ACX - Audiobook Creation Exchange
Amazon's audiobook production marketplace connecting narrators with authors
Overview
ACX is Amazon's audiobook production marketplace that connects narrators and producers with rights holders looking to create audiobooks. Finished productions are distributed through Audible, Amazon, and iTunes.
Narrators create profiles with audio samples and audition for posted titles. Payment structures include per-finished-hour rates, royalty share agreements, or a combination of both.
How It Works
ACX is the dominant platform for independent audiobook production in the US market. It has launched thousands of narrator careers and provides a direct pipeline to the world's largest audiobook retailer.
Creating an account and auditioning is free. Narrators earn either a negotiated per-finished-hour rate or a share of ongoing royalties, depending on the deal structure with the rights holder.
Who Uses It
Essential for anyone interested in audiobook narration. Start with royalty-share projects to build your catalog, then transition to per-finished-hour work as you gain reviews and experience.
Pricing & Plans
ACX is completely free to join for both narrators and rights holders, with no subscription fees, listing fees, or upfront costs of any kind. Payment structures fall into three categories: per-finished-hour (PFH) where the narrator receives a flat rate for each finished hour of audio, typically ranging from $100 to $400 per finished hour depending on experience and the project; royalty share (RS) where the narrator receives no upfront payment but earns a 20% royalty on all sales through Audible, Amazon, and iTunes in perpetuity; and royalty share plus (RS+) which combines a reduced upfront PFH rate with ongoing royalties. ACX distributes audiobooks exclusively through Audible, Amazon, and iTunes, and takes a significant distribution cut — narrators on exclusive distribution deals earn 40% of net sales revenue on royalty-share projects, while non-exclusive deals reduce this to 25%. Payments are made monthly, approximately 30 days after the end of each earning period, with a $10 minimum threshold for direct deposit.
Pros & Cons
What's Great
ACX provides direct access to the world's largest audiobook retailer, Audible, which dominates the audiobook market with an estimated 60-65% market share, meaning your finished productions reach the largest possible audience automatically. The platform is free to join and imposes no barriers to entry, allowing narrators at any experience level to start auditioning immediately and build a professional catalog from day one. The royalty share model allows new narrators to take on projects without any financial risk, building experience and a portfolio of completed audiobooks while earning passive income on every sale for years to come. ACX's audition system is straightforward — rights holders post their books with sample scripts, narrators record auditions, and the rights holder selects their preferred voice, creating a merit-based selection process that rewards good performance over credentials. The platform handles all distribution, marketing integration with Amazon's recommendation engine, and royalty accounting, allowing narrators to focus on performance rather than business logistics. Completed audiobooks become permanent catalog items that generate ongoing passive income, with popular titles earning royalties for years after initial production.
What Could Be Better
The royalty share model, while accessible, often results in extremely low total compensation — many RS titles sell fewer than 100 copies, meaning a narrator who spent 40+ hours producing a book may earn less than minimum wage when total sales are calculated. ACX's exclusive distribution requirement means your audiobook is only available through Audible, Amazon, and iTunes, locking out growing competitors like Google Play, Kobo, and Libro.fm that could generate additional sales. The per-finished-hour rate market has experienced downward pressure as more narrators join the platform, and some rights holders post PFH projects at rates well below industry standards established by SAG-AFTRA. ACX's quality control process, ACX Audio Lab, can reject finished audiobooks for technical issues, and the rejection criteria are sometimes perceived as inconsistent, potentially requiring expensive re-recording or remastering after weeks of work. The platform provides limited marketing tools and no promotional support for individual titles, meaning sales depend heavily on the author's own marketing efforts and Amazon's organic discoverability. Communication between narrators and rights holders is mediated through ACX's messaging system, which can be slow and lacks features that would make collaboration more efficient.
Our Recommendation
ACX is essential for any voice actor serious about audiobook narration — it provides access to the dominant distribution channel and offers a low-risk entry point through the royalty share model that no other platform matches. New narrators should start with royalty share projects to build their catalog, learn the production process, and accumulate ratings and reviews, then transition to per-finished-hour projects as their reputation grows and they can command professional rates. Experienced narrators should focus primarily on PFH work at rates that reflect their skill level, using RS selectively only for titles with strong commercial potential from established authors or publishers. If you want to maximize audiobook earnings and distribution reach, consider supplementing ACX with platforms like Findaway Voices that offer non-exclusive distribution to additional retailers. Voice actors who find long-form narration tedious or who lack the home studio quality required for audiobook production should focus on shorter-form voiceover work through marketplace platforms instead.
Pro Tips
Before accepting any royalty share project, research the author's previous titles, marketing platform, social media following, and sales history — an author with no audience and no marketing plan will almost certainly produce a title that earns negligible royalties regardless of your narration quality. Invest in acoustic treatment and audio processing that meets ACX's technical specifications before producing your first title, as failed quality checks after weeks of recording are devastatingly costly in time and morale. Record and edit a 15-minute sample chapter before committing to a full production to ensure you and the rights holder are aligned on pace, style, and character voices, and include clear revision terms in your agreement. Build a production workflow that includes consistent recording sessions, same-day editing, and regular quality checks rather than recording an entire book and editing after the fact, which makes it nearly impossible to maintain consistent sound quality. Aim to complete at least 10 finished audiobook titles on ACX before expecting meaningful passive income, as a diverse catalog increases the probability that at least some titles will find an audience and generate consistent sales.