{"id":1553,"date":"2013-04-10T23:42:02","date_gmt":"2013-04-11T03:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bonesnap.com\/blog\/?p=1553"},"modified":"2013-05-06T00:47:40","modified_gmt":"2013-05-06T04:47:40","slug":"my-journey-with-acx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bonesnap.com\/blog\/2013\/04\/10\/my-journey-with-acx\/","title":{"rendered":"My Journey with ACX"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ACX\"<\/a>A few months ago in a conversation with a friend, he mentioned that he hadn\u2019t read my book because it wasn\u2019t an Audiobook. This was all in jest. At first thought, I blew it off. My book on Amazon has slowed to a crawl in sales. I was spending a lot of time formatting it to meet EPUB specifications for other markets. Creating an audiobook just seemed like another daunting task. However, it sparked my interest and I started investigating audiobook creation.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve listened to audiobook from iTunes before and that really was the extent of my knowledge on the subject. I did what all writers do when they need to know something \u2013 Google.\u00a0 After a few clicks on the keyboard – I discovered ACX \u2013 The Audiobook Exchange.<\/p>\n

My world opened up.<\/p>\n

The ACX site listed all kinds of intriguing facts about audiobooks. The three tidbits of information that stood out:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The ACX produced 10x more audiobooks in 2012.<\/li>\n
  2. 2353 titles were open for audition and there were 12381 narrator samples.<\/li>\n
  3. iTunes has an exclusive relationship with Audible<\/li>\n
  4. Audiobooks produced through ACX will be pimped on iTunes, Audible, and Amazon.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This information told me that ACX was getting popular and that if I needed a narrator \u2013 I shouldn\u2019t have an issue finding one. The most important part of this information was that I could create an audiobook in on place and it be sent to three different markets.<\/p>\n

    That is awesome!<\/p>\n

    The more I explored ACX the more I was truly amazed at the possibility of creating an audiobook. By far, the most enticing aspect of ACX was the ability to do what they call Royalty Sharing. <\/i>Royalty sharing allows producers and authors to create an audiobook without any upfront costs. When the book sells \u2013 the author and producer shares the profit.<\/p>\n

    I created my account and sent in a W-9 (I think it was a W-9).<\/p>\n

    Working my very first project was a little daunting. I was new to the site and really didn\u2019t understand some of the options that I had to pick. Thank goodness, the ACX provided a plenty of links to answer most of my questions.<\/p>\n

    I will say – the ACX does good walking you through the creation process. ACX even scanned Amazon and found my book and imported its details.<\/p>\n

    However, I will pass off some learning experience in this process.<\/p>\n

    Royalty Share is a blessing and a curse.<\/p>\n

    If your book is hugely popular on other markets and you have a huge social following \u2013 producers have no issue with bidding on your project. They know that the book is a proven performer and they will make money off the audiobook.<\/p>\n

    However, I\u2019m not a hugely successful author. I\u2019m a typical indie author with some moderate sales under my belt. I have a very small social following and limited marketing budget. Producers have to eat too. Taking a royalty share project from a lesser-known author is a gamble.<\/p>\n

    Weeks went by with my project posted under the Royalty Share plan and not a single offer. I finally realized what the issue was and changed my production type to a per hour basis. It didn\u2019t take long before I had a few offers. Now, ACX will estimate the how many voice hours your book will be \u2013 by its word count. My book was estimated at 3.5 hours, which I think might be small. However, it meant if I was willing to pay $50 per hour – my out of pocket cost would be $50 x 3.5 = $175.00<\/p>\n

    I really don\u2019t know the max or min but I believe the majority of producers were in the $50 range. I listened to a narrator by the name of Jonathan Waters and was amazed. I awarded him the project and sent him the full script of my book (pdf version). It took him a few weeks to finish it with minor edits.<\/p>\n

    Once the book is fully completed and approved by ACX \u2013 it took about two weeks to hit the retail outlets.<\/p>\n

    My experience so far \u2013 my audiobook went for sale on 04\/05\/13. Between 04\/05\/13 to 04\/08\/13, I sold 10 copies through Audible, iTunes, and Amazon. Now, this is ground breaking but if you take in consideration that I didn\u2019t market this at all. I posted on my Facebook that I created an audiobook and was amazed that it sold a copy. Other than that, ACX moved 10 copies in 3 days.<\/p>\n

    To me \u2013 this was fantastic!<\/p>\n

    I love ACX!<\/p>\n

    There are a few issues I have that I would like to see addressed. When I sold 10 copies, I wanted to know where and what the reviews were. I had to dig through Audible, Amazon and iTunes (which is a pain in the ass). Links to your book in these other markets would be god-send on the ACX Sales Dashboard.<\/p>\n

    Also, from the ACX Sales Dashboard \u2013 you can\u2019t tell how much money you\u2019ve made.<\/p>\n

    Other than that \u2013 I suggest ACX to everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A few months ago in a conversation with a friend, he mentioned that he hadn\u2019t read my book because it wasn\u2019t an Audiobook. This was all in jest. At first thought, I blew it off. My book on Amazon has slowed to a crawl in sales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t