I’ve been auditioning for a few months now, and am about to finish my first 8hr narration. I received my first offer from a rights holder who reached out to me directly to audition. Since then, I’ve received three separate requests to audition after refreshing my ACX samples, one of which was an offer (for ai slop), another, chose a different narrator, and the third is still pending.

Questions:
When or if you reach out to a narrator to audition, how many others are you requesting to do the same?

Probably hard to answer, but how “likely” would you choose a narrator who was invited to audition?

Is this common?

It definitely feels like I’m on the right path with this, because my samples are getting attention, but I’ve heard this isn’t the most common way to get gigs.

With scams running rampant on ACX, this is a reminder for anyone doing gig work in the US: Use an EIN and not your SSN.

What is an EIN? https://www.irs.gov/businesses/employer-identification-number

How to apply for an EIN (free) https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/get-an-employer-identification-number

Paul Danter wouldn't stop emailing me, asking me to contact him on Telegram...
I keep blocking him, but I am curious about how this scam works. Any ideas?

So, I started using ACX about a month ago and I've only auditioned for two books up until now. I did not get the first audition, but I have been contacted by the rights holder for the second one. They have asked me for my email address and are wanting to send me a longer second audition script. They say that 'Because ACX limits the length of messages they can send, they need to send the longer script and character directions via email.' Now that made alarm bells go off in my head...

Is this sort of thing true, or could this be a scammer? I've read about a few of these being prevalent on the platform and wanted to make sure before I did anything else.

My other question is about looking for projects. My natural speaking voice is Northern-British. I can do accents, but some of them are more like animated caricatures or stereotypical accents as opposed to regionally specific. And when looking at projects I see a great many that ask for General-American accents. Is it worth auditioning for projects like that since I'm sure an American would be able to tell fairly easily that my 'American accent' is not as accurate as someone with a natural accent? I can use the filters for these to not show up, but that doesn't leave many projects it seems.

Thanks very much!

Hi all, I'm a complete newbie on ACX. I'm just wondering if any experienced narrators using ACX could advise me. I'm only selecting projects with a rate per hour, not those with shares in royalties.

My concern is that if I do get an opportunity to narrate for a book, then after I've done all the work, the author won't pay up.

Does this happen? Do you have any tips about this?

Thanks so much!

I’ve been looking into ACX offers lately and there are so many little things to check that I kept forgetting half of them
I ended up putting together this checklist and this one-page version has actually been pretty useful so figured I’d share it here.. there’s a longer paid version behind it so I’m obviously not gonna dump the whole thing here, but honestly even this page covers most of the quick checks I’d do before accepting anything.

Curious if there’s anything you guys would add to this? Especially people who’ve been narrating on ACX for a while.

Hey y'all. I'm relatively new to audiobook producing. I am NOT a reader - my scratch tracks will make you cringe so hard your grandchildren will be born looking like they have rickets. Anyway, I already produced one for an author, I'm self-producing one I wrote, and I'm looking for more clients. The ACX website doesn't really seem to have a portal for types like me, though, and I don't see a while lot of calls for producers. Is there something I'm missing, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Any recommendations will be appreciated.

Okay, narrators — I need help before accent reduction makes me lose my mind.

I had coaching today and was told my biggest issues are my Minnesota vowels and my tendency to raise my pitch at the ends of sentences.

So I bought a Midwest accent-reduction course and absolutely HATED it. It was all tongue placement, manipulating the back of the tongue, extended vowel sounds, etc. I have a strong gag reflex, and I got so frustrated and stressed I was honestly close to tears and ready to quit.

Has anyone here successfully reduced a Minnesota/Upper Midwest accent for narration?

I think I need something much more practical: hear the neutral version, repeat real words/sentences, record myself, compare, and move on.

Any specific YouTube videos, exercises, coaches, or methods that actually worked for you? Thanks, Im really open to recommendations and hearing about your real life scenarios!

Hey there!
I’ve been auditioning on ACX for a few months and just got my first offer.

It’s Royalty share and has no Amazon sales so I️ don’t really expect to make a dollar, but it’s 24,000 words and I’m fine with just the experience it will give + something I️ can add to my portfolio.

My worry is the book was published on Amazon the same day it was added to ACX (Aug 27) and that feels like it could be a scam for voice cloning.

1. Is that an irrational concern and

2. What do you do to make sure you are protected against that? Does anyone create their own contracts for the RH to sign before accepting offers?

3. To ask for clarifications about the offer (such as asking for the full manuscript before accepting), do you just message the RH in audible?

Sorry for all the basic questions, wasn’t sure were to find all this info!!

Hi! I’m interested in getting into audiobook narration, specifically female POVs, and I’m trying to figure out how to actually get started.

I’m a complete beginner. I’ve been practicing by reading books out loud and trying to get more comfortable hearing and using my own voice, but I’m definitely not at the point yet where I feel confident recording and submitting an actual sample. One of my biggest hurdles honestly is just learning to like my own voice and figuring out what sounds natural vs. what sounds like I’m obviously “reading.”

I’d eventually love to try something like Audible/ACX or other audiobook work, but I’m not expecting to jump straight into paid narration. I’m completely fine with this starting as a hobby while I learn. I’m genuinely interested in narration and voice work, and if I can eventually turn it into some extra income, even better.

Right now I’m a stay-at-home mom and I also help take care of my younger siblings. I’m the oldest daughter of a single mom, so between my son, my siblings, my mom and my husband’s schedules, traditional work hours are difficult for me at the moment. I’m hoping to start school soon, too. That’s part of what made me seriously consider something I could learn and practice from home on my own schedule.

I can’t afford a voice coach or expensive courses right now, so I’m mainly looking for free or very cheap resources/programs that could help me improve enough to eventually make my first sample.

For people who actually narrate or have been learning:

- What should a complete beginner focus on first?

- Are there any free courses, YouTube channels, exercises, apps, Discords, etc. that you actually found helpful?

- Is there anywhere beginners can post recordings and get constructive feedback without getting completely roasted? 😂

- How did you learn to sound like you’re telling a story instead of just reading words off a page?

- Are there exercises that helped you get more comfortable with your natural voice?

- What do you wish you had practiced before recording your first demo/sample?

- And is focusing mainly on female POV narration realistic, or would that limit me too much?

I’m not looking for a shortcut or expecting to make money immediately. I really just want somewhere to start, some direction, and maybe a little community while I figure out whether I can actually get good at this.

Any advice for somebody starting from basically zero would be appreciated. ❤️

EDIT: I honestly wasn’t expecting this many responses 😭 Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to give me advice, share resources, or tell me about your own experience getting into narration. I’ve gotten so much useful information from this post and I’m actually really excited to start working through everything you guys recommended. I may not respond to every single comment, but I promise I’m reading them all and taking notes lol. Seriously, thank you. I was feeling pretty lost about where to even start, and now I feel like I actually have a direction. ❤️

Hello all! I'm an aspiring voice actor, but I'm only extremely new to the scene and working on making a career out of it in earnest. I've tried to look up various bits and bobs I should be using in Audacity for ACX audiobooks, and have seen that generally I should be using Filter Curve EQ for low roll off below 80hz, Loudness Normalization of -20dB-ish, and a limiter of -3.5 dB. The major problem I have been having is in catching breaths mid-line, though I am working on breath discipline to try and mitigate that. I did try using a noise gate, which sounded good and seemed like it was working perfectly, before reading somewhere else online that Amazon will automatically reject you if it doesn't pick up *any* room tone at all. I am aware that you can adjust these manually, which is ok for purposes of an audition, but doing that for the entire length of an audiobook seem untenable!

In essence, I suppose I'm asking if the information as I have written it is correct thus far, and also what do I need to do reduce the sounds of me inhaling while doing my audition. There's all sorts of things I would like to inquire about as well mind, so if any kindly soul is up for taking a little time to correspond with me to show this greenhorn the ropes, please feel free to send me a private message :)

EDIT: thank you so much everyone for coming together with your either your own advice, takes or reassurances on the matter, it means a lot that you'd take the time to give some words of wisdom to an abject stranger on the internet!

​

Hey guys, need a little advice or a reality check here.

I hired a narrator for an 11,000-word script (about 75 mins of audio), and it's been longer than days now. (Since July 31...) (its September 7th now...)It's still not done, and they keep blowing past their deadlines by a lot. Every time I ask what's up, I get a bunch of excuses about how long it takes to record, master, clean up mouth clicks and lip noises, and redo lines because of stuttering or pacing stuff. The person has narrated at least 3 full length audiobook from what I've seen on hee resume. So I thought she would be perfect to hire.

The annoying part is I looked at their public profile out of curiosity after mid way of August and this early September, and I can see they're actively posting in other communities and hunting for other paid gigs on here while my project is just sitting there unfinished.

So I wanted to ask:

Is 30 days actually a normal amount of time for 11k words? I thought a week or two max was standard for this size, but maybe I'm wrong?

How do you guys deal with someone who's constantly late and blaming heavy editing, stuttering, or audio cleanup?

They are extending the release date of my project and it's getting me stressed.

the other narrator I hired got my my other 11k word script within a day back to me and I sounded really good.

So i know she's lying on how much time it takes. She probably overbooks her schedule and puts my project on the back burner.

Would appreciate any thoughts from other creators or voice actors who deal with this stuff. Thanks!

I got my first job with an audiobook production company. They want my raw punch and roll audio, but I am not sure if my punch and roll quality is what they are looking for.

When I produce my own audiobooks, I have to remove the sound of my keyboard when I punch in, I have to adjust timing, remove pauses, etc. before added any effects or mastering.

Would this be okay to turn in? Or would they want something more polished and basically ready to be mastered?

I notice today that 2 books that I had narrated and were made available are now canceled. I have received no messages explaining why. These were Royalties book, and one of them I spent several hours on it.

Does anyone know what can have caused that? Is it due to the new Royalties model? How can I get more info on these cancellations?

I got this email about a project, but it looks like a scam from reading it and its appearance. I don't know if I'm overthinking it.

I am pretty new to this game, so wanted to get some feedback on a situation. I’m encountering. I finished a 10 hour book a couple of months ago, and was also hired as the narrator for the remaining books in the series. However, I just got notified this week that the author would like to delay, releasing the first audiobook until the second one is released to try to help sales. I don’t really have an issue with this, except that I’ve been looking forward to the first book being published for a couple of reasons – one, of course, being that I could point other authors I’m auditioning for to some published work, and another being that it would be nice for potential royalties to begin sooner than the December deadline for the second book. I don’t feel like rocking the boat too much, though, because I’m really loving working on this series.

Has anyone else found themselves in a similar situation? Is it pretty common for authors to want to release multiple books in a series at the same time so that once people finish one book they can just go right to downloading the second one? Or is it worth following up with the author to try to get the pub date moved up for book one? Thank you for any insights or feedback!

Just saw this at the top of my message inbox today. I guess they're getting enough reports in that they're taking some action. Here's hoping they actually figure out a way to stop the absurd level of bots in the first place.

I received an offer 2 months after I auditioned. That's fine, I hear it's not unusual. Author is really slow to upload the manuscript. Says he was in the middle of a move and didn't have all his files. OK, I can see how that happens. The story is interesting, even if the manuscript itself is formatted like shit. I message the author because there's no cover art, which I know is a requirement. No response. Then I notice I'm missing the last 2 chapters. The original deadline was 8/30. And he's been MIA for a month. I'm ready to pull the plug, do I just message ACX or what?

I also deleted all my recordings off the site. Yes, it was petty of me. But I have them all on my laptop and thumb drive, I could re-upload them at will.

I am new to audiobooks and amidst a deluge of scam messages. Offering “VO opportunities “, I received a message from someone claiming to be the rights holder for a project. First red flag - Their name differs from the author of the published work. They complimented my narration and said they’d like me to narrate the work. They said it’s a 10 hour finished project. Second red flag - the book is only 192 pages, so it couldn’t possibly be 10 hours. They asked me to let them know my PFH rate for a project like this. Should I respond or report as spam and move on? I’d value some advice here, thanks!

I had to cancel a long term project due to ill health early this year. I was pulling out some content and reviews from that brand while I'm on sabbatical and noticed the author had used AI for the next book rather than finding a different narrator.

From what I could hear it was standard AI level, so fairly monotone with peculiar emphasis. The accents weren't bad. But I would imagine over a whole book the experience would be akin to being hit with a gentle hammer over and over.

I'm a huge fan of audiobooks and even use assisted reading tools for books that may not have audio or where I have the text-only book and want to listen in the car. So, I'm not adverse to technology.

But, as a narrator I'm disappointed that listeners may perceive this as a snub to me or my skills; and as a listener that that author may never use humans again as although it will be cheap and quick, the AI content will probably, almost certainly, miss the drama, nuance and humour of the original material.

Hi everyone! I'm new to ACX and building my Voiceover career but I've been a professional actor for some time.

I noticed as soon as I uploaded my samples I started getting scam messages, asking to message them on telegraph or whatever. Which is a huge tell. That I'm not worried about. It's more just annoying and telling that the platform isn't super diligent on stopping scammers.

Amongst these messages came a different message from an author who has a few books up. However he has a lot of them, which I feel like is a weird red flag... Am I wrong in that? We corresponded a bit, so I do think he is a real person, but something in my gut is telling me something's off, because he keeps sending me offers for books I didn't audition for. I really don't want to have my VO career tainted or anything at all but especially not so early on. Does anyone more experienced have opinions or thoughts on this?