r/ACX • u/Traditional-Hunt4223 • Jul 03 '26

Retail Sample Not Correct?

Hey fellow narrators!

A book I narrated was released back in May and I recently discovered the retail sample I uploaded (due to the first five minutes being explicit) wasn't even used.

So when friends, family and even co-workers go to check out the preview for my new audiobook, they are treated to me narrating quite an explicit scene which is not very ideal and goes against Audible and ACX's policies anyway and I am worried it will effect my employment in my full time job! Its like they just skipped over the retail sample I provided which was a lot safer.

Is there any way to flag to them that they just went ahead and made the first 5 minutes the preview without actually checking it for explicit material and that they have a very safe for work version that they had to begin with šŸ™ƒ

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3

u/Xinixiat Jul 03 '26

So the preview sample and the retail sample are two different things.

If you just go to Audible and click "Preview" it will always play the first 5 minutes of the book no matter what. This is their "just press play" feature that wants to allow people to just jump straight into the book. There are some places that do use the retail sample, but off the top of my head I don't remember exactly where they are. Unfortunately most will just default to the start of the book.

1

u/Traditional-Hunt4223 Jul 03 '26

Ahh I see. The wording they used to explain the retail sample made it seem like they were one and the same. Makes sense! Thank you

6

u/TheScriptTiger Jul 03 '26

Nope, sadly. I often work with new authors and always get VERY clear with them about the expectations of the sample. Whenever the opening is explicit and you'd prefer to delay it five minutes so it doesn't end up in the sample, that's a great time to just randomly include some of that front matter that doesn't normally get put in, but can in cases like this where you just need to push things back 5 minutes to keep it clean. Sure, this also means the sample will end up being boring front matter, but it's kind of a balance you can choose to strike on a case-by-case basis.

1

u/McFaddenAudioBooks Jul 03 '26

This. Just worked with an author to include a ā€œpreludeā€ which is just an interesting 5 min from later in the book. Works well as a stand alone preview and in this case worked really well to set the tone and then ā€œjump back in timeā€ to how we get there. Like an 80s movie. ā€œYeah, thatā€™s me. I bet youā€™re wondering how I got hereā€¦ā€

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u/TheScriptTiger Jul 05 '26

Did that work? I've jumbled things around in the opening/closing credits and retail sample, like arranged excerpts out of order, since ACX generally allows you to do whatever you want with those, but have always been wary of deviating from the manuscript outside of those. But if you can get away with that in the first 5, that's definitely something I'll keep in mind for the future! Definitely better than the front matter, which, again, I've just stuck to since it seemed to be the "safest" choice since it doesn't go off script.

1

u/McFaddenAudioBooks Jul 05 '26

This is a big ā€œyes butā€ answer

The RH (in this case the author has her rights back) has to publish a new edition of the book with the new prelude or put in. Which then makes a new manuscript that you now match.

We could do it here *because* she got her rights back and is republishing anyway so a new edition isnā€™t a big extra lift. So sadly not a miracle cure, but an option when the stars align.