Hangar Studios Offers Author-Led Audiobook Production from NYC Studio

How to Plan Your Audiobook: A 2026 Author’s Guide to Recording, Casting, and Delivery

New York, United States – May 15, 2026 / Hangar Studios /

Hangar Studios offers full-service audiobook production for traditionally published authors, independent publishers, and self-publishing authors who want a finished audio edition that meets the technical standards of every major distribution platform. The studio is based at 417 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and has produced audiobooks since 2009.

What full-service audiobook production includes

The studio’s audiobook production covers the full stack: narration coaching for authors who choose to self-narrate, voice casting for authors who do not, recording sessions in the New York booth, editing, mastering to platform loudness specifications, and final file delivery prepared for Audible, Amazon, and Apple Books. Sessions are tracked in Pro Tools.

For authors based outside New York, the studio offers remote audiobook production. Remote sessions are supported by a guest preparation deck and a pre-session tech check call sent in advance.

A planning rule for new authors

A planning rule the production team shares with every new author client: a finished audiobook hour corresponds to roughly 9,000 to 9,500 finished words of source manuscript, depending on the cadence of the voice actor. That math gives authors a realistic estimate of session days before any equipment or coaching conversations begin. A 60,000-word manuscript at the lower cadence works out to roughly six and a half to seven finished hours of audiobook, which translates to four to five recording days for most author-narrators.

Track record

The studio’s audiobook productions include Anne Doyle’s Powering Up: How America’s Women Achievers Become Leaders, Joyce and Kevin O’Brien’s Being Cancer Free, Barb Rentenbach’s I Might Be You: An Exploration of Autism and Connection, and the audiobook companion to Actor / Writer / Whatever, an essay collection from inside the entertainment industry.

A note from the founder

“Authors come in with different starting points,” said Jennifer Chernicky, founder and CEO of Hangar Studios. “Some are ready to narrate on day one. Some need three sessions of coaching first. Some do not want to narrate at all and need us to cast a voice. The production team builds the schedule around the author. We tell them upfront how many studio days the manuscript is actually going to take, so they can budget realistically.”

Session structure

Author-narrators recording at Hangar arrive 15 to 20 minutes before call time for warm-up and equipment check. Standard recording blocks are scheduled in two-hour increments. The studio’s audiobook clients have included memoir authors, business authors, fiction authors, and academic authors across both traditional and independent publishing.

Availability

Authors and publishers evaluating audiobook production can review recent productions and book a discovery call with a producer. Information on audiobook production services is available on the studio’s website.

About Hangar Studios

Hangar Studios is an award-winning podcast, vodcast, and audiobook production company founded in 2009. The studio has produced more than 600 shows for Fortune 500 brands and independent creators across six continents, reaching over 50 million listeners. Hangar is headquartered at 417 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and is the first podcast production company owned and operated by a woman of color.