Help for creating audio via ACX

[Elefteria]

Hi guys,
I just published a Kindle ebook on aromatherapy Holistic Aromatherapy - A Greek healer's quest for a fragrant world. I thought to make an audiobook from it. Is there a chance that you do not pay the narrator, but make an agreement with royalties split? Just wondering, I am completely new to it.

[Marilee]

I wonder if any professional narrator would be willing to do that? I think not.

A professional narrator spends hours and days working on a narration for a book, so I think that person would expect to be paid for the job. Asking them to do it without compensation until you have royalties to share … which may never materialize… seems unlikely to attract anyone, unless of course you can enlist a friend to help you out.

[Dee]

IIRC, there s a royalties option, but I think it still requies a base payment, and then split royalities for sales - but I don't think many narrators would go for that, because they never know how much they are going to make off the book

[Ann]

I did hire a narrator based on royalty split and it worked very well with ACX.
ACX has a list of narrators that are willing to do a royalty share. I listened to all of the narrators willing to do that and chose one that I thought would work well for my book. Then I contacted her and we both signed the contract saying we would do the royalty share for seven years. "The Union of the North and the South" came out in April 2015. I also have a friend that did the same thing for his audio book so I know it is possible and works well.

[Karen]

Greetings, all! I'm a narrator who has done a lot of work through ACX.

ACX does offer a royalty share (RS) option. Since the author is not contributing anything up-front toward the production costs, the narrator has ALL of the risk for low or no sales of the audiobook.

Therefore, more experienced talent will undertake a RS contract only when they have confidence that they will recoup their fee and production costs over time through the royalties.



Along with my talented narrator colleague Ann M. Richardson , I write the InD'ear column about audiobooks in InD'tale Magazine . In her July article , Ann answered many questions authors have about audiobooks. You may have more success in attracting a narrator if you offer a per finished hour rate along with the royalties to mitigate the risk to the narrator.

Coming up in the October issue -- due out at the end of the week -- you'll find my article that explains how maximize your ACX title profile to attract quality auditions.

In the meantime, I invite you to visit and like our Narrators Helping Authors Facebook page . We're transitioning from a Google+ presence and are adding content each day. It has a link to my video Setting Sail Into Audiobooks, in which I offer tips for writing with audio in mind and explain the production process and payment options in ACX.

You may also want to download my Word document Audiobook Resources for Authors . It contains lots of great articles to help you learn about audiobooks and producing through ACX.

I hope this info helps you. Please leave any questions or comments here or on our Facebook page.

Best wishes for your success!


Cordially,
Karen Commins
My audiobooks on Audible

[Bruce]

Γειά σας, Elefteria!

Since your book is non-fiction, you might consider narrating it yourself. You can do that through acx also, but note that the ACX quality requirements are pretty high. If you are not a US or UK person, you'd have to work through a US or UK producer to get your product on Audible through ACX (the ACX contracts are only available to US or UK persons or businesses.