An ACX rights holder might be a publisher or agent instead of the author. In these cases, the RH may ask the narrator to submit files to the author outside the ACX system for review.
However, such a request falls outside of the contracted obligations for both parties and should be denied.
Section 6 of the ACX Book Posting Agreement, which is the RH’s contract with Audible, states:
Delivery of Completed Audiobook. When the Producer you engage finishes production of the Audiobook, the Producer will upload the completed Audiobook and one excerpt from the Audiobook to ACX’s title production page in accordance with the requirements of ACX. You will be required to approve the Audiobook and excerpt using the ACX approval submission feature for rights holders in order for the Audiobook and excerpt to be deemed approved and ready for distribution by Audible.
Section 9 of the ACX Production Standard Terms, which is the contract among the RH, the narrator, and Audible, states:
Delivery of Completed Audiobook. Producer will upload the completed Audiobook and one excerpt from the Audiobook to ACX’s title production page in accordance with the requirements of ACX. If Rights Holder approves the completed Audiobook and excerpt, Rights Holder will approve the Audiobook and excerpt using the approval submission feature on ACX.
Sending the files to a 3rd party outside the ACX system can open the door to artistic micromanagement, schedule delays, and non-payment. A non-contracted party could easily upload the audiobook files to retail sites without the narrator’s knowledge.
Other resources on this topic:
- Refer to the ACX Help Section for instructions to upload the audio and this page which explains the RH review process.
- The ACX Help Section includes this article which explains how to get paid for either royalties or a PFH deal.
- This Knowledge Base article about the industry-standard audiobook production workflow discusses the artistic interpretation inherent in audiobooks and how it affects the review process and acceptable corrections.