# ACX excitement and questions



## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

I learned about ACX and producing audiobooks here on the boards, as well as the royalty share option. My book is brand new, and I realized that paying up front would net me better odds at getting auditions. But, I looked into the costs, and I just can't afford to do that at this point in time. So, I thought I would put the book on ACX as a royalty share option for awhile and see if anyone would be interested. I posted it last night and woke up this morning to my first audition. And I quite like it. She has the right voice for the book, and the sound quality is good.

My questions are about the right etiquette here. I like the audition, but I feel I should leave the project open for at least a week to see if anyone else auditions in order to make the right decision. Am I thinking about this the right way? Should I message her to let her know I like her audition? How long do people usually leave their projects open for auditions?


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

CadyVance said:


> I learned about ACX and producing audiobooks here on the boards, as well as the royalty share option. My book is brand new, and I realized that paying up front would net me better odds at getting auditions. But, I looked into the costs, and I just can't afford to do that at this point in time. So, I thought I would put the book on ACX as a royalty share option for awhile and see if anyone would be interested. I posted it last night and woke up this morning to my first audition. And I quite like it. She has the right voice for the book, and the sound quality is good.
> 
> My questions are about the right etiquette here. I like the audition, but I feel I should leave the project open for at least a week to see if anyone else auditions in order to make the right decision. Am I thinking about this the right way? Should I message her to let her know I like her audition? How long do people usually leave their projects open for auditions?


This is what I did:

1. As soon as an audition arrives, send a message to say thanks for the audition, and that you'll be in touch after reviewing.
2. If you don't like the audition, don't leave them hanging. Message to say thanks, but their audition didn't make into into the final 3
3. If you do like it, don't leave them hanging, message to say you like their audition very much, and that its on your short list. Say you'll be in touch.
4. Don't accept ANY audition until you have a few to choose from. Never accept the first one. If you only get one, still DON'T accept. 
5. If you only get one, there is something wrong with your proposal. Rework it until you get a handful, then choose the best from that group.
6. If you're not an audiobook buyer, listen to a bunch of other people's audiobooks and samples to get a feel for what you like and don't.
7. Listen for background noise, breathing sounds, speed of reading, accents, age (don't have a kid voice for a middle aged character etc)

Hope this all helps. I know it's all obvious stuff.


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## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

Thanks very much, Mark. That answers my questions.


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## kimberlyloth (May 15, 2014)

I also contact people who might be a good fit and ask them to audition. I was very happy with what I ended up with for my first book. And it wasn't the first person who auditioned in spite of my excitement over the first audition . (I very nearly accepted it too and now I'm glad I didn't.)


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## smikeo (Dec 1, 2014)

No advice, just wanted to say wow! That's awesome! I really hope it works out well


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## Chris Fox (Oct 3, 2014)

Cady, I followed your plan almost exactly. I forced myself to leave it open for a full week and I'm glad I did. One of the very first auditions was great and I almost accepted it, but the last person to audition blew that one away. He's the one who ended up narrating the book and it was absolutely worth waiting.

Mark's advice on contacting each narrator after they audition is great. There's a like button too, but I felt a personal message was a nice touch.


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## TWErvin2 (Aug 7, 2010)

To add to what others have said, you might check the track record of the narrator(s). Have they completed novels before, or is this their first? Check out the titles they've narrated and see what listeners thought.  If the narration rating (on Audible) is rated equal to or higher than the story or the book overall, that's positive. If it's significantly lower, that means the narrator might be a drag on your book's success in audio. Sometimes listeners leave comments in reviews about the narration, and that could help you decide as well.


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## J_Wat (Feb 9, 2015)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> This is what I did:
> 
> 1. As soon as an audition arrives, send a message to say thanks for the audition, and that you'll be in touch after reviewing.
> 2. If you don't like the audition, don't leave them hanging. Message to say thanks, but their audition didn't make into into the final 3
> ...


This is a great list! Bookmarked for when we get that far...


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

So I am going to disagree a little with Mark, though he is the one that taught me all I needed to know to get started.

_*ABSOLUTLY*_ contact the narrator right away, and do not leave them hanging. ALMOST NO ONE DOES THIS. I know that because when Amazon offered a stipend on my books, I had a lot of auditions to work through, and I did contact every narrator and kept them in the loop and most of them remarked it was refreshing to deal with someone that cared enough to send them a message and they ALL said the almost never hear back about their auditions. Be polite and professional even if they really suck.

Where I disagree with Mark is on this point:



> 4. Don't accept ANY audition until you have a few to choose from. Never accept the first one. If you only get one, still DON'T accept.


Sometimes the first one is the best. ABSOLUTELY wait for more offers, but if the first one is the best, take it.

Also finding narrators that will work for ONLY royalty share is MUCH harder than it used to be. You might only get 1 or 2 offers. You might get zero. That is the new reality we live in. If your books is a big name, or your author name is well known for selling big, that is different of course. But for most of us, zero offers is not unrealistic.

Finally, as someone else says - do not be afraid to be proactive. Seek out voice styles you like and contact the narrator directly.


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## jackconnerbooks (Nov 18, 2014)

I'm doing my first ACX audio book now, and it's pretty cool. I've just approved the first chapter (which the narrator did in lieu of the first fifteen minutes). 

It's for "The Atomic Sea: Part One" (see my sig line below). Some of the voices are different than I'd imagined, and I've asked him to tweak one or two, which he's very kindly done, but other than that I'm letting him do his own thing, just as long as it stays true to the spirit of the book.

So far it's awesome. Fingers crossed for the final product!


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## matt44west (Feb 4, 2015)

Hey, Cady,

Was curious––what did you do for the 'audio script?' Just take the first chapter and create more paragraph breaks? Wanted to know what your approach was there... Can I just paste in the first chapter from a Word doc, for instance?


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## Chris Fox (Oct 3, 2014)

I'm not Cady, but I can answer. I just uploaded the word document with the chapters I wanted read. Most narrators can work with the raw manuscript and you shouldn't need to make any changes.

You should also create a style sheet showing pronunciations for characters and odd words, as well as any specific accents you want.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Chris Fox said:


> I'm not Cady, but I can answer. I just uploaded the word document with the chapters I wanted read. Most narrators can work with the raw manuscript and you shouldn't need to make any changes.
> 
> You should also create a style sheet showing pronunciations for characters and odd words, as well as any specific accents you want.


Yeah I did the same. A pronunciation guide is a big deal though. I even recorded the right pronunciation of some names for him and sent them. I also sent "this is an old fart that sounds like he was a heavy smoker" or whatever. Sure he could pack that stuff up by reading a head, but the easier you make it for your narrator the better.

But 9.9999 times out of ten - TRUST YOUR NARRATOR. This is what they do, let them do their thing.


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## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

Thanks for the tips, everyone! This has been super helpful. I've had a couple more auditions roll in, which is very exciting. 

Matt - I just uploaded my first chapter as a PDF file, as is, and said which scene I was hoping to hear. It seems to have worked out fine.


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

VydorScope said:


> Where I disagree with Mark is on this point:
> 
> Sometimes the first one is the best. ABSOLUTELY wait for more offers, but if the first one is the best, take it.


You're not disagreeing with me, you are making my point FOR me Vince. Sometime the first one is the best you say, and you obviously should take the best one. BUT you can't know it's the best one if it's the ONLY one can you? That's why you have to a few few in hand before you can take the first one and be sure it is right.


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## 555aaa (Jan 28, 2014)

matt44west said:


> Hey, Cady,
> 
> Was curious----what did you do for the 'audio script?' Just take the first chapter and create more paragraph breaks? Wanted to know what your approach was there... Can I just paste in the first chapter from a Word doc, for instance?


A lot of scripts I see are really long. What you need are a short narration plus some dialog from the key characters in the book, so you might need to take some paragraphs from different chapters and make a composite. It doesn't have to make sense, just put little asterisks where you are introducing a new sample paragraph or dialog. A whole chapter is too long.


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## Mike Dennis (Apr 26, 2010)

Cady--
Some random thoughts.

A whole chapter is way too long for an audition. You can get what you need in no more than 5 minutes of selected text.

I would go to several big-selling audiobooks in your genre and listen to the samples. Hear how the narrators (generally) _tell the story_ rather than just read the words. You probably won't hear any mouth clicks or air conditioning running in the background. No traffic, no vacuum cleaners. It will sound very quiet. And intimate. This is what you're competing with.

If you do find a narrator you like, you may be tempted to direct her, to tell her how to speak certain words and phrases. You may want her to redo whole sections. Such micromanagement won't work in your favor. It will only muddy the waters. Trust your narrator. She'll know what to do.

Set a realistic deadline. Remember, your narrator will be doing about 4-6 hours of work for each finished hour of narration. She's not going to just plop down in front of her computer and dash off your book. In addition to the actual recording, she has to edit and master the whole book, as well as upload it in finished form to ACX.

Best of luck.


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## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

Mike Dennis said:


> Cady--
> Some random thoughts.
> 
> A whole chapter is way too long for an audition. You can get what you need in no more than 5 minutes of selected text.
> ...


Oh, I totally agree that an entire chapter is too long! I only asked for one scene, which was about a page and a half.

I would be interested to know what a realistic deadline is.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

CadyVance said:


> Oh, I totally agree that an entire chapter is too long! I only asked for one scene, which was about a page and a half.


For the audition script, I misspoke above (I mis read the statement - my bad) - I uploaded a document with TWO kinds of scenes.

1) Narration heavy. No dialog and all descriptive text. 
2) Action/dialog heavy with multiple speakers

I shot for a total of about 5 minutes of audio. That sampling gave me a good feel for how most of my book would sound if done by that person. I also prefaced my audition script with notes tell the reader about the characters so they would have a good chance at picking the right style/etc for each character.


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## Chris Fox (Oct 3, 2014)

CadyVance said:


> Oh, I totally agree that an entire chapter is too long! I only asked for one scene, which was about a page and a half.
> 
> I would be interested to know what a realistic deadline is.


This was one of the most important questions I asked my top three choices. The whole process took about four weeks for a 14.5 hour book, which I gather is pretty fast. After that it took another two weeks for ACX to get the book live on Audible and iTunes.

One way to expedite this is making sure you have a good means of communication outside ACX. Both you and the narrator need to advance the book to the next stage at various points, so you can really cut down that bottleneck if you work together.


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## 鬼 (Sep 30, 2012)

Having never done an audiobook before, this will probably be a stupid question, but--

Typically, is it one person doing all of the reading? Do they, then, change or alter their voice for the other characters or, is it all the same?


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## Chris Fox (Oct 3, 2014)

鬼 said:


> Having never done an audiobook before, this will probably be a stupid question, but--
> 
> Typically, is it one person doing all of the reading? Do they, then, change or alter their voice for the other characters or, is it all the same?


Most narrators do all voices, though some audiobooks have multiple narrators. The Wheel of Time uses one for all male PoVs and another for all female PoVs. Radio style dramas with a full cast are rare just because it's so expensive.


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## JeffreyKafer (May 22, 2011)

Chris Fox said:


> There's a like button too, but I felt a personal message was a nice touch.


The note is a nice touch because clicking the like button does not alert the narrator of anything.


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## matt44west (Feb 4, 2015)

OK, I see. All the suggestions about the script make sense. Thanks to everybody for answering.

Sounds like what you did worked well, Cady. Awesome–glad you found somebody to do your narration!


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## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

matt44west said:


> OK, I see. All the suggestions about the script make sense. Thanks to everybody for answering.
> 
> Sounds like what you did worked well, Cady. Awesome--glad you found somebody to do your narration!


Thanks. I've had more auditions than I expected to get, to be honest.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

JeffreyKafer said:


> The note is a nice touch because clicking the like button does not alert the narrator of anything.


Good to know. I wondered if they did.


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## JeffreyKafer (May 22, 2011)

The only notice we get (besides offers and direct communication) is an email if we DON'T land the gig. This is automatically sent to us when someone else accepts the offer for a title we auditioned for. So I know my fellow narrators appreciate a "thanks for auditioning" note.


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## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

About how long does it take for the Tax Information to validate on ACX? If I remember correctly, it seemed to validate really quickly on KDP, CreateSpace and D2D, but it's been sitting in review for almost a week on ACX. I can't make an offer until it does, so I'm getting a little antsy.


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## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

Nevermind, I was a moron and left out my middle name. Everything is all sorted now!


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## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

Congrats, Cady! I sent a thank you for auditioning note too. They took time to record and do the narration so I believe a "thank you" is in order even if you don't hire them. 

Moving forward, communication continues to be key.  I was surprised when my narrator told me that a lot of authors refuse to speak on the phone/Skype with questions and they tell him "you figure it out" when he has questions about a scene. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

I'm doing a series now with Audible Studios. The narrator asked if I had any notes, and I sent along the same kind of character list/notes I do for my ACX books. She was blown away. She said, "NOBODY does this." I thought, "Really?" How can you expect the narrator to capture what you want her to do if you don't give her any help?

What I do: list of characters. Name, age, where they're from if that matters (accent etc.). In order of appearance. Chapter where they first appear. Any character notes. Like, for heroine's boyfriend: he's pretty far up the narcissism scale, needs to have others think he's smart. As the book goes along and he's publicly failing and being shamed, he's coming more and more unhinged and needs somebody to blame. Like that. 

If there are unfamiliar words, as with my NZ series (Maori words), I do a list and an audio file. Identify words by chapter, use them in the sentence, say the word three times. 

Also, if there's a person who came to mind when I wrote somebody, I tell the narrator. If there's an actual All Black whose voice or whatever--or even his looks--is like one of my rugby boys, I'll link to an interview. She says that really helps her create a memorable and distinctive character.

(We got nominated for an Audie for our first book, so I think all that worked!)


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## Censored (Oct 31, 2014)

Chris Fox said:


> Cady, I followed your plan almost exactly. I forced myself to leave it open for a full week and I'm glad I did. One of the very first auditions was great and I almost accepted it, but the last person to audition blew that one away. He's the one who ended up narrating the book and it was absolutely worth waiting.
> 
> Mark's advice on contacting each narrator after they audition is great. There's a like button too, but I felt a personal message was a nice touch.


x2. My experience exactly. I really loved the first audition I got and I hope I can work with that producer in the future, but I'm so glad I waited a week. The producer I chose was one of the last auditions submitted; she has the perfect voice for the book's narrator, and I would've missed her audition completely. Now the finished audiobook is due the end of this month, and I can't wait!


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## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

Thanks for the tips everyone. I'm happy to say that I've made an offer to a wonderful producer who has accepted. Very excited!


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## smikeo (Dec 1, 2014)

Awesome news, congrats!!!


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

CadyVance said:


> Thanks for the tips everyone. I'm happy to say that I've made an offer to a wonderful producer who has accepted. Very excited!


YAY!!!!!!


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## Sophrosyne (Mar 27, 2011)

Also, if you're going to send out notes, you have to send them before you send an offer. Once a narrator accepts your offer, all the other auditions vanish and you are left with nothing. No names, no email addresses, no auditions to respond to. That happened to me -- I wanted to send out nice rejections, but I was waiting until I got a response from my Number One choice, but when I went back into ACX, she had accepted my offer and everything else was gone. And once it's gone, you can't get it back. 

That, more than anything, is why I think more writers don't send rejection notes -- they don't realize they've lost the opportunity until it's too late.


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## Anya Monroe (Dec 3, 2014)

Cady you inspired me! I read this thread this afternoon and went and put 2 books on ACX. I've received one audition so far! Kinda exciting! Thanks for starting this thread, I had no idea it was so simple to start the process!


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## Selina Fenech (Jul 20, 2011)

I just started my first audio book with ACX as well, and the process is so exciting! Rosalind, you have some great tips there. My book is fantasy and has odd names and some magic words as well that I wanted to send notes on, so I created a PDF (what the narrator requested) of the manuscript and dropped comment boxes on it for whenever there was something new the narrator needed to know. 
Sophrosyne, the auditions are still there, just trickier to get to. I thought the same thing at first. I wanted to go back and save some names and save the audition of my chosen narrator to share a teaser online, and I couldn't find them at first! They aren't under the New Auditions link anymore, but if you select your title then click the auditions tab, they are there.


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## Sophrosyne (Mar 27, 2011)

That may be a new thing they're doing. I emailed complaining to them way back when. I checked through my titles, and I have none of the auditions. :-(


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

CadyVance said:


> Thanks very much, Mark. That answers my questions.


Also, as soon as your book goes live at audible, go here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/freeaudiobookgiveways

AND here:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_folder/110451?group_id=596

Give away as many of the book for honest reviews that you can. I know it's hard to give away stuff, but DO IT. Audible is a hard platform to get reviews upon without seeding the garden. Audio listeners are even more interested in reviews than other types of readers, and they especially want encouragement about the quality of narration.

DO NOT give codes out. Ask people to message you with an email address. Then go to your own account on Audible, and use the gift system. Put the code in yourself at checkout time, so it costs you nothing, and the reviewer gets the right book.


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## AYClaudy (Oct 2, 2014)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> Also, as soon as your book goes live at audible, go here:
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/freeaudiobookgiveways
> 
> ...


Thank you so much for sharing this information it's very valuable!!


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## Censored (Oct 31, 2014)

AYClaudy said:


> Thank you so much for sharing this information it's very valuable!!


x2. Good tips, thanks Mark!


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## Censored (Oct 31, 2014)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> Also, as soon as your book goes live at audible, go here:
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/freeaudiobookgiveways
> 
> ...


Sorry, didn't reread the thread, not sure if I missed it--but how exactly do you give audiobooks away for review? I've seen reference to "ACX codes" before but I didn't receive any codes and can't seem to find them. What am I missing?


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## JETaylor (Jan 25, 2011)

FictionFugitive said:


> Sorry, didn't reread the thread, not sure if I missed it--but how exactly do you give audiobooks away for review? I've seen reference to "ACX codes" before but I didn't receive any codes and can't seem to find them. What am I missing?


They don't give them to you until the audio book is for sale. I keep a list of mine and as I give them away I gray out the code so I know it's been used.

I haven't gone to the groups Mark cited - but that certainly is a great idea.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

FictionFugitive said:


> Sorry, didn't reread the thread, not sure if I missed it--but how exactly do you give audiobooks away for review? I've seen reference to "ACX codes" before but I didn't receive any codes and can't seem to find them. What am I missing?


About a week or so after you book goes live you will be given 25 codes to give out free copies of your audio book. Make sure you use the GIFT system to give out the books instead of giveing out the codes directly. Up thread there are plenty of details on how to do all this.


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

Note you can write to ACX Support and get your codes earlier--as soon as your book is out--or get more if you need them. (Up to 50 I believe.) You can also get separate codes for use in the UK. (The US ones won't work.)


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

I've just noticed something this morning that excites me (okay a little bit) about my ACX dashboard. It seems it might now be more real time like kdp. I qualify with "more" because I doubt it's fully real time, but it IS up to the present day rather than 2 days in arrears as it always has been until now.

I noticed a huge (for me) increase in sales yesterday, but it wasn't really an increase I have found. It was 3 days worth of sales all being dumped to the dash all at once. Today I checked, and I'm back to an 18 sale increase BUT, the time legend is TODAY rather than 2 days behind.

I hope this is a permanent change.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> I've just noticed something this morning that excites me (okay a little bit) about my ACX dashboard. It seems it might now be more real time like kdp. I qualify with "more" because I doubt it's fully real time, but it IS up to the present day rather than 2 days in arrears as it always has been until now.
> 
> I noticed a huge (for me) increase in sales yesterday, but it wasn't really an increase I have found. It was 3 days worth of sales all being dumped to the dash all at once. Today I checked, and I'm back to an 18 sale increase BUT, the time legend is TODAY rather than 2 days behind.
> 
> I hope this is a permanent change.


Noticed the same thing... plus did bounties get a new line all to itself?


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

VydorScope said:


> Noticed the same thing... plus did bounties get a new line all to itself?


No... the bounties were always there. I DID see a bounty appear on my Amazon affiliate account the other day. So I get $5 as an affiliate sale +$50 bounty from ACX  Greedy, who me?


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> No... the bounties were always there. I DID see a bounty appear on my Amazon affiliate account the other day. So I get $5 as an affiliate sale +$50 bounty from ACX  Greedy, who me?


What I mean is I now have two lines for my book one. One shows all the sales and stuff, and the other shows 0 sales, but 2 bounties. Same book listed twice.


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

VydorScope said:


> What I mean is I now have two lines for my book one. One shows all the sales and stuff, and the other shows 0 sales, but 2 bounties. Same book listed twice.


Are you viewing the dashboard, or the finished productions book page? I think you mean the latter, and on mine there were always two. This one https://www.acx.com/sales/dashboard hasn't changed either, but the UK did have the new system for reporting slightly ahead of the US, so maybe that's why you see a change.


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## NotActive (Jan 24, 2011)

content


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## 555aaa (Jan 28, 2014)

On the dashboard today I see one of my recent books with 2 lines and two different on sale dates (? why?), and one line with normal sales, and the other with only bounties.  Here's the thing on bounties, no sales. They are not paid out monthly. They hold the bounty to make sure that the person stays an Audible member for the 61 or 90 days or whatever it is. I've gotten all excited about the bounty number showing up, and then it disappears.  I assume that they found that they were paying out too much in bounties for people who would sign up for only 1 month and then drop.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

555aaa said:


> On the dashboard today I see one of my recent books with 2 lines and two different on sale dates (? why?), and one line with normal sales, and the other with only bounties. Here's the thing on bounties, no sales. They are not paid out monthly. They hold the bounty to make sure that the person stays an Audible member for the 61 or 90 days or whatever it is. I've gotten all excited about the bounty number showing up, and then it disappears. I assume that they found that they were paying out too much in bounties for people who would sign up for only 1 month and then drop.


I see the same thing... but I guess Mark does not?


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## Censored (Oct 31, 2014)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> DO NOT give codes out. Ask people to message you with an email address. Then go to your own account on Audible, and use the gift system. Put the code in yourself at checkout time, so it costs you nothing, and the reviewer gets the right book.


So I'd need an Audible account to gift the books, right? I'm guessing there's no way to gift the audiobooks without that expense? Would the only other alternative be to email the codes directly? What do I lose by doing that other than the certainty that the code is redeemed?


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

FictionFugitive said:


> So I'd need an Audible account to gift the books, right? I'm guessing there's no way to gift the audiobooks without that expense? Would the only other alternative be to email the codes directly? What do I lose by doing that other than the certainty that the code is redeemed?


It will be redeemed for sure, but 50/50 whether it's your book they redeem


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## Censored (Oct 31, 2014)

Gotcha. I was hoping the codes were unique for each product but I guess that's too much to ask! Regardless, it actually looks like I was able to sign-in to Audible with my regular Amazon account, but now I can't find where to actually gift the audiobooks. Is this in the checkout process somewhere or in the "Gift Center" (which seems to only allow gifting subscriptions)?


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

FictionFugitive said:


> Gotcha. I was hoping the codes were unique for each product but I guess that's too much to ask! Regardless, it actually looks like I was able to sign-in to Audible with my regular Amazon account, but now I can't find where to actually gift the audiobooks. Is this in the checkout process somewhere or in the "Gift Center" (which seems to only allow gifting subscriptions)?


It similar to buying a book, here is a decent howto video:


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## Censored (Oct 31, 2014)

@VydorScope: That was perfect! Thanks very much.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

FictionFugitive said:


> @VydorScope: That was perfect! Thanks very much.


NP!

I used to type up long instructions every time someone asked.... then I find that video and my life got so much easier!


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## ufwriter (Jan 12, 2015)

I wanted to update this thread with thank you to everyone for all of the helpful advice. My first audiobook (Bone Dry) completed production and is now selling on Audible and Amazon! To those of you who suggested reaching out to producers directly and inviting them to audition, that was invaluable advice as it's how I found the narrator for the project. Two of my other titles are now in production as well, and I'm really loving the whole audiobook side of publishing.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Yay! Congrats!


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## 555aaa (Jan 28, 2014)

Nice video from RBC - thanks for posting, Vincent! Cady (& everyone) - if you put up a sample on SoundCloud, I'll put it on my indie audiobook playlist. Don't forget to add your "buy" link on your SoundCloud sample. I usually get a few visitors every day.


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

Excellent. Another success story


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## Overrated (Mar 20, 2015)

Thank you for this thread. I had been considering audio, but after reading this, I went straight to ACX. I'm listening to an audition now. And thank you, Mark, for what to do afterwards. It's always nice to have the checklist when you're all gaga listening to someone bring your darlings to life.


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## Selina Fenech (Jul 20, 2011)

My first audio book went live last month, and I've had a bunch of sales (and some good reviews too!). But when and where do we find out any actual details about the sales? To find out how much we've actually earned? I have some rough numbers on how many sales I need to make back costs, but I'm still waiting to see actual numbers and confirm things before doing more. My earnings reports page still shows nothing for March.


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## 555aaa (Jan 28, 2014)

Selina - in a few days, when you go to your Sales Dashboard, the tab "earnings report" will have actual sales with $$. They don't actually calculate the $ until near the end of the month because there's a formula which takes into account all the Audible member sales for the month. They have to know that to calculate the actual payment you get.  The other thing you might not always know is that occasionally your retail price will change - they can change the price at any time without notifying you.


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## Anya Monroe (Dec 3, 2014)

My first audio, The Dream Catcher, just went live! Thanks everyone for this helpful thread. Per a suggestion here I emailed ACX the day it came out and they sent me the codes straight away, so thanks for that idea! Now I must go figure out how to promote this thing….


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## 555aaa (Jan 28, 2014)

Anya Monroe said:


> My first audio, The Dream Catcher, just went live! Thanks everyone for this helpful thread. Per a suggestion here I emailed ACX the day it came out and they sent me the codes straight away, so thanks for that idea! Now I must go figure out how to promote this thing....


Congrats!

Use Jeff's audio book blast to give away some of your promo codes.

There's an audiobook promo thread around here somewhere...


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## ChessDesalls (May 15, 2015)

kimberlyloth said:


> I also contact people who might be a good fit and ask them to audition. I was very happy with what I ended up with for my first book. And it wasn't the first person who auditioned in spite of my excitement over the first audition . (I very nearly accepted it too and now I'm glad I didn't.)


I did this too, specifically filtering for narrators who fit the tone of the story and who were open to a royalty split instead of the production costs. So far, so good!


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## JeffreyKafer (May 22, 2011)

555aaa said:


> There's an audiobook promo thread around here somewhere...


http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,209625.50000.html


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## Anya Monroe (Dec 3, 2014)

JeffreyKafer said:


> http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,209625.50000.html


Thanks for the link! I will definitely use this.


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## lazarusInfinity (Oct 2, 2012)

Thanks so much for the info.  This has come in handy now that I'm opening the door for an audio version of my book.


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## Face4Audio (Dec 31, 2016)

Censored said:


> So I'd need an Audible account to gift the books, right? I'm guessing there's no way to gift the audiobooks without that expense? Would the only other alternative be to email the codes directly? What do I lose by doing that other than the certainty that the code is redeemed?


I don't know whether it's helpful to post here to clear this up, or whether (hopefully) someone has already corrected this, BUT:
You need an Audible ACCOUNT, in order to redeem your own promo codes and gift the audiobooks. You can create an Audible ACCOUNT for free. You do not need to be an Audible MEMBER(which costs money), in order to gift the books.


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