Frequently Asked Questions

Distribution

Where will my finished audiobook be sold?

If you, the Rights Holder, choose exclusive distribution, then posting your book on ACX means that (if the book is made into an audiobook) the audiobook will, at minimum, be available for digital download to consumers on Audible.com, Amazon.com, and iTunes. These three leading digital retailers in the market reach the vast majority of audiobook buyers.

If you choose the non-exclusive distribution option, you can distribute your audiobook to any additional retailers, in digital and/or physical format, on your own.

What does “exclusive” actually mean? Who will be selling my book?

Exclusive to ACX means your finished audiobook will be sold only through Audible.com, Amazon.com, and iTunes. Any audiobook made using ACX will be distributed through these online retailers. Note that Audible has an exclusive relationship with iTunes (i.e. to get your product into iTunes’ audiobook store, you have to go through Audible).

How much will my audiobook sell for in stores?

Each retailer of your audiobook independently prices your product and determines such price in their sole discretion. While not always the case, the regular price on Audible.com for the product is generally priced based on its length, as follows:

  • under 1 hour: under $7
  • 1 – 3: $7 - $10
  • 3 – 5 hours: $10 - $20
  • 5 – 10 hours: $15 - $25
  • 10 – 20 hours: $20 - $30
  • over 20 hours: $25 - 35

To be clear, although the above represents general guidelines as retailer of audiobooks sold on Audible.com, Audible retains the sole discretion to set the price of the audiobooks it sells. Additionally, on Audible.com, consumers can buy your audiobook “a la carte” for the above price, but many Audible customers are AudibleListener members who can purchase the audiobook with an Audible “credit” which they get as part of their Audible membership. These credits are generally for about fifteen dollars per month. For more about AudibleListener membership, please check out the Audible.com store. Yes, AudibleListener members end up paying less per audiobook, but they are voracious audiobook consumers who tend to purchase over seventeen audiobooks per year from Audible.com. This is much higher than other audiobook customers, who generally purchase just one or two books per year. Please note that we do not, and cannot, control how iTunes prices your audiobook in their store. However, no matter how they price it, you will be paid the same amount as you are for Audible “a la carte” sales (i.e. a percentage of Audible’s “a la carte” price).

As a Rights Holder, what else can/should I do with my audiobook if I chose the non-exclusive deal?

Anything you want! Note that most retailers do not do deals with individual authors, but rather distributors, aggregators, and publishers. You might want to explore forging a relationship with a distributor, aggregator, or publisher.

How do I know what territory rights I have for my book?

If you’re not completely certain which territory rights you have, check your contracts and/or ask your agent. If you’re still not sure, contact us and we’ll try to help. Note that we cannot dispense legal advice, but perhaps we can help point you in the right direction.

Books are often published with territory restrictions. In other words, they’re licensed to be sold only in a specific region. Also, your book may be licensed in more than one area or territory, by more than one publishing house.

To protect everyone, we need to understand what territory rights you have. That’s why we ask you to indicate this when you’re posting your title profile. Your choices are:

  • World
  • World excluding British Commonwealth
  • World excluding UK
  • US
  • US and Canada
  • US, Canada, Philippines
  • US, Canada, UK
  • US, Open Market (open market means English-speaking areas that are not North America or the British Commonwealth)
  • US, Canada, Open Market
  • US, Canada, British Commonwealth
  • US, Canada, and the rest of the world – excluding the British Commonwealth (normally British Commonwealth does include Canada but in this particular distribution choice, Canadian territory rights are included)

How can I get my audiobook on iTunes?

All audiobooks you create through ACX will be sold through iTunes. Audible is the exclusive supplier of audiobooks to iTunes and since ACX is Audible's platform, all audiobooks produced using ACX will go straight to Audible.com as well as iTunes.

Can ACX also get me onto the Kindle platform?

When purchased and downloaded through Audible.com, Amazon.com, or iTunes your audiobook will play on a Kindle. However, if a consumer wants to both listen to your book and read the text, he or she would have to purchase both the audiobook and the Kindle edition (assuming your book has a Kindle edition).

If you don't have a Kindle version of your book, you can create one using the Kindle Direct Publishing platform.

 
 
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