How long does reading a solo book take?

[AdamBielka]

I was just wondering if there are rules-of-thumb for guessestimating how long it would take reading a book as a solo project when it comes to per-100 page increments or what not.

Up to this point I've done short contributions to smaller works. Personally I've found the older the language, the harder it is, especially if there are lots of foreign language vocabulary going around. What other factors might affect recording time length?

[TriciaG]

It mostly depends on how long it takes you to edit. That - and how many mistakes you make, how much research into pronunciation, etc.

As a general rule of thumb, I figure 150 words per minute of finished recording. (Figuring that out is easier than how many pages, because typeface can be very different.) Then it can take an average of from 3 to 5 times as long to edit, depending on your prowess, how many mistakes you make, how you edit (do you listen all the way through and edit while doing so, or do you somehow cut out mistakes without listening), etc.

So, say a book is 30,000 words (a fairly short novel).
30k words / 150 wpm = 200 minutes of finished recording.
200 minutes to record it perfectly. Then another 200 x (let's say 5) = 1000 minutes for editing
1200 minutes = 20 hours.
so for a 30,000 word book finishing out at about 3 hrs 20 minutes, it's maybe about 20 hours of recording and editing, on the upper end of average. If we figured 3x the length for editing instead, it'd be about 13 hours.

So, for 3 hours 20 minutes, usually around 13-20 hours of work.

QED.

[lurcherlover]

I think very roughly it takes me about 3 weeks to record and edit a 60,000 word book (about 4.5 hours in finished length) - and that involves recording and editing for about 2 hours a day on most days.

[lymiewithpurpose]

You can also spread things out so that it doesn't feel like a ton. My solos I generally did one or two chapters a week and just stretched it out over a month. This made it much easier to manage.

[anneflebari]

I find that a single narrator's voice takes much less time than a novel with lots of characters or accents (less mistakes to re-do!) ALso beware of authors who love long sentences that last for a full paragraph with lots of sub-clauses and brackets...I often get half-way through and realise I'm not making any sense at all or the author meant something completely different to what I thought! I do try to speed read ahead to get an idea of where the plot's going - saves time in the long run, Good luck Anne F

[annise]

The real answer is the same as the question "how long is a bit of string"
There are just so many variables ranging from type of text to type of reader to skill of reader and fussiness of reader.
The fastest reader I ever proof listened for mainly read more modern books and was used to lecturing and appeared to take 30 minutes to read a 30 minute error free section which was then ready to upload.

Anne

[philchenevert]

They always take a bit longer than I thought they were going to take.

[ej400]

When looking at the subject, I think to myself, "well it depends only on how long the book is," but that's the obvious answer. Typically, I try to find out how long 100 words take me, but it also depends on how smoothly the writing is. If it's complex, probably longer, if it's children's fiction, probably much faster. But however long 100 words takes me, is generally how long I can count by. So if 100 words take me a minute, and the book is 50,000 words, I know it would take me 500 minutes, or 8 hours 20 minutes. I could always add about 30 minutes for the librivox intros and outros, and more time if the reading is difficult. So just a general estimation.

[JenniferFour]

I read at about 140 words per minute. It takes me about 5-6 hours of work to get one finished your of audio. Hope this helps.