Summary: Yes, ACX is legit, but this doesn‘t guarantee you will make money from the platform. ACX is an audiobook production marketplace that allows authors and producers to earn royalties from audiobook sales.
Overall, this website is safe and reliable, but you can get scammed by other users on the platform. Although some people claim they make a full-time living with audiobook sales, others say they devoted hours to the platform without being compensated.
Are you willing to take the risk and see if you can make money publishing your audiobook using ACX?
Table of Contents
- ACX Company Information
- What is ACX?
- Is ACX legal and safe or a scam?
- Is ACX reliable and trustworthy?
- The Pros and Cons of ACX
- How does ACX make money?
- Best ACX Alternatives
- FAQ
ACX Company Information
| Official Website | https://www.acx.com/ |
| Ownership | Audible Inc. |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Industry | Audiobooks Marketplace |
| Headquarters Location | Newark, New Jersey |
| Contact | support@acx.com, support-uk@acx.com |
| Social Media | Facebook Twitter YouTube |
What is ACX?
ACX is a subsidiary of Amazon, which gives authors and narrators a wider audience for their audiobooks to be discovered by readers. Audible Inc. owns this company, and it was founded in 2011. It specializes in Audiobook Creation Exchange, allowing authors, literary agents, and publishers to connect with narrators, engineers, and recording studios to produce their audiobooks.
ACX Authors can connect with actors, studios, and audio publishers through the ACX marketplace, to have their audiobooks professionally produced and distributed. Producers audition for audiobook contracts to receive up to 40% of retail sales as compensation for their sites like Audible, Amazon, and iTunes.
Is ACX legal and safe or a scam?
ACX is not a fraudulent website and does not have any safety or security concerns. It has been in business since 2011 and is owned by the well-known and reputable company Audible, a subsidiary of Amazon. According to Scamdetector.com, ACX has a registered domain and is not detected on any blacklist search engines.
Although ACX is a safe and legal website, this does not rule out the possibility of customers getting scammed on the audiobook platform. Authors, producers, and freelancers who may not know each other enter into contracts on the ACX audiobook marketplace to create an audiobook.
It is prudent to be cautious when interacting with strangers online, especially where it involves an exchange of money. There will always be a risk of getting scammed when engaging in projects with unverified users; hence, customers must conduct their own research before entering a contract and be aware of any red flags on job listings.
Is ACX reliable and trustworthy?
Overall Web Ratings
The overall ratings for ACX do not prove that their audiobook marketplace is reliable or trustworthy. ACX is an unclaimed and unverified business on Trustpilot.com, with only 70 registered reviews. 80% of those reviews are rated “Bad,” which is the worst possible score a company can receive. Most customers complain about the actual website’s usability, wrongly withheld earnings, canceled accounts without an explanation, audiobook removal, and canceled contracts after production completion. According to Trustpilot, it seems very few customers had a positive experience.
Cancel Production of Audiobook
Authors cannot cancel the production of their audiobook unless they contact the producer or rights holder working on their audiobook. If both parties agree, the contract can be dissolved. Both the author and producer must send a request to ACX at info@acx.com with their name, request, and the reason for the request. ACX states they cannot dissolve a contract without the written consent of both parties.
Customer Support
If you are having issues with your audio or book submission, you can contact ACX’s support team through your account portal or by email at support@acx.com (for US users) or support-uk@acx.com (for UK users). Their quality assurance team reviews submissions and responds to any concerns authors or producers have regarding their accounts.
You can also use the phone support lines at 1-888-396-6347 (for US users) and 0800-031-4086 (for UK users). Phone support hours are 9:00 AM-9:00 PM ET (Mon-Thurs) and 1:00 PM-10:00 PM BST (Mon-Thurs), respectively.
The Pros and Cons of ACX
Pros
Large Audience
ACX provides a wide distribution network that exposes an author’s and producer’s audiobook to a larger audience. Audiobooks on ACX are distributed to Audible, Amazon, iTunes, and other global stores. Readers can access your work in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Australia, and Japan.
A larger audience of readers can lead to more audiobook sales, which benefits both the author and producer. ACS also provides a bounty payment of $50 for rights holders when a new Audible member listens to your audiobook as their first read.
Cons
Payment Timeline
This platform is not a get-rich-quick scheme. If you are a newbie to the production of audiobooks, you may end up spending many unpaid hours perfecting the audio production of an audition to meet the submission requirements, just to be rejected for the role.
After completing a project, both the author and producer must wait for their submission to be accepted by Audible and Amazon before it will be listed for sale. This process takes about ten business days (iTunes may require up to two additional business days to make your title available) if there are no changes that need to be made. If a producer chooses to be paid royalty compensation, it may take a few months to be able to withdraw earnings from the platform.
Scams
Like any interaction on the internet, there are scammers on ACX who try to defraud users with fake services. Some reviews claim that there are book listings that might not be legit. Since ACX does not verify the book’s ownership, scammers can claim to be Authors of books they have no rights to by merely checking the verification box in a few seconds. After that, the scammer arranges for the book to be auditioned and hires freelance narrators to create the audiobooks for a percentage of future royalties.
When the real author learns about this scam and files a report for the takedown of the book from Audible, the narrator ends up not getting paid for their work. To be safe, when you see a book listing by a well-known author, you should be wary because it may be a scam listing, as most popular authors don’t list their books on ACX. Other red flags to look out for include authors with listings for books without any Amazon sales or reviews, strange publication dates, or multiple listings for the same work.
All these factors likely mean the posting is a scam, and auditioning for the audiobook would likely not earn producers any commissions. Avoid these red flags when auditioning for audiobooks, so you do not waste time working with scammers.
How does ACX make money?
ACX takes a percentage of all audiobook sales made on the platform. There are over 250,000 audiobooks listed for sale on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes that ACX can profit from, with over 1,000 new books posted regularly for auditions.
Authors and producers can only earn up to 40% of their earnings from their audiobooks, leaving a minimum of 20% for ACX to collect. The company will continue to collect royalties for as long as the audiobook is available.
Best ACX Alternatives
There are other audiobook marketplaces that offer similar distribution networks with international partners. If you are looking for alternatives to ACX, you can check out the following companies with similar offerings as ACX:
- Author’s Republic
- Findaway Voices
- Kobo Writing Life
- Lantern
- PublishDrive
FAQ
When will I receive payment for my royalties and bounties?
ACX royalties and bounty payments for the previous month are delivered through Audible to your bank account every month at the end of the billing period. So, for example, your March earnings will be paid in April. Note that your royalty earnings must be greater than or equal to $50.00 each month to be able to withdraw your balance, as ACX does not make royalty payments for less than $50. Any earnings under $50.00 will be carried over to the next month and combined with that month’s earnings.
When will my Audiobook be available for sale?
After submitting a title that meets all of the ACX Audiobook Submission Requirements, it can take up to 10 business days to be reviewed and listed for sale. You can check the status of your audiobook in the “Completed Projects” section of your profile. ACX Support will update you on any changes to your audiobook status by email.
What are the ACX Audiobook Submission Requirements?
All submissions must have retail-ready cover art, audio, and product information before they can be posted to Audible and Amazon. ACX’s audio requirements state that all audiobooks must be recorded by a human being and include opening and closing credits. All audio files must comprise all mono or all stereo files, have a consistent overall sound and formatting, and contain a 1-5min-long retail audio sample. Also, files must be named using only standard US alphabetical/numeric characters.