for Books-on-Tape and Penguin Random House audio. Since 2022, she’s been working directly with authors to help them decide how and when to publish their books in audio and publishes fiction independently as Karen Grey. Her audiobooks have won an AudioFile Earphones award and were finalists in the Independent Audiobook and Sultry Listeners awards.
Karen served on the Audiobook Publisher's Association PR & Events committee from 2016 -2019 and was Vice Chair of SAG-AFTRA's Audiobook Steering committee from 2012 - 2022. She has appeared on conference panels for the Audiobook Publishers Association, the Virginia Festival of the Book, Romance Writers Association, Booklovers Con, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, Georgia Romance Writers Moonlight & Magnolias, Apollycon, Book Bonanza, Chicago’s Spring Fling, and RT Con. In 2019 she created a new course for the UNC-Wilmington Creative Writing Department, Special Topics in Publishing: Digital Formats.