Thanks to narrator James Anderson Foster for his permission to republish this information that he originally posted on Facebook.
The ACX Narrator/Producer’s Commandments
- Thou shalt not put thyself forward as a professional audiobook narrator, without actually being qualified and equipped to perform the job to a professional standard.
- Thou shalt not accept a project under 3 hours.
- If you ignore #2, thou shalt not pad, read slowly, or digitally alter your audio to artificially hit the 3-hour mark.
- Thou shalt not take a PFH rate under at least $200-$250, and should reasonably request and expect more.
- Thou shalt not proof thy own work.
- Thou shalt not rely upon the RH to proof.
- Thou shalt not allow the RH to attempt to “direct” you or your acting choices.
- Thou shalt not take a RS project longer than around 9 hours.
- Thou shalt not edit or fix massive grammar mistakes for a crappy book.
- Thou shalt not fall under the faulty mindset that “the RH knows best.” You are the producer. You are the audiobook professional.
Other resources on this topic:
- A few words about Best Practices offers more information and links related to this list.
- Some RS titles longer than 9 hours can pay off very well, especially if you’ve courted the author and brought them to ACX. In general, though, longer books cause you to invest too much time in their production and won’t earn out your fee. It’s important to be selective. This article and this one will help you research and evaluate royalty share titles.
- Look in the Downloadable Training options in the Welcome Center and also work with a coach listed on the spreadsheet found on that page.