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Should You Do ACX Royalty Share?
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- Опубликовано: 5 авг 2024
- Have you been thinking about publishing audiobooks through ACX? Are you wondering what type of ACX audiobook narrator you should go with? And, is the cheapest option of the ACX royalty share worth it?
Find out in this video!
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Question of the day: Is sharing really caring? Should you do the ACX royalty share? Drop your thoughts here.
Also, take a look back at my candid thoughts on ACX and audiobook publishing here: ruclips.net/video/3zZRO1BRL3k/видео.html
I am an indie author who also narrates, and I appreciate the insights you provided on royalty share from an author's perspective. You also touched on some of the work that goes on behind the scenes on the narrator's side, which I appreciated as well. Authors should also be aware that quality narrators invest a great deal of their time, money, and personal resources to bring your book to life. In addition to purchasing decent equipment (computer and audio), they must also create or rent suitable recording space. They may purchase pricey software such as digital audio workstations, plugins, and post-production software. Sure, it's possible to produce an audiobook on the cheap, but you'll hear the difference. On the work side, generally, it can take three to four hours of work to produce one hour of finished audio, and that's if the copy is a moderately easy performance. If there are characterizations or accents involved, it can take longer. So, while you're thinking about the cost to you as an author, it's important to be aware that a $200 PFH rate is really more like paying someone $50 an hour to create your book. If you do a royalty share agreement, your narrator may put in weeks, if not a month or more of full-time work for you with no promise of any pay at all. If your book doesn't sell, or you don't market it, they've wasted their time.
Thanks so much for the detailed comment. 😀👏👍
If a rights holder is offering 7 hours at whatever rate, but the finished hour comes up to only 6 hours, will I get paid for 7 hour or the 6 hours that I actually uploaded?
@@Treasures4Food the six hours.
Great video Dale. I made little money with my book, like 80 bucks monthly, and I wanted to go do the audiobook for free since the beginning. Instead, I waited and saved money to hire a narrator and get the whole money for every sale. I got the money I spend back in like 6 days. Now I do like 500 bucks a month with that single book between the 3 versions (well, for the last 2 months, as the audiobook is pretty new), and we are not counting the bounties, because those are suppose to start appearing after 60 days, right? 500 bucks may not seem much, but in the small mexican town I live in, is more than many people do for 8 hour daily jobs. Of course, I want to keep growing, and Im using that money to ghostwrite more books in different niches and grow my business, I want to make more than 1000 dollars monthly this year.
I'm always impressed by your diehard work ethic, buddy. I'm sooooooo glad you decided to wait and hire out. If you're just starting out at that level, just think where you'll be in the next year if you can create 10-20 more assets like that. Incredible, right?
I was lucky enough to hear everyone say "Don't do royalty split" before I did my first audiobook. You were one of them. So all mine are paid up front.
Trust me, I'm living vicariously through your early successes. If I had that success in my first year, this would be a different story. So glad I could help steer you in the right direction.
@@DaleLRoberts Thanks!
😀👏👍
Great Video Dale! There are definitely Pros and Cons to all the options you mentioned. As a Self-Publisher I look at the Royalty Share option as an Investment (Similar to the Stock Market or US Bonds) after a certain amount of time (7 years) it matures and you can get your money - well with ACX more of your money. I have had both good and bad experience dealing with the RS option.
To find a good narrator takes a serious amount of time, energy, and effort - All of which could be better directed to learning how to narrate your own audiobooks - which I ended up doing. You can find good narrators doing RS but for the most part you get what you pay for. From my experience, not to many RS Narrators will actually promote the books they narrate - They just don't have the time because they have to keep it moving, it's a numbers game when you play the lottery (at that is what these RS Narrators are effectively doing). The More that demand for Audiobooks increase the less that narrators will have time or desire to promote books. How long ago was it that your narrator promoted your book?
Narrators who charge at least $200.00 PFH and above are where you want to start looking if you're going to pay for your audiobook outright. This is a fair starting rate for the narrator. As an Audiobook narrator that is the lowest rate I would accept unless for whatever reason I just really wanted to narrate a particular book. Narrators like myself have invested literally thousands of dollars in creating a studio, not to mention the time and energy to learn the craft. I see a lot of people out there on ACX trying to take advantage of narrators by offering them low rates on books that they plan to bundle or have a good potential to sell well . . . but be warned all who do such things Narrators are getting wise to all of this and across the board pricing for audiobook narration is and will continue to increase as demand for audiobooks increase.
Guys - Don't put the money on the side for PFH Narrators - Invest that money in Yourselves and Learning how to Narrate Audiobooks. Imagine if you never had to pay for a Narrator again and you increased your ACX Royalties by 50% . . . . I can show you how in my upcoming course here: www.fleischmannuniversity.com/pre-launch-sales-page-1
And Dale - You Can Narrate Your Own Audiobook - I will walk you through the process step-by-step - I'll send you over my Quick Start Guide to Narrating Audiobooks. Then you can do a video on how you Narrated your own Audiobook :-)
Talk Soon . . .
God Bless,
Anthony
2 Tim 1:7
anthonyfleischmann.com
Thanks for sharing your insights.
I 100% agree with this video.
It's just like you said in 6:03, if you're strapped on cash then it's probably best to do royalty sharing. On top of that, the Mikkelsen Twins said one of the best times to do Royalty Sharing is when you've translated your e-book/paperback book. And the reason is that you wouldn't want to worry about the expense of paying an ACX audio producer for a translated book that may or may not produce sales.
To me, this makes 100% sense. Mikkelsen Twins, Emeka Ossai, and Dale drop some awesome FREE content. Thanks Dale!!!!
Hey, thanks! I appreciate your insights.
Your voice is actually nice to listen to... you could totally narrate :)
Thanks a million! I need a better recording environment to make it happen. Once I get that nailed down, I’m ready to try.
I've been seeing these commercials or ads about making profits on Audible. In my opinion you can't make that much money they're promising unless you have several books already. And to be honest I haven't really made that much on the few books I do have on Audible. I have worked with narrators and also have done the 50/50 royalty share. I have a narrator I go to, that only takes hourly payments. However, because of budget issues, I had to hold off on doing any audiobooks. I make very little with the books I have on Audible. I have some of my books on world wide and others have the option of expanding to other platforms. I use Find Away voices as well as ACX. I definitely need a better way of getting my work out, though.
Focus on what you can do with the limited resources you have. And, ignore those clowns. Their main purpose is to sell courses, not publish books. They and their followers are here for the short-term and have zero intentions on doing the right thing by the author community.
I think you'd do a good job narrating your audiobooks. You speak at a good pace, very clear and concise.
Thank you for your kind words.
Great thoughts, Dale! Though it was a lot of work to record the entire first book in my new YA series, it was worth it. Fortunately, I've done voiceover for animation and have a degree in theater, so that experience gave me some confidence. But there's always that weird thing we have - who likes listening to their own voice? And when you record your own narration, you hear it, and hear it, and hear it. Still not convinced I won't bore people to tears, but my sound editor is nearly done and then ... We find out. :) To anyone considering recording their own narration...
1) If you've not done much of this before, but you're confident in your vocal capacities, then make sure you're well-rested. It will extend your longevity and protect/preserve your throat.
2) If you have any allergies, start addressing them well before you start your recording sessions. If it's allergy/pollen season, then be taking Flonase or (my preference) Nasacort once every night till congestion isn't a threat.
3) Slate everything (always provide an audio "marker") to denote the day you're recording, the chapter, and if you change studios/locations, note that.
4) Room tone/presence - make sure you are silent and record "the room" for a few seconds in whatever space you're laying down tracks. Audible wants that and your audio editor/mixer will, too. You never know when that room tone will be used in smoothing a necessary edit or losing a click/pop, etc.
5) APPLE JUICE is your friend. It's a fairly well-known thing in the voiceover world... When you arrive at a studio to lay down tracks, you'll often see a ton of apple juice cartons or bottles at the snack bar or guest fridge. Have a little before you start and take a sip every now and then. Smack the sugar away and then get going. Apple juice really helps.
6) Lay down your tracks as many times as you need to. If you feel your energy flagging, STOP. If you're starting to feel less than your best, it will translate to the listener, and that impacts on how they "feel" your story. Take your time and if you even have a tiny hunch you can do a better take, do it. After all, if you're the narrator, you don't have to pay yourself overtime.
This is gold. Thanks so much for sharing. 😀👏👍
My pleasure. You've provided a lot of great insight, expanding my options and sharpening my game plan going forward. Will try to give back a little when appropriate. :)
👏👍😀
Some very good advice NKM.
Thanks, Anthony!
Great video, Dale. Q - Cash aside, which (if I understood correctly) for a 120K word script or 12-hour recording would be $300(+/-), wouldn't a newbie, like yours truly, profit from, not only for the narrator's legwork in promoting the AB, but in the knowledge of how to go about it? As you might assume, I'm as lost as a blind dog in an unattended butchery. Your thoughts shall be most appreciated. Cheers.
A 12-hour audiobook would run $300 if the narrator was bargain basement pricing ($25 per finished hour). If you’re producing that long of a book, you may not find someone that cheap. If you do, kudos! Even more tough is finding a fiction narrator at that price point.
And, the finished hour is typically around 9500 words. That’s how ACX calculates it.
Hello there...hope all is well. Well here's my story. I completed a book on ACX, and it was approved by the Rights Holder. Two days later it was canceled!!! I contacted ACX, and was told that the person claiming to be the rights holder was not the rights holder. The person I spoke to at ACX is saying this is now becoming a prevalent problem...has anyone run into this problem. Please respond!!!
We've talked about this before. Always food for thought!
For sure! Audiobook is a great addition to your product offerings. And, you're going to get even more excited once you see my next 2 videos about ACX. This is an entire playlist series.
Very cool, Dale!
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
I need to find out why I'm not getting all your notifications too.
Definitely, I'll give you my input.
RUclips seems to have an issue with notifying subscribers. Weird 🤷♂️🤣
Great video ! Is there decent software out there that can assist one in doing a narration on your own audiobook ? It may be worth it to test your own narration on a short book, and get outside opinions.
I’ve always heard Audacity is a great go-to. I’ve been using Audacity on my podcast lately and anticipate shifting to audiobooks soon.
@@DaleLRoberts Thank you, I've heard good things about it, but never used it before. Will install it and give it a test run !
Yeah, give it a shot. There’s tons of tutorials on RUclips for Audacity. Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income does a great one for recording podcasts using Audacity. That’ll get you up to speed.
The royalty share is working wonders for me. Sure, I'd have double the amount (Meaning my $1800+ check today would've been $3600+.) And I have no regrets. My narrator's damned awesome. My series is incredibly long and ongoing.
So long as you’re happy, that’s what counts. And, getting a great narrator is a bonus.
@@DaleLRoberts I want to ask about how this works? Do we pay the narrators monthly or ACX shares the profit automatically?
ACX handles payments for the narrators. The only time you pay your narrator is if you’re hiring them per finished hour. So, I’m 50/50 splits, you have no worries about paying the narrator.
Self-Publishing with Dale thank u for your reply
I would like to know if we can end 50-50 royalty share with producer earlier than 7 year and how would it be taken to Acx and get 40% royalty myself.
You can but you need to work out an agreement with the narrator. If the narrator agrees, then you go to ACX.
Here’s the catch: they have to delist your audiobook. Then you can republish it as a new one. You will lose any reviews you had.
And if that book is performing well, anticipate the narrator is going to be asking for top dollar for you to buy them out.
How popular should a novel be to attract audiobook talent to jump in on a royalty share? 10k total book sales? More?
No rank necessary. It just depends on how you approach the deal. I’ve had some books do poorly on print and electronic while crush it on audio. The narrator knew it was a winning title on audio and didn’t hesitate to do it.
Apparently, people are not really heeding this advice. I’ve written and recorded my own book but have also narrated a handful for others through ACX. I’m always scanning through the available auditions. Of the hundreds I have seen I’m betting less than 10 of them have offered the finished rate per hour. The rest are obviously royalty share.
Yeah, it’s a HARD lesson for me and I’m kicking myself for ever doing them. I believe some authors are strapped, impatient and unwilling to bootstrap the funds to hire a good narrator. But, it’s their choice and all I can do is offer the most sensible advice. Hopefully others see your comment too.
It’s a hit and miss thing. Several I have narrated had really low sales but also a few bounties so it worked out decent because the “books” were really short. One that I did three years ago has had a good many sales and a few bounties. There has been a spike in sales for some reason. I’ll probably make $500 off of it this month alone. That one is my star! I love making money off work I did three years ago! My own book didn’t do so well but at least all it costs me was time. I’m going to try again. I was flying blind at that time. Now, I at least THINK I know something!
Haha I think you and I are in the same boat. It’s good we’re learning.
From a prospective of an ACX narrator, well atleast me anyway, unless your e-book has some decent attention on amazon already, I'm not likely to audition for it if it's not PFH, unless it's maybe just a couple hours, and I'm really interested in the story. In a positive light, I do find that some of the Royalty share books have many ratings, and many positive ratings and has a decent amazon sales rank, which is great. I've seen a lot on the other end too though. I see a fair amount of books on the royalty share audition list that have an estimated finished audio of 10+ hours, but no reviews on amazon, no sign of sales. It takes about 5 hours of total work to produce a finished hour. So in that scenario you are literally asking someone to work 50 hours on a book that isn't selling, meaning the audio book version probably won't do that much better and that the narrator will likely not get much out of the amount of effort they have put in. Now the average book is about 3-5 hours estimated audio length, but if you have a real long book and it has yet to find the attention it deserves, can you expect a narrator to risk putting in all that time and effort into a book. This video was talking about risk for the author, but I think there's also risk for a narrator who's trying to make a living from narration.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Right on, Julian! I've narrated 3 audiobooks for royalty share so far. One 4-hr. only sold 2 units. The other two 2.5-hr. have sold 379 units so far in 8 months...now that the author has dumped some money into advertising. Based on a $200 PFH pay scale, those two books are about halfway to paying my production time and effort. Authors HAVE to promote your books!
👍😀👏
Whether an author pays a narrator flat rate or royalty share, authors HAVE TO PROMOTE THEIR BOOKS. Otherwise, they won't sell.
Bingo! I can’t stress this point enough.
I love u no homo no offense
Your Awsome
Thanks! And, no offense taken. I need all the love I can take.
I'm not sure why it's allowed for people to seek narrators/producers for $50-$100 PFH. That boils down to little more than burger-flipping money given the hidden hours that go into completing a polished hour of audio. An attempt to buy a Rolls Royce for chump change. I get that new narrators have to learn their craft, but that doesn't make it ok to have ACX sanction them being financially abused.
Mick Lunney you’re only accounting for US-based narrators. Some are in other regions and what seems small in the US can be much larger abroad.
@@DaleLRoberts Ah, thats OK then, drag everyone down to the basement. Without the western market the whole thing would be dead. I'm surprised you defend it.
They need work too.
@@DaleLRoberts Agreed. Yet 'better than sweatshop work' isn't a credible or decent mentality to justify pittance offerings to the western world, no matter how it's sliced. I hope raising people up can be the aim, not dragging them down.
Thanks for watching and commenting.