Uploading an Audiobook to Voices by INaudio (formerly Findaway Voices): What Authors Should Know Before They Submit

Finishing the audiobook recording is only the beginning. Once the narration for Affair Repair by Dee Tozer was finished, we still had to turn it into something audiobook retailers could actually sell. That meant more than uploading a folder of MP3 files. The audio had to be organized, the chapter names had to match the book, the cover needed a square version, and every piece of metadata had to describe the same title accurately.

That is the part of audiobook publishing authors do not always see. You can have a professionally narrated book that sounds great from beginning to end and still run into distribution problems because the author name is inconsistent, the chapters are out of order, the cover is the wrong shape, or the platform does not have the information it needs.

Voices by INaudio, formerly Findaway Voices, gives authors a way to distribute an audiobook across a wide range of retailers. My setup is simple. I use ACX to publish the Audible edition. Then I use Voices by INaudio for the other platforms, including Spotify, Barnes & Noble, Google Books, Walmart, and many more.

I recorded the actual upload of Affair Repair so you can see where everything goes inside the platform. Some of the screens in the video still use the Findaway Voices name, but the preparation and publishing decisions are what matter most.

Keep Audible and Wide Distribution Separate

The first decision is not which button to press. It is deciding where each version of the audiobook will be distributed.

I use ACX for Audible. I use Voices by INaudio for the wider network of stores and services. Keeping those two paths separate makes it much easier to know where the book was submitted, where changes need to be made, and which account will report the sales.

That means I do not also send the Audible edition through Voices by INaudio when I have already claimed and submitted the book through ACX. Sending the same audiobook to Audible through two different channels can create duplicate submissions, conflicting records, and extra work trying to sort out which distributor controls the listing.

Inside Voices by INaudio, I concentrate on the retailers I am not already reaching through ACX. That includes Spotify, Barnes & Noble, Google Books, Walmart, and the other available retail and library outlets that make sense for the book.

This is one of the biggest advantages of wide audiobook distribution. The author is not limited to one marketplace. Someone may listen through Spotify, buy through Google Books, or discover the title through another store the author would never have uploaded to individually.

The tradeoff is that each retailer receives the information you supply through the distributor. If the title, author name, cover, description, or chapter information is wrong at the beginning, that same problem may be passed along to several different platforms.

It is worth settling the distribution plan before starting the upload. Decide which platform will handle Audible, which platform will handle the rest, and whether any retailer needs to be excluded because the audiobook has already been submitted there another way.

Prepare the Entire Audiobook Before You Sign In

The easiest uploads begin with a complete production folder.

For Affair Repair, I needed the opening credits, each individual chapter, the ending credits, and a retail sample. I also needed the exact table of contents, the existing Amazon listing, the book description, the original cover, the author information, the copyright details, and the narrator information.

Those materials are requested in different parts of the platform. If they are scattered across email attachments, downloads, cloud folders, and unfinished drafts, the upload becomes a stop-and-start project. You fill in two fields, realize you need the subtitle, search for the Amazon page, return to the platform, and then discover that the cover still needs to be resized.

I would rather collect everything first.

The chapter names deserve special attention. Production filenames are often created for the editor rather than the listener. A file may be called Chapter 04 Final Revised, but that does not mean the customer should see that wording in the audiobook menu.

The visible chapter titles should match the book. The order should follow the table of contents, and the spelling and punctuation should be checked before the title is submitted.

During the Affair Repair upload, I used ChatGPT to transcribe chapter names from a screenshot of the table of contents. That saved me from typing each one manually and reduced the chance of introducing a typo. I was not asking AI to rename or reorganize the book. I was using it to transfer information that Dee Tozer had already approved.

That is a practical use of AI during publishing. It can help copy, compare, and organize information, but the manuscript and final book files remain the authority.

Upload Retailer-Ready Audio

Voices by INaudio distributes the audiobook. It does not replace editing, mastering, or quality control.

I prepare audiobook files to the technical standards expected by ACX before I send them anywhere. That includes checking the noise floor, peak levels, RMS, and the amount of room at the beginning and end of each file. Those details are easy to overlook when someone is listening mainly for narration mistakes.

A chapter can sound perfectly acceptable during casual playback and still have a clipped first word, too much silence at the end, background noise between sentences, or inconsistent volume compared with the rest of the book.

Opening and closing credits also need to be treated as part of the finished product. The spoken title and author name should match the cover and metadata. The ending credits should identify the book correctly. The retail sample should begin cleanly and make sense to someone who has not listened to the earlier chapters.

I also prefer to keep each chapter as its own clearly named file. That makes it easier to verify the sequence and replace an individual chapter later if a correction is needed.

The upload screen is not where I want to discover that a chapter was mastered differently, exported under the wrong settings, or accidentally left out. By that point, the files should already be final.

A distributor may accept the file into its system without immediately confirming that every downstream retailer will approve it. That is why I do not treat a successful upload as proof that the audio has passed every review. I check the files before submission and then watch the retailer listings afterward.

Make the Audiobook Cover Look Like the Same Book

Most print and Kindle covers are rectangular. Audiobook covers are square.

For Affair Repair, I started with the existing book cover rather than creating an unrelated design. The audiobook edition still needed to look like Dee Tozer’s book. The title, author name, colors, imagery, and overall feel should remain recognizable when someone sees it in a different store.

The challenge is adapting the artwork without stretching it, cutting off important details, or leaving the original rectangular cover floating inside a square box.

I normally create the audiobook cover at 3000 by 3000 pixels. I resize the original artwork proportionally, keep the important elements centered, and extend the background into the new square area. If the original cover has a textured or illustrated background, the added space needs to blend naturally rather than look pasted on.

I also keep important information away from the edges and corners. Retailers may display badges, controls, or other interface elements over the cover. The title and author name need enough room to remain readable at thumbnail size.

The cover is also part of the audiobook’s identity check. If the cover says Dee Tozer but the metadata uses a different spelling, title, credential, or initial, the distributor may see two versions of the author’s name.

A small variation may not seem important when you already know the book. A retailer does not have that context. It only sees the information it has been given.

The safest approach is to use the same title, subtitle, and author name everywhere. That includes the cover, metadata, opening credits, Amazon listing, and any ISBN information associated with the audiobook.

Metadata Is More Than Filling Empty Boxes

Metadata tells retailers what the audiobook is, who created it, where it belongs, and how customers might find it.

I begin with the book’s existing listing. I copy the title, subtitle, description, and author name from the published edition rather than recreating them from memory. Then I add the narrator, publisher information, language, abridgment status, copyright details, release information, keywords, categories, and pricing.

For Affair Repair, the author name should be entered consistently as Dee Tozer. The narrator is listed separately. The original book copyright and the audiobook production information also need to be entered in the appropriate places.

Keywords should reflect what the book is actually about and what an interested reader may search for. They should add useful information rather than repeat the title several different ways.

Categories need the same care. BISAC categories are the publishing classifications that help retailers decide where a book belongs. The goal is not to choose the broadest or most popular category. It is to choose the most accurate available category for the book.

AI can help suggest keywords or possible BISAC classifications, especially when you provide the description, table of contents, and manuscript. I still review every suggestion. A phrase can sound plausible without being the best match for the book or the options available inside the distributor.

Pricing usually becomes easier once the complete audio has been uploaded because the platform knows the total running time. I look at the suggested range, consider the length and subject of the book, and make a deliberate choice rather than accepting a number without looking at it.

Good metadata does not call attention to itself. It simply gives every retailer a clean, consistent record of the audiobook.

Submission Does Not Mean the Book Is Live Everywhere

Pressing the final submission button sends the audiobook into the next stage. It does not mean every selected retailer will display it immediately.

Different platforms process incoming titles on different schedules. One store may list the audiobook sooner than another. A retailer may also flag an issue that did not prevent the initial upload, such as a metadata mismatch, cover problem, duplicate edition, or technical concern with an audio file.

That is why I do not consider the work finished just because the dashboard accepted the submission.

After submitting, I watch for messages from the distributor, check the project status, and confirm the audiobook on the retailers that were selected. If the title appears on Spotify but not Google Books, for example, that does not automatically mean the original submission failed. It may still be processing through the second retailer.

The account itself also needs to be ready. Payment information and tax details can stop a completed project from moving forward even when the audio, cover, and metadata are correct. Those account requirements are easy to forget because they are not part of producing the book, but they are still part of publishing it.

I also keep the Amazon page available during the process. Even though I use ACX for the Audible edition, the existing book listing remains a useful reference for the exact title, subtitle, description, author name, copyright information, and cover.

The final review should feel familiar. You should be confirming decisions you have already made, not trying to make all of them while the submit button is waiting.

What I Check Before Publishing

Before I send an audiobook to Voices by INaudio, I go through the project from beginning to end.

I confirm that the opening credits, chapters, ending credits, and retail sample are present and in the correct order. I compare the visible chapter names with the table of contents. I check the first and last seconds of every audio file.

Then I compare the cover, metadata, and spoken credits. The title and author name should be identical. The square cover should be readable at a small size, and nothing important should be crowded against the edges.

I review the description, narrator information, publisher details, categories, keywords, copyright information, release date, and pricing. I also verify the distribution selections so Audible is not being included through Voices by INaudio when I have already submitted the title through ACX.

Finally, I confirm that the account’s payment and tax information is complete.

None of those steps is especially complicated on its own. The challenge is that they all have to agree. The audiobook is one product, even though the platform asks for its pieces in several different places.

Make the Upload the Easy Part

While preparing Affair Repair, the actual clicking was not the hard part. The important work was making sure Dee Tozer’s title, author name, chapter order, audio files, square cover, metadata, and distribution plan all matched before the submission went out.

That is the difference between uploading files and publishing an audiobook.

I use ACX for Audible, then Voices by INaudio for the wider distribution network, including Spotify, Barnes & Noble, Google Books, Walmart, and many other outlets. Keeping those routes separate gives me a cleaner process and makes it easier to track where the audiobook was sent.

Authors do not need to memorize every screen inside the platform. The interface will change. The name has already changed from Findaway Voices to Voices by INaudio.

What matters is knowing what needs to be ready before you begin and checking that every part of the audiobook tells the same story.

Through DFY Narration, I help authors handle the entire process, including narration, editing, audio production, cover preparation, metadata, and distribution. I also work with authors who already have finished recordings and only need help preparing and uploading the audiobook.

The upload should be the easy part because the book was prepared correctly before the dashboard ever opened.

About Robert Plank

Robert Plank is an audiobook narrator and publishing specialist who helps authors turn existing books into professionally produced audiobooks.

Through DFY Narration, Robert handles narration, audio editing, technical preparation, audiobook cover conversion, metadata, and distribution. He also works with authors who have already recorded their books but need help preparing the files and publishing them across audiobook platforms.

Robert uses ACX for Audible distribution and Voices by INaudio for wider distribution to platforms including Spotify, Barnes & Noble, Google Books, Walmart, and other retail and library outlets.