Can the RH buy out an ACX RS or RS+ contract?

ACX

Sometimes, the rights holder of an audiobook created under an ACX Royalty Share or Royalty Share Plus contract will want to dissolve the contract after the audiobook is on sale. In many cases, the sales have been better than the RH expected, and they would like to receive all royalties rather than split them with the narrator.

In other situations, the RH wants to distribute their audiobook on other platforms. With an RS or RS+ contract, they are locked into Exclusive Distribution with Audible for at least 90 days and up to 7 years.

The only way a RH can ever break an RS/RS+ contract with the narrator is to pull the book. (Refer to the section titled Contract Language in this article.)

Per the ACX blog article linked above, the RH cannot pull the book before the end of the 7-year distribution term without the narrator’s consent. The article explicitly states:

Rights Holders with Royalty Share or Royalty Share Plus deals must provide Producer consent when making their request.

Furthermore, Section 8(b)iii of the contract clearly states:

Rights Holder may not cancel Producer’s engagement under this Section 8(b) after Rights Holder has approved the Completed Audiobook. “Completed Audiobook” means the audio recording of the entire Book, following the editing and/or mastering process.

If an RH approaches you and asks you to dissolve the contract before the end of the 7-year distribution period, be aware that the decision rests completely with you. You have no obligation to terminate the contract.

Observe how you feel. What does your gut tell you to do — retain the contract or release the RH from it? Listen to your intuition because it will give you correct guidance.

If you decide you are willing to terminate the contract, the RH should buy out your share. Skilled negotiators often ask the other side to go first. I therefore would request the RH make me an offer of fair compensation for the termination fee. Of course, my idea of “fair” and theirs might differ!

Compute Your Compensation

I’d average the monthly royalties earned thus far for the audiobook and multiply those amounts by the number of months remaining in the contract to estimate what I might expect to earn over the contract life. Be aware that monthly sales tend to drop over time, so you may adjust your final figure downward.

How does that number compare to your PFH rate multiplied by finished time for each book? If the guestimated royalties would be greater, use that number as your base. Otherwise, use your PFH rate. Remember, a RS contract is a deferred payment of your PFH rate, so you should earn at least that much.
Have you earned back your production costs such as your editor’s and proofer’s fees? If not, add any unrecouped expenses to your figure.
I would also add in the cost of any attorney fees for this transaction. (You typically won’t need an attorney for contract termination.)

Finally, if the author has earned some sort of bestselling designation (NY Times, USA Today, etc.) and/or is prolific with more books coming out, I’d add an arbitrary figure to compensate for the loss of the prestige of having her books in my portfolio.

Tally all of these figures together to determine a reasonable counter offer. Know the minimum you would accept because the RH would likely try to negotiate you down.

Inform ACX

You must use the ACX message system as the official record of your communications regarding changes to the project.. This 2017 ACX video shows how to dissolve the contract for books still in production, but the process would be similar for completed audiobooks that are for sale.

This ACX Help page lists the steps for notifying ACX about contract dissolution for RS/RS+ books that are for sale. The sentence “There are other factors that come into play” indicates that Audible could say no to the request. Be sure that both you and the RH write to Info@ACX.com and outline your agreement about contract dissolution.

As an aside, I want to point out that the ACX page links to the Production Standard Terms, which is your contract. This page is also linked on your project. On your Completed Projects tab, each book that says “Accepted as a Royalty Share deal” to the right of the cover art includes the Production Standard Terms.

Which microphone and interface should I get?

Studio Configuration

Thanks to audiobook narrator and coach Chris Ciulla who gave me permission to re-publish this information and chart he created and originally shared on Facebook. Chris surveyed a group of professional narrators about their choice of microphone, interface, and pre-amp.

_________________

I was taking a poll to see what the most popular choices were for working narrators. I did it for my student base to understand what pros are using.

The bold items are the most popular.

The blue items are my suggestions for them to keep their total initial home studio costs under $1K, since they’re newbies.

Standards for silence in the book

Best Practices

Here are long-time Audible standards for the seconds of pasted room tone to use in each file:

.5 at beginning of file

2.5 after chapter announcement

At least 2 and no more than 3.5 for mid-chapter section breaks designated by ####, ****, ———, or blank space in the text. Even when the text does not include these visual cues, you may need to add this transitional silence to alert the listener of a scene change. The narrator’s pace and type of story can cause this time to vary, but 2-2.5 seconds usually works well.

3.5 at end of file

Some rights holders will ask for a musical interlude or sound effects between chapters. They also may ask for longer pauses than those shown above and/or request that the narrator speak slower throughout the book so that the finished time will reach a certain threshold. Say NO to these types of requests.

Many indie rights holders have not listened to many audiobooks and do not know the norms of production. They also may be unaware of listener expectations. The audiobook’s pacing will be organically derived in the recording sessions and depend on the narrator’s normal rate of speech, acting choices, and complexity of the text. If a narrator speaks too slowly or adds unnecessary pauses, the listener can give up in frustration, leave negative reviews and ratings, and possibly even return the audiobook.

Where to Put the Punch (Word Emphasis)

Performance

Hannibal Hills wrote a handy guide Where to Put the Punch: The Ultimate Guide to Emphasis for Narrators and Speakers to help you determine which words to emphasize in your sentences.

Will Virtual Voices Take Narrators’ Jobs?

Performance

Audiobook narrators are increasingly worried that AI voices will take our jobs.

AI is here to stay. The resources on this page offer facts about the situation and actions to take toward a thriving career.

First, several voice organizations joined forces to produce this 1:02:57 video The State of AI: A VO Industry Panel.

In her inspiring 35:28 2025 PANAcon keynote address below, award-winning audiobook narrator Robin Miles offers numerous suggestions of concrete actions you can do immediately, including:

Do live read-alouds, including audio dramas, improv, and book club appearances.
Record books in the Public Domain. Of course I agree! It’s empowering to make your own opportunities and produce work of your choosing. NarratorsRoadmap members will find all sorts of useful info and resources about PD books, and everyone can access my Public Domain Narration Headquarters page with even more links, including a categorized Q&A.
Volunteer to narrate for non-profit services. You can concentrate on performance.

Whether you fear or embrace AI, the best advice for any audiobook narrator is to continue taking classes and coaching so you can get BETTER at your performance!

Make your performances so compelling that your human storytelling could never be confused with a virtual voice.

How to handle ACX offers

ACX

Many narrators are confused by the ACX offer screen. It only shows the rate and the date the offer expires.

You need to click on the title to see the details of the offer. You should see the rights holder’s (RH) proposed schedule on the resulting page in the same area as the rate.

New RHs typically don’t know the work involved in producing a retail-ready audiobook and often will request the full book in a ridiculously small amount of time.

You are in control of your workload and schedule. You can suggest new dates for the15-minute and full book deadlines based on:

how long it takes you to create a finished hour
your estimated finished hours in the book, which may vary from the estimate given by ACX
your other priorities
your editor’s workload

If I am doing an Royalty Share or Royalty Share Plus (RS/RS+) title, I will extend my proposed deadlines by 1 or more months to allow time for work that pays a PFH rate.

You can and should communicate with the RH using the ACX messaging system to negotiate the schedule. If you auditioned, I would not attempt to negotiate the rate unless it was listed as Unspecified. You knew the rate when you sent the audition, and you could have inquired about any flexibility on the posted rate before or with your audition. However, rate negotiation is acceptable when someone contacts you directly without an audition.

If the RH agrees to your dates, you will want to advise them that they cannot change their offer. Instead, you must decline it, and then the RH must send a new offer with the revised dates.

It’s important to have the correct dates on the offer so that you and the RH have the same expectations. Once you accept the offer, ACX doesn’t monitor the schedule or any changes to it.

Note that once you begin work, the RH and you may agree to communicate outside of ACX. However, you will want to send any messages about schedule changes through ACX as it is the official record and would be used in any disputes.

The RH will directly pay you or, in the case of SAG/AFTRA members, your paymaster for any PFH work. ACX does not coordinate or accept payments from the RH or pay you for your PFH work. Audible only pays the royalties earned on RS/RS+ projects.

How SAG/AFTRA members can use ACX

The RH must send an offer for either:

at least $250 PFH
minimum $100 PFH with RS+

Audible does not contribute to union H&R for straight royalty share projects.

In order for the RH to use the RS+ option, they should:

Click the option for Royalty Share Plus
Check the box to send the offer per the SAG/AFTRA agreement

Disclaimer: One narrator told me their RH did not see an option for Royalty Share Plus. I believe this situation was caused by the way the RH created the book listing. In that case, the RH had to select Royalty Share and then check the box for the SAG/AFTRA agreement.

When you accept the offer, you will click the button for “Accept with SAG/AFTRA H&R”. You’ll be prompted to enter your SAG/AFTRA number. Follow the instructions on this ACX page about contacting your paymaster..

Union narrators tell me that you don’t have to accept a PFH offer with the SAG/AFTRA button. The Union doesn’t check with ACX/Audible about earnings.

You would need to use that button for an RS+ deal since Audible will pay SAG/AFTRA for royalties received in eligible RS+ deals per item 1 at the bottom of this page.

You will need to ensure that the RH makes all PFH payments through a paymaster. ACX’s preferred paymaster is Eljin Productions, but you may choose another one such as Skywire.

Regardless of whether you accepted a PFH or RS+ contract, do not click the “I’m Done” button until you have received the PFH payment from the RH or paymaster.