Sections to record

Best Practices

If you are producing the audiobook in addition to narrating it, you should NOT hold the view that “the customer is always right.”

Many authors have not listened to audiobooks and are not aware of industry norms. When working with an author, it’s up to you to guide them correctly.

You should listen to many, MANY titles produced by big audiobook publishers to hear and learn standard practices for all phases of production. A good place to start your education is with the titles reviewed in AudioFile Magazine. For instance, I have heard ending credits that mention the director, producer, and sometimes even recording studio for the production. Certain publishers will include their web site. However, I have never heard ending credits include the author’s bio or other books.

You may ask producers and publishers if they have a style guide, which may include information about sections to record as well as specifics that the publisher uses for consistency across titles. For instance, a publisher may dictate whether you should say the word “Chapter” when the text only indicates a number or name for the chapter heading.

However, major audio publishers don’t always specify the sections they expect to be in the finished audiobook. If no style guide is available and you’re self-directing, use this chart and the notes below it to determine the parts of the book that you should record.

A PDF document for screen readers is available at this link.

	Always	Usually	Sometimes	Rarely	Never
Opening Credits (AKA Intro)	✔
Praise for book or author					✔
Table of Contents					✔
Glossary				✔
Cast of characters					✔
Dedication			✔
Acknowledgements					✔
Preface/Introduction		✔
Foreword		✔
Author’s Note				✔
Prologue	✔
Epigraph		✔
Text word-for-word	✔
Dialogue attributions (he said, she said)	✔
Reference material (charts, graphs, appendices. etc.)			✔
Epilogue	✔
Footnotes				✔
Endnotes				✔
Bibliography					✔
Index					✔
Author’s Bio					✔
Book Endorsements					✔
Closing Credits (AKA Outro)	✔

Notes:

These guidelines apply to retail products. If you are narrating for an organization that produces recordings that are fully accessible for the visually-impaired, you may be instructed to read the bibliography and other sections that are not normally included.

The opening and closing credits are supplied by the rights holder.

On a multicast recording, you would say all of the narrators’ names in both the opening and closing credits. You wouldn’t say the parts they played. That information is sometimes listed in the audiobook’s description as shown in this example.

In the end credits, you can also say “Original music by Whomever”, “Engineered by SoAndSo” along with the author and narrator. It’s entirely proper to add these people to the credits.

If the rights holder wants the dedication included, it would be recorded at the head of the file after the opening credits, which is typically chapter one in fiction books. You would not re-write the dedication but simply read the words as written.

When the Foreword, Preface, or Introduction morph into Acknowledgements, the entire section may be omitted in the audiobook. The practice is to read all or none of these sections.

If the epigraph or any part of the book contains lyrics to a copyrighted song, you should review Can I sing the lyrics printed in the book? before including those lyrics in the audiobook.

The narrator is not the editor! The rights holder should provide a finished manuscript that is ready to be recorded. In some non-fiction books, the narrator may be asked to extemporaneously describe charts and graphs that appear as reference material. Doing so requires extra skill and time. You may be able to negotiate a higher rater depending on the amount of description that you must supply.

While glossaries usually are not read, the narrator may need to include them in sci-fi or other books where the author made up terms.

You could suggest to the rights holder that they should create a PDF of the reference material that accompanies the audiobook. You then would say things like “See chart E on page 22 of the reference PDF.” Ideally, the rights holder would include a script of these deviations from a word-for-word reading of the text. You could refer rights holders to this guide that shows how to create the companion PDF and this info from ACX/Audible about submitting it.

Footnotes and endnotes also are rarely recorded. As the director, you can choose to include one or more that contain an interesting fact, but you would not be obligated to say all of them. To aid listener comprehension, you would read them in or after the line with the citation, indicating that the info came from the foot/endnote.

Previews of the next book should not be recorded for 2 reasons:

You may not be the narrator of the next book.
More importantly, as author Isobel Starling noted in a FB discussion (quoted with her permission):

Listeners don’t like sneak peeks in audiobooks. They choose audio based on the length — and audios are priced on length. If an audiobook has chapter one of the next book in a series, that addition artificially inflates the running time. Listeners feel cheated to find out the story isn’t as long as they were led to believe.

How to say numbers and mathematical symbols and equations

How to Say It

Thanks to narrator Kyle Tait for his permission to reprint the explanations he originally wrote on Facebook.

If the text is overflowing with mathematical expressions that would make the audiobook difficult to follow, you may suggest to the rights holder that they move the math examples to a companion PDF and re-word the recording manuscript to refer to the PDF. The Sections to Record page includes links to help the RH create and submit such a PDF.

Preliminary Notes

Read your math translation very slowly so the listener can follow along. Remember in audio, you need to clarify somehow what’s in parentheses, etc. The order of operations doesn’t hold up well in audio.

Also, in equations that have both the capital and lower case versions of a variable, make sure that you specify that.

For example:

A = ax^2 + bx + c

A and a are different variables, so you’ll need to say “capital a” and “lowercase a”.

The best way to show you how to say mathematical equations and symbols is through several case studies.

Case Studies

Example 1

is read as:

“T equals the fraction one over r, times the natural log of the fraction with numerator C and denominator C minus W R”.

Example 2

The triangle is read “Delta”.

The squiggly X is the greek letter Chi (pronounced kī).

So the first highlighted section is read as:

“Delta kī squared equals one hundred sixty five point five eight, delta df equals 2, with a p value less than .001”

(They’re talking about a statistical study here, so the “p value” is a common thing discussed, it shows statistical significance, which you can read about here, if you’re so inclined.)

The next two, of course, are read “kī squared” and “df”

The acronym RMSEA is read letter-by-letter, R-M-S-E-A.

The bottom two highlights are read “r equals point one two, with a p value less than .05”, and “r equals point five nine, with a p value less than .01”.

Example 3

The mathematical parts are read as:

“2 point 99792458 times 10 to the 8th power meters per second”

“1 point 602176634 times 10 to the negative 19th power COO-lombs”

h with a line through its stem is pronounced “h bar”.

Planck is pronounced plahnk.

The value for h in the third bullet is actually a typo. It should be an x, not a c, for multiplication. “1.0546x10…”

J.S is pronounced jewel seconds

“Alpha equals the fraction with numerator e-squared and denominator h-bar times c.”

A -1 in the superscript is pronounced just “a to the negative first power”.

Example 4

The difference between them is statistically significant (B = 2.35, p < .05, EXP(B)=10.50).

This is a statistical test. I (Kyle) would say the entire parenthetical:
“B equals 2.35 for a p value less than point zero five, and the exponential function of B equals 10.50.”

Should I slate my audition?

Auditions/Career

“Slating an audition” refers to saying your name at the beginning of the recording.

Unlike theater or commercial VO auditions that require actors to slate their name and possibly role, audiobook auditions don’t need slates unless the audition instructions specifically ask for one.

The reverse is also true: In those infrequent occasions where the instructions tell you to add a slate, be sure to say only your first and last name. You would not say the name of the book or author or offer any other information that was not requested.

Remember, the audition is the job interview.

Let the first thing they hear be what they want to hear — the actual audition.

In addition to showcasing how you would interpret the text, your recording also demonstrates 2 other key points:

You know how to follow instructions.
You have respect for the person who is listening to the auditions. You don’t waste their time with an unnecessary slate.

Depending on the number of auditions they’re hearing, time spent listening to slates can really add up. The slated files can cause confusion and frustration when the casting person has narrowed the choices and wants to hear the text but instead hears the actor’s name.

Slating at the end of the recording doesn’t help. Casting people don’t necessarily listen to the end of the file. Plus, doing something non-standard in the industry can make the listener wonder whether you understand the work and what is expected.

In addition, producers working with production companies or publishers often share the audition files with the author. They cut off the slates before sending the audition to their client.

By not slating, you have reduced the casting person’s time.

Be sure you label the file with your name. Even on ACX, the rights holders may download the audition files rather than listening to them inside the ACX system. If they like your take on the material, they need to know who you are so they can contact you.

The audition text may give you a file naming convention, which you should follow.

If no convention is present, I name my audition files using this format:

KarenCommins-BookTitle-Aud-DDMMYY

The filename informs me and the listener exactly what to expect. I would later know it’s an audition file and when it was recorded. I could easily decide whether to use it for a sample or delete it.

If you want your audition to be listed at the top of an alphabetically sorted list, label it this way as the leading underscore should sort first:

_Aud-BookTitle-FirstNameLastName

Watch Out For Scams

Auditions/Career

An increasing number of narrators report that they are receiving messages in their personal email and ACX inboxes from scammers hoping to steal their time, money, and potentially even their identity. I’m grateful to the audiobook narrators named in green throughout this article who gave me permission to republish comments they wrote on Facebook so that more narrators could be alerted to these schemes.

Scam Examples

In addition to the usual emails involving a large bequest from an unknown foreign national, this audiobook-specific message is making the rounds with slight variations, particularly with the name of the person:

My name is Donald Paul, and I’m a Casting Coordinator at Third Millenium Library, a verified audiobook production company based in the United States.

https://thirdmilleniumlibrary.com

We recently came across your portfolio on Instagram, and were genuinely impressed by your profile.

We’re currently casting for several upcoming audiobook and podcast projects launching this quarter, and we’d love to consider you for a freelance role. These are paid, remote-based contracts with clear scope, timelines, and deliverables.

If you’re open to learning more kindly let me know so that we can proceed.

We value professionalism, fair compensation, and clear communication. Please feel free to request client references or ask any questions.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Warm regards,
Donald Paul
Casting Coordinator

I immediately was on high alert when I read they claim to be a verified audiobook production company. I wondered who or what entity “verified” them. I know about most of the audiobook production companies and publishers, yet I had never heard of this organization.

I knew it was a scam with the next sentence:

We recently came across your portfolio on Instagram, and were genuinely impressed by your profile.

Reader, my Instagram portfolio only has my videos of me playing the harp!

My response, as it is with all such messages, was to immediately delete the email.

I also received this message purportedly from Emily Gomes from the very official email address emilygomes.official34@gmail.com:

Subject: Audiobook Narration Opportunity

Hello [Voice Talent],

I hope you’re doing well. I’m reaching out to explore your availability for a potential audiobook narration project.

If you’re interested, I’d be glad to provide more details along with a sample script.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Operations Manager

I was so touched and warmed by the eloquent personal salutation! NOT! They’re so busy trying to swindle me that they don’t even have time to fill in the mail merge field with my name, much less give me a company name to go with the fancy “Operations Manager” title!

Legitimate audiobook producers are overrun with submissions from narrators. They would have no need to search for a narrator on ACX or send a direct email unless they were looking for a rare skill like an uncommon language or had an author specifically request you. In either case, they would be much more specific about their reason for contacting you.

How the Scam Works

Roberto Scarlato shared his unfortunate experience:

I was contacted by a Maya Graham claiming to work for Transperfect.com. She requested if I would be available to record an audiobook for $4,800. I said I was available and she provided the contract. I read through the contract thoroughly and found nothing wrong and signed. I proceeded to record the work and sent the audio to the client and it was approved. I was then told that the audio had been approved and that I needed to contact a Britta Aagaard on WhatsApp using number 1-716-374-9253 as she was the financial manager responsible for processing payments.

I was then instructed to set up an account with Superior Bank Union. I had provided my Driver’s License and my social security number to activate the account. They said that the money had been dispersed and that I could access it as soon as I paid $150 to a David Real on PayPal to activate my account and then they would release the funds. They told me I had ten minutes to pay. When I informed Britta that this seemed suspicious and that I was never told that I would have to pay anything until the last minute, she chastised me, called me a time waster. When I told her this sounded like a scam, she verbally berated me again and told me I was being paranoid.

I severed the communication. While I did not give them money, this has put me two weeks behind schedule for all of my other projects and I fear I will be the victim of identity theft since they have my name, address, email, driver’s license and Social Security number. I do not want what happened to me to happen to anyone ever again.

Just to be clear, it’s not Transperfect doing the scamming. The scam is from someone posing as a person who works for the company.

How to Protect Yourself

It’s vitally important to vet any message sender to determine their authenticity BEFORE you interact with them. Note that authors may legitimately contact you and write something that seems vague and/or suspicious, especially if they are new to audiobook production.

DO NOT CLICK any links in messages from unknown senders!

Erin Moon wrote 5 quick “tips for spotting scams from the IT dept”:

An email address that is not the company’s, i.e. from a Gmail account (Karen adds: Fake email address names often don’t match the name used in the message. Legitimate addresses of honest people are routinely spoofed by dishonest people. Also, note the extension of the domain. This page lists country domains frequently used by scammers.)
quick turn around
company not a .com domain (some do have .com domains, so you can see not all rules work)
found you “out of the blue” or “through social media”, etc.
gooood money

Kathy Hung Li tested an image purportedly of an author who contacted her:

I received an offer to audition from someone who was looking to produce an audiobook (and potentially a series). I could not find any info about the author. On a whim, I decided to plop her Amazon author headshot into an AI image checker, and lo and behold, the checker determined that the image was 99% AI generated! I then uploaded other (real) headshots to check and they were determined to be 99% real.

E. Kojo Andrews discussed payment terms.

1. Never accept a flat rate; audiobooks are always priced according to the actual duration of the finished audiobook. Someone offering a flat rate is a key indicator that either they’re trying to rip you off by getting more work for less money, or it’s actually a scam. (Karen adds: Audiobook narrators are paid per finished hour, not per studio hour. You can see the time breakdown under Finished Time in the Glossary of audiobook-related terms.)

2. Always request a deposit for new clients. It’s very easy for even authentic authors to simply walk away from projects if they think they won’t recoup their costs, let alone bad actors looking simply to scam you out of *your* money. (Karen adds: I don’t ask for a deposit when working for a large publisher or well-known audiobook production company. When I start working with an author, I send them a link to my Rights Holder Information page, which clearly sets out expectations for payment and the entire production process. I ask for a 50% deposit after the first 15 minutes are approved.)

Linda Jones offered a long list of potential red flags for your vetting process:

They use real company names (Transperfect, LanguageLine, etc.) to make themselves sound legit. They actually have nothing to do with these companies. (Karen adds: Some messages drop the name of the reputable audiobook publisher Spoken Realms, as though someone at Spoken Realms referred the sender to you. However, audiobook narrators’ sites are linked on Spoken Realms’s site, making it easy for a scammer to harvest contact information.)

Here are some things to look out for. Most of these things aren’t huge red flags by themselves, but taken together, you can see that the emails are suspect:

The email address they’re writing from is not from a legit company but instead something generic, like Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, etc. The email address alone is not a huge red flag because lots of freelancers use Gmail. It’s something to factor in with other things.
The sender doesn’t use your name in their greeting. This comes and goes – some of them use your name, some don’t.
They expect a super fast turnaround, like 5-7 days. Yes, it can be done, but a legit company wouldn’t ask for this.
The sender has little to no online presence. Google them — their name, their email, etc. and nothing comes up, not even a LinkedIn page; freelancers want to be FOUND. No online presence is pretty weird for a ‘freelancer.’
They might include a physical address that doesn’t exist in their signature, You can check it with Google Maps.
They say they found your ‘samples’ on social media, when you don’t have samples on social media. (Karen adds: See my example above.)
They write they are “impressed” by your samples without specifying which samples or what they like about your specific voice and how it might work for their project.
If money is mentioned, it is *almost* too good to be true. (Karen adds: Remember the old adage: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.)
And this big one: the fact that ALL of us, when reaching out to a stranger, are likely to say something like:
- “we’re connected through xxx” or “xxx referred me to you” or “I loved your work on this book [or campaign or whatever]”
- AND “this is me,” “you can find more about me and my work here,” “here’s what I’ve worked on,” and “here are the people I’ve worked with.”
- The most telling thing about these emails is that they offer NOTHING. And that’s just not normal. When we connect with strangers — whether reaching out to a casting director to introduce ourselves, or reaching out to an editor, proofer, cover designer, or researcher — we *always* seek to make ourselves known or familiar in some way. To establish a connection. It’s the start of a working relationship. These scammers get around this by saying something vaguely flattering first. It’s super creepy.

Linda continued by posting an extended email conversation she had with a sender about their suspicious “opportunity”. Follow her example and ask ALL the questions!

Just for reference, here’s the email exchange I had with “Malcolm” a few months back. It’s long and I’ve posted it before, but in case you’re curious. It was the standard “came across your profile… I’m an Operations Director currently seeking a v/o, $3K for 41,000 words, etc., etc., etc.”:
*****
me: Thanks Malcolm. Operations Manager of what company?
*****
him: Thanks for the message! Just to clarify, I’m not owned by any company — I operate independently, but I do collaborate with companies on a particular project.
*****
me: Thanks Malcolm. For whom are you managing the operations? Who is this project for?
*****
him: The audiobook is for a private tuition class of 20 students pursuing their law career.
*****
me: Thanks Malcolm. Who is publishing the book?
*****
him: It’ll not be published, the usage has already been given above.
*****
me: Thanks Malcolm! I understand the usage—who the listeners will be. That’s very helpful. It sounds like it will only be for these 20 students, that the book won’t be used beyond that? That is also helpful to know.
It also sounds like you are working independently with these 20 students. What is your experience producing audiobooks, have you done this before?
Any information you can provide is helpful in determining my approach to the project.
*****
him: Yes Linda, it is for the 20 students alone, and I won’t be lecturing them, they have their private lecturer, I’m just doing my job securing a voice over artist that can record the audiobook professionally.
This isn’t my first project.
*****
me: Thanks Malcolm! Did they hire you as a group to get this audio, did you devise the project on your own, or are you working for a third party?
Who would I be contracted to?
*****
Yes Linda, I devise the project alone, and the contract will be tied to you and me.
*****
me: Ah wonderful, that’s what I needed to know!
And thanks too for letting me know this isn’t your first audiobook, that’s reassuring. Please let me know some other projects that you’ve worked on, with samples if they’re available.
Thanks again!
*****
him: These are the books, but unfortunately I do not have their samples because it was a private project.
(attached to the email was a picture of six paperback books – all major big 5 titles, some quite recent; a Google search of the image finds it on someone else’s Instagram and Facebook. The books are: The Art of Laziness; Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before; Set Boundaries, Find Peace; The Psychology of Money; Atomic Habits; Don’t Believe Everything You Think)
*****
me: Wow, this is wonderful! Several of these audiobooks were author-narrated, I’ve got a couple of them! You’ve worked with some wonderful companies—these were produced by colleagues at PRH, Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster. I know some of the people who worked on them. The samples are all available online. Did you have other alternate recordings of these, or should I just listen to the available Audible samples?
I’ll reach out to my colleagues for a reference. Is there someone in particular you’d like me to talk to? Just let me know.
I look forward to working with you!
*****
him: Thank you so much — I really appreciate your kind words! It’s always great to hear that you’ve worked with some of the same wonderful companies and colleagues.
Just to clarify, the recordings I was referring to aren’t the ones available on Audible or other public platforms. They were all private projects and not released for public distribution, so unfortunately the samples online wouldn’t reflect those specific works.
As for references, I’m afraid I can’t point you to a specific recommendation at the moment, but I truly appreciate you offering to reach out to your colleagues — that means a lot.

Reading Roberto’s account about the payment scenario, a few things jumped out at me as the mark of scammer:

1. He was told to set up an account at a certain bank and to provide his Social Security Number (SSN) and driver’s license number.

Real audiobook publishers and producers do NOT give instructions like this!

Be extremely cautious when asked to provide your SSN or birthday to anyone as those are 2 critical pieces of information needed to steal your identity.

Investigate any person or organization who requests any type of account information before you give it to them. Ask them, “Why do you need to know this info?” Most entities do NOT have an actual need to know! If they want to use your SSN as some sort of identifying number in their records, that is not a need-to-know situation. Do not send this kind of sensitive, personal info in regular, unencrypted email. Be sure that any web form shows a secure lock icon by the URL.

When a non-official web site asks for my birthday, I enter a fake date. I don’t have my birthday on Facebook or any other social media platform. You do need to enter your correct birthdate on secure sites for the US government, your health care, your financial institutions, and airlines.

I also would not supply my driver’s license or passport numbers, photos of these records, or other personal information. Always question anyone who asks for this type of information about their need and planned usage for it.

If you’re an American taxpayer, I encourage you to apply with the IRS for a free Employer Identification Number (EIN) for your business. You’ll use your EIN instead of your SSN as your Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN).

Note that I linked directly to the official IRS.gov site. Always verify links in your emails before you click on them by right-clicking the link to see the actual URL. You can also copy and paste a link to your browser and/or Google the company name for its URL.

Before a company pays you, they normally request that you submit IRS Form W-9 so that the company can report your earnings for taxes.

If you were hired for a SAG/AFTRA union job, a verifiable paymaster distributes the payment to you. Examples are Skywire and Eljin.

Some publishers and distributors send payments via PayPal or Wise. You might also be given the choice to receive a check or an Automated Clearing House (ACH) deposit, which is an electronic, direct deposit into your account. Whether the job was union or non-union, YOU make the decision about the institution where your funds should be deposited.

2. Roberto was directed to pay $150 so his PayPal account could be activated.

You will never be asked to pay anyone to do anything related to sending you the money owed to you.

3. The person pressured Roberto to act within 10 minutes.

When a person or company owes you money for the work you’ve done, they will not pressure you to act quickly. In fact, legitimate companies typically might be slow to pay you. Their terms state they will process payments Net 30 or even Net 60, meaning they have 30-60 days AFTER receiving your invoice to send the money to you.

If you do fall victim to one of these schemes or have any fear that your identity has been stolen, immediately freeze your credit at all 3 credit bureaus: Equifax, Transunion, and Experian.

Also, obtain credit reports from all 3 credit bureaus from AnnualCreditReport.com, which I found linked on Equifax.com.

Sound effects in audiobooks

Best Practices

Audiobooks usually do not include sound effects.

However, you may have heard effects in some audiobooks and know their usage is growing in popularity. You may want to add them to your book.

Your rights holder may insist you include effects.

Don’t do it.

Audiobooks are not a radio or TV show, movie, podcast, stage production, or game where effects would be utilized and expected by the audience.

Instead, an audiobook is an intimate performance of the storyteller right in the listener’s ear, usually by a solo narrator, though dual, duet, and multi-cast reads are increasingly in demand

Our job as a narrator is to connect the listener to the author’s words and message through our performance. A sudden sound effect could be jarring to the listener and take them out of the story.

Beyond that point, effects can not be added arbitrarily to the narration. Any effects need to be planned in advance and executed with precision by someone who is experienced in mixing audio.

Most narrators do not have either that depth of engineering skill or the time and need to acquire it.

Acting choices and mic technique should be used instead of sound effects.

The producer, not the rights holder, has the final say on the decision about production choices. As the producer, you should just say no to effects.

Case Studies

Some audiobooks are audio dramas with rich, layered music and effects throughout the book like a movie soundtrack. You can hear the difference between an audiobook and audio drama by listening to the retail samples of the 2 versions of 1st to Die by James Patterson:

Straight narration

Booktrack version (music only)

Even though the books are in a popular series of 25 titles by a very popular author, the publisher only made the first 2 books available with music and effects. The Booktrack versions were published in 2018, which seems to indicate the publisher is not producing more of them in this series.

Many audio dramas include a full cast. Listen to the difference between the 2 samples of Ordinary Magic by Devon Monk:

Straight narration

GraphicAudio version (full cast, music, and effects)

The production costs go up significantly in hiring an engineer to plan and implement sound design in a book. As you can see in the examples, the Booktrack and GraphicAudio editions have a higher price.

ACX Projects to Avoid

ACX

First, realize that you should have experience BEFORE you represent yourself as a professional narrator who can complete the job. About half of the general population has never listened to an audiobook. If their first experience is bad, they may never come back to the medium.

If you need more experience, volunteer for an organization like Learning Ally or your state’s reading service that records material for visually impaired or dyslexic people.

Before you even look at books available for audition, be aware that ACX is an open marketplace.

It’s not ACX’s policy to police the books that people make available in the marketplace unless the books infringe copyright. It’s our job as narrators to assess the quality of the books and be selective in our auditions.

Choose books that are in popular genres in the type of portfolio you want to build. Your work defines you as a narrator, and ACX projects will show up on Audible for 7 years. Producers and casting directors look at the number, length, and genres of your titles. If you have a lot of short (under and up to 3 hours) books, they may decide you are not serious about the work or are not capable of completing a longer title. Audio publishers invest a lot of money to acquire the rights to books and must be able to trust a narrator to finish within the deadline.

Before auditioning for a book on ACX or a freelance site like Upwork.com, examine the listing to determine whether it’s a REAL book with REAL prospects of generating sales.

The 3 most popular genres are Mystery, Romance, and Sci-fi. Your best bet would be a book in one of those categories with a duration of 6-8 hours. Audible listeners are less likely to use a credit for an audiobook under 6 hours, and you’ll find it more difficult to recoup your ROI on an RS book over 8 hours.

Beware of Scams

Most problematic books — including the “short” books discussed below — will be listed as Royalty Share projects, though some purport to pay a low PFH rate like $50.

You may be wondering what the scam is or how the scammer benefits. Previously, the Audible download codes given to rights holders and RS narrators could be used for any book. In addition, codes issued before 26 March 2020 paid royalties as if the promo code was an actual sale.

Scammers sold the codes on eBay and/or created Audible user accounts to claim the codes as a listener. Of course, they pocketed any royalties made on those books.

Now that the codes are tied to the particular book, sales of promo codes have stopped. However, the scammers still get royalties on sales.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Someone who doesn’t actually hold the audio rights may claim the book on ACX and try to create an audiobook illegally. If you have any doubts about the authenticity of the RH, contact the author or publisher outside of ACX to verify their listing.

A scammer might claim a popular author’s book, set up the ACX listing, and choose a narrator. The narrator spends her time creating the audiobook. The unethical cheat approves the audiobook so that it goes to Audible’s retail shelves. The author’s fans see the audio edition and purchase it, with the audio royalties going to the thief.

The crook has invested a few minutes in creating the listing and has no risk or consequences for their illegal actions. If the audiobook gets taken down, they will simply start other listings. Also, they could post the MP3s from the book other sites and continue to earn royalties. The more narrators they can snare with their fake listings, the more money they make.

The AudiobookScout.com site, run by author/narrator Craig Tollifson, also offers this page of flagged listings of titles that are suspected to be fraudulent.

Some red flags on book listings that should stop you from even auditioning for one:

a bestselling book by a well-known, popular author or brand (like the “For Dummies” series) especially from a Big 5 publisher — If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Major print publishers have their own audio production channels and haven’t posted books on ACX for auditions. If you see a well-known author’s book, you would do well to contact the author and/or publisher outside of ACX to confirm that the listing is legitimate.
no Amazon ratings or sales rank. Conversely, an incredibly low sales rank with 50+ Amazon reviews could be a red flag if it is listed as a royalty share book. Most authors of popular books that are selling well would prefer to pay good PFH rates and retain all royalties.
no ability to Look Inside on Amazon
an centuries-old date like 1750 or 1800 in the header of the Amazon listing
audiobook for the title already exists. All editions are usually listed together on the Amazon page for the book, but you should also check on Audible.
audition text contains several poorly written and repetitive paragraphs, possibly in Courier font, that may or may not relate to the book’s title or is just the blurb about the book
audition text and/or RH’s comments are exactly the same as the sales blurb
non-fiction titles on a diverse and non-complementary variety of subjects with the same author posted on the same day or within a few days of each other. The covers are usually quite ugly and may just be text. Beware of authors with famous names like “J. D. Rockefeller“. Trust me, the dead Standard Oil baron is not posting a book about goat yoga on ACX! If you click that link, you’ll see almost 300 books on Audible under that name. Look to see how many of them have low or no ratings and poor reviews.
the same title is posted multiple times
poor English, grammar, and/or bad punctuation in the description and/or audition text. It may look like a poor translation and/or not make much sense.
RH expects you to buy the book to get the manuscript. Per Section 1 of the ACX Production Standard Terms, the “Rights Holder will provide to Producer the final recordable manuscript for the Audiobook within 3 business days after acceptance of the offer.”
RH sends you a flattering but generic message about liking your samples and asking you to partner with them on a book. Such messages may not include your name in the salutation or link to a particular book.
books in the Public Domain —This comment only applies to PD books posted for audition, which is against ACX rules for PD books. If you want to do a PD book, you can and should produce it yourself as I discuss in this article and comments. (Express Pass members also have access to the Create Your Own Path video course and its list of resources to help you find good public domain projects and publish your own audiobook.)

The adage “don’t judge a book by its cover” doesn’t necessarily apply here. Audiobook buyers DO judge a book by its cover, and so should you. Poor cover design can indicate that the author doesn’t expend money for her business, which could mean she won’t pay your PFH rate or do much marketing of an RS title. You also get clues about the book’s content.

Short Books

The RHs for the types of books listed in the bullet points below do not care whether the audiobook is a quality production. Scammers spend as little time as possible in creating dreck and hope an unsuspecting narrator would be inclined to do the work because the narrator thinks it’s short and would add to one’s portfolio.

Thousands of short books have been posted by scammers who only care about making quick royalties or possibly acquiring the unsuspecting talent’s voice for artificial intelligence applications.

DO NOT DO A SHORT (up to and including 3-hour duration) BOOK SIMPLY TO GAIN EXPERIENCE! DO NOT RATIONALIZE THESE BOOKS AS “QUICK TO DO”. You should not view these books as on-the-job training or practice work as a narrator.

Professional narrators don’t look at audiobooks as a way to make quick cash. We look at them as a career choice, and, as such, I only want my name associated with high quality books. If I wanted or needed to make quick cash, I would do the problem-solving exercise in this article.

Even if the book and author are valid, I still wouldn’t waste my valuable time on it:

cookbooks
diet books
essential oils books
gaming guides
computer programming guides
how-to books ranging from social media to chicken farming
summary books of popular titles —These listings could be considered plagiarism because the ACX rights holder isn’t authorized by the author and publisher to repackage and resell the info from the original book. While you can’t copyright an idea, RHs of these books use others’ work to make a quick buck.
any short title that has more SEO keywords in the title than actual title
any title where the rights holder tells you the finished book must run at least 3 hours and asks you to slow your rate of speech and/or add unnecessary silence
Amazon or Goodreads reviews for the title indicate it has a lot of spelling and/or grammatical errors
Amazon or Goodreads reviews have similar language and were posted on the same day, indicating fake reviews. Read some of the reviews. In one review for a suspicious listing, I discovered that the author had passed away, which meant more investigation of the RH was warranted.
travel guides by unknown authors
poetry
glorified pamphlets with an estimated finished time under an hour
books where the author comments that they don’t do marketing or otherwise doesn’t expect to make money like a family history or vanity project

These criteria are not necessarily mutually exclusive!

I’ve also seen an instance where the RH offered PFH payment and then asked the narrator to speed up their pacing to cut time from the book. Someone who is paying a PFH rate and wants you to arbitrarily change your pacing to shave off time is someone who wants to pay you less money for the project.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME AND TALENT on these so-called “books”!

Other Issues and Info

You can find some wonderful, well-written books on ACX, but you need to be careful and intentional about the books for which you audition and perform.

Due Diligence

You should do your due diligence to investigate whether the book warrants your time to audition.

You may receive a message from a RH inviting you to audition for their book. If you’ve recently updated your samples in your ACX profile, your name will appear near the top of the RH’s search results. Do not agree to do the book simply because you feel flattered that the RH contacted you.

As part of your due diligence, use the Amazon Look Inside feature to preview its text before you audition. You can even search the Amazon book for certain text that you’d find objectionable, such as sexual or violent content, as discussed in this 1:19 video.

Be sure to look at the author’s web site and social media links to determine how active and prolific they are.

I recommend that you always request that the RH send you the manuscript before you audition or at least before you accept an offer. You’ll learn:

their style of writing, including grammar and punctuation errors
their usage and frequency of curse words
their scenes with explicit sex and/or violence
their promptness in responding to messages

I don’t explain why I want to see the book. You could always say you want to ensure you are a good fit for the material.

If the text is riddled with grammatical errors, you can ask the RH to send you the edited version. Sometimes they made a mistake and uploaded the wrong file.

If you accept an offer but decide not to do the book for any reason, you should request contract dissolution before you produce the 15-minute checkpoint file. This article has some pointers and sample language.

Payments

I send RHs a link to my policy page upon project acceptance. You’ll see that I ask new clients to pay a non-refundable 50% depositwhen they approve the first 15 minutes and the balance after I upload the completed book. Remember that all PFH payments are paid by the RH outside of the ACX system. You must communicate with rights hold about your preferred method of payment.

People may contact you through the ACX messaging system about recording their book for a flat fee, but the book isn’t on Amazon. It’s possible that the author doesn’t want to use ACX for distribution but is using the site’s database to find a narrator. Once they have the audio files, they can upload the audiobook to any distributor. For that reason, it’s also possible — and I think more likely — that this situation probably is some sort of scam that can be avoided if you ask for the manuscript and insist on a non-refundable 50% deposit as I do.

Be very careful if a rights holder asks you to deliver files to them outside of ACX. On an RS or RS+ project, Audible pays you the royalties, not the RH.

In all projects that you accept on ACX, you will click “I’m Done” to send the book to the RH for approval. When they approve an RS project, your files will be released to QC and eventually Audible.

Once the RH approves an RS+ or PFH title, you then would be prompted to click “I’ve Been Paid.” You should wait to click that button until you actually receive payment. Otherwise, your files will be released for retail processing, and you will have no recourse.

Sections to record

Other resources on this topic: