Add Another Income Stream with ACX Audiobook Publishing | Free Self-Publishing Course | #22

About this video

In this lesson from his free publishing course, Sean explains how to add audiobook income via ACX once a Kindle book is live. He compares royalty share, which is free upfront but gives the narrator half the royalties for life, with paying per finished hour upfront, which he recommends 99% of the time. He recommends $50 per finished hour, noting a 30,000-word book runs about 3 to 3.5 hours, so it would cost about $150 total. He simplifies ACX royalties: exclusive and paid upfront earns 40%, non-exclusive and paid upfront earns 25%, and exclusive royalty share splits 20% between author and narrator. ACX sets prices by length, and from his experience a book of 1 to 3 hours is priced at $6.95 with about $1.90 in royalties, while 3 to 5 hours is priced at $14.95, so authors should ensure a book clears the 3-hour mark rather than landing at 2 hours and 59 minutes. That makes 30,000 words efficient, and bundling three such books to clear 10 hours is his recommended bundle strategy — each book can only be used once in a bundle. He walks through posting a job and receiving auditions on ACX, notes ACX is only open to residents of the United States, UK, Canada and Ireland unless using a company workaround or aggregators like Findaway Voices or Authors Republic, and covers marketing mainly through distributing the 25 US and 25 UK promo codes for reviews, since there are no audiobook ads.

Key takeaways

• Pay narrators upfront per finished hour rather than royalty share, so you keep all royalties long term
• Sean recommends $50 per finished hour; a 30,000-word book at about 3 to 3.5 hours costs roughly $150 to produce
• Structure length to clear ACX price tiers — just over 3 hours moves pricing from $6.95 to $14.95 in his experience
• Bundle three 30,000-word audiobooks to clear 10 hours, remembering each book can only be used once in a bundle
• Market audiobooks mainly by giving out the 25 US and 25 UK promo codes quickly for reviews, not by paid ads

Episode details: published June 22, 2020 · 20:11 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Sean Dollwet’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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