Books and Creating Title Profiles

Does my book qualify for ACX?

The ACX website is free to use for all. If you hold the rights to your audiobook, per your contract, AND if your print or e-book is up for sale or pre-sale on Amazon.com, you can start the audiobook process.

What types of books usually do not turn into great audiobooks?

ACX is the online marketplace where professionals connect to make audiobooks. Audiobooks are created by professional narrators that follow the Rules for Audiobook Production. That being said, not every type of book may be appropriate as an audiobook. Some categories of books rely too heavily on graphics or visual elements. So we recommend that you stay away from creating audiobooks out of the following:

Reference books, guide books, quotation books, and dictionaries
Books about home and garden, interior design, home organization, or storage
Children’s picture books or board books
Gift books or quirky titles
Cookbooks and diet books
Comic books and graphic novels
Photography books or art monographs
Engineering or other professional reference books
Flashcards, calendars, and box sets
Sports books (especially ones that rely heavily on pictures)
Travel guides (especially ones that read as reference guides)
Any book that relies heavily on visual elements that are referred to throughout the text (e.g. many business, science, astrology and fitness books)

As an author, how do I know how many words long my book is?

If you have a version of your book in Microsoft Word (or similar software), the program can quickly give you a word count—it’s easy and automatic. If this isn’t an option, we recommend that you try these steps:

Pick a typical, full-text page of your book at random.
Count the number of words in the top line of text, and then count the number of lines on the page.
Multiply those two numbers. Then multiply that number by the total number of pages in the book.
The result will be the approximate number of total words in your book.

You’ll then have the approximate number of total words in your book. We find that this number is usually within five percent of the actual word count.

How can I figure out how long my narrated audiobook will be?

On average, most performers narrate about 9,400 words per hour. Divide the total number of words in your book (see above FAQ) by 9,400 to find out approximately how long your finished audiobook will be. When you create a Title Profile on ACX, the length it is automatically calculated for you, based on the word count you provide.

As an author, what should I write in the "About the Book" section of my book's Title Profile?

This section is important, and it’s required on ACX. The information here will flow directly into your product’s detail page at Audible.com for all consumers to see once your audiobook is complete and available for sale on Audible.com (and Amazon.com and iTunes). That’s why this is a required field. So you should describe your book carefully, your words will help encourage Producers to produce it, and potential audiobook buyers to buy it! ACX automatically pulls in the book’s description from its Amazon product detail page, but please feel free to edit it. (Note: any changes you make to the text on ACX will not change it on Amazon.com.)

When you write or edit About the Book, keep in mind:

This description will be the public face of your book on ACX.
It’s how others will find and learn about your project. So, when you’re choosing which words to use, imagine how they might be included in a potential customer’s search.

What should I write in the Comments from the Rights Holder section of my book’s Title Profile?

Use this space for two things:

To get a potential Producer excited to audition for—and produce—your project. Especially if you’re seeking to do a Royalty Share deal, the Producer has to believe that the audiobook will sell well enough to earn them money for their hard work. Perhaps share sales and marketing information about your book here. Also, share information about your career as an author, and include how active you will be in marketing the finished audiobook.
Rights Holders can use this space to give the narrator an idea of type of performance you’re looking for. Keep it broad to allow room for interpretation, or be explicit about the character's motivation, emotional state, etc. to try getting exactly the kind of audition and performance you want.

I'm not sure what category my book is in. Any advice on picking one?

We can only recommend that you pick the category that seems like the best fit for your book. Whether your book is a romance, a thriller, or falls into another genre, you must choose the category for your book because this information will determine how your book is merchandised on Audible.com. The information you include here will flow directly into your product’s detail page when the audiobook is complete and available for sale on Audible.com (and Amazon.com and iTunes).

Should I look for a male or female narrator? How should I decide?

Your best bet is to choose a narrator that's the same gender as your book's main character. If you have many characters rather than an obvious leading one, think about what voice you heard in your head when you wrote or read the book. Was it a man, or a woman? Try sticking with that. If it could go either way, you’re allowed to choose "either" in your Title Profile.

What is the Audition Script I'm asked to upload to my book's Title Profile?

The audition script should be a page or two from your book. It should be a passage that you want a potential Producer (or the narrator they work with) to record so you can hear how they would perform it. In fact, we advise against making an Offer to a Producer until you hear them (or the narrator they are subcontracting) read an excerpt from the actual book you want them to record.

Tip for Rights Holders about Posting Audio Rights:Do you only want to post your audio rights on ACX in order to sell them outright to a publisher? If you’re sure that’s what you’re here for, and that you don’t want to consider hiring a Producer on ACX, then you can skip the audition script (just type a space in that field). That said, we suggest you include one anyway. Because who knows? You may be pleasantly surprised by the auditions and offers that roll in.

How do I edit my Title Profile?

You can edit your Title Profile at any time prior to making an Offer to a Producer. Simply find your book on your dashboard (to get there click "Project Status") and click the link to "Edit your Profile." You will start at step one again, with all the existing available for you to change, and can "Save and Continue" throughout the steps.

I’d like to edit the name of my title or the author name. Can I do that?

Both the name of your title, and that of you the author(s) are automatically pulled from the existing Amazon listing. These cannot be edited over ACX. When the title is completed and sent to the ACX team for packaging and review, you can send a note to acx-metadata@acx.com

The title of my book contains extra text within parentheses. What will happen to that language once it is processed by the ACX team, prior to it going on sale?

From time to time, Audible editors will make revisions to the title of your audiobook to ensure it's properly presented on retail pages. This is often done when a title contains information within parenthesis.

If the information is really a subtitle: The text will be placed in the subtitle field.
If the information is descriptive or contains keywords: The text will be added to the title’s keywords, provided that they are truly relevant to your title. Titles may have a limit of three keywords or brief keyword phrases.
If the information is Imprint related: This information will be removed.
If the text denotes series information: This information will be added to the series field.
The information pertains to the title's category: The information will be removed from the title. Audible editors will consider such information when categorizing the title.

Should you have any questions related to this topic, please contact us via acx-metadata@acx.com.

How do I create a Title Profile for my book that will get Producers to take notice?

Creating a robust, specific, and accurate Title Profile is important. A book description that’s highly descriptive and compelling helps Producers get excited about working on your project.

Overall, we have two pieces of advice:

The more vivid details, the better. Get potential Producers engrossed in the subject matter, the plot, and the characters.
Include an idea of your marketing plan and sales history in the Title Profile. A studio professional wants to be part of winning project, so show them strong sales potential. Check out the following examples:

“I have one thousand Facebook friends”, or “my own blog with 10,000 visitors,” etc.
“I have one hundred four-star reviews on Amazon.”
“Now ranked better than 10,000 on Amazon best-sellers”
“My book has won these X awards over the past X years”
“My book was just optioned for a Hollywood movie”