Looking for a Polish audiobook narrator and wondering how much it costs to record your book in Polish? There's no single flat rate I can quote upfront — the price depends on a few concrete factors. Before you send over your manuscript, here's exactly what shapes the price, how long production takes, and how to prepare your text so the quote comes back fast and accurate.
I price Polish audiobook narration per arkusz wydawniczy ("publishing sheet") — a Polish publishing-industry unit of roughly 40,000 characters with spaces, which works out to about one hour of finished, mastered audio. It's the standard billing unit in Polish publishing — once you know the length of your text, you can estimate the scale of the cost right away.
What determines the price of Polish audiobook narration?
I bill per arkusz wydawniczy (~40,000 characters with spaces ≈ one hour of finished audio) — the longer the book, the more sheets to quote.
A single narrator is a different workload than a multi-cast radio drama, where several characters need to be clearly distinguished by tone and pace.
A guide calls for a calm, clear tone. A novel with dialogue needs acting-level interpretation. Children's books need a warm, expressive voice. Each genre carries a different interpretive workload.
A self-published author distributing on one platform needs a different licence than a publisher planning distribution across several platforms at once — Polish services like Audioteka, Storytel, Legimi and Empik Go, as well as international ones like Audible and Apple Books.
Unlike many agencies, the price per publishing sheet covers everything: recording, editing and mastering. You don't need to find a separate studio or sound engineer.
How long does it take to record a Polish audiobook?
A standard book — around 300 pages, or 8–10 hours of finished audio — usually takes 2 to 4 weeks. That covers studio recording, editing, removing mistakes and breaths, and final mastering. Shorter forms (guides, novellas) are faster — we agree on an exact timeline once I've seen the text.
Voice bank / agency vs. working directly with a Polish narrator
As with other types of recordings, you have two options: an agency (voice bank) or direct contact with the narrator. The first means an extra middleman's commission added to the price and a longer back-and-forth. Working directly cuts that markup and lets us settle interpretation details faster. I cover the differences between these two models in more detail in my guide Looking for a Voice-Over Artist.
How to prepare your manuscript before requesting a quote
- Flag the pronunciation of difficult names — if the Polish text includes foreign names or specialised terms, add a phonetic note in brackets.
- Describe each character for dialogue scenes — a few words on age, temperament or speech pattern for every important character helps me differentiate voices.
- Tell me your planned distribution platforms — whether the audiobook is going to Audioteka, Storytel, or elsewhere affects the scope of the licence in the quote.
- Send the text in an editable format (Word, Google Docs) — makes it easy to leave notes directly on specific passages.
What exactly is included in the price?
- ✅ full post-production — removing mistakes and breaths,
- ✅ mastering and loudness normalization (LUFS/RMS) to the requirements of Audioteka, Storytel, Legimi, Empik Go, Apple Books and podcast services — files pass technical verification without revisions,
- ✅ chapter splitting with correct ID3 tags,
- ✅ corrections of my own mistakes — always free.
Changes you make to the text after recording are quoted separately, based on the length of the pickup.
Listen to sample recordings
Before you commit, hear how I sound narrating in Polish across different genres:
Request a free sample and a quote
Have a finished manuscript, or just an excerpt, ready? Send it over along with the platforms you're planning to publish on. I'll record you a free sample of up to one page, so you can hear your book narrated in Polish before committing to the full production. Find the full offer and FAQ on the Polish audiobook narration page, and I'll usually get back to you with a quote within 24 hours via the quote page.