Updated 03/04/2021.

What’s it like using ACX in 2020?

• The Alliance of Independent Authors Downgrades Amazon ACX’s Rating as a Self-Publishing Service
• A Note from ACX

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In May of 2016, I approved an audiobook adaption of my debut novel. Creating an audiobook edition appealed to me for two reasons.

First, audiobooks allow authors to reach an entirely different audience.

An audiobook is the only way some people consume books. Since my husband spends a lot of time in the car,  he has become an audiobook listener. Same with my sister-in-law. Some people have vision problems that preclude reading ebooks or regular books.

Readers of traditional books and ebooks are listening more, too. The audiobook’s hands-free portability is appealing, and so is the timeless enjoyment of listening to a story.

In her newsletter, author Jody Hedlund wrote:

“No doubt about it. Audio books are growing in popularity. The Wall Street Journal calls the popularity an ‘explosion.’ An article in The Telegraph in 2015 said: “Sales of audio books have doubled in the last five years, thanks to the popularity of digital downloads.” In fact, according to the American Publishers Association, audio books saw a 19.5 percent rise in unit sales over just the past year alone (The National).”

And there’s this:

“What do runners, quilters, dog walkers, cooks and people unwinding at the end of the day all have in common? They are among the 24 percent of Americans who listened to an audiobook in the past year – that’s a 22 percent increase over the previous year. With this increase in listeners, more titles are being published: In 2012, just over 16,000 [audiobook] titles were published; by 2016, that number had surged to more than 50,000.”  (Bookpage, June 2018)

Second, I’ll admit to a selfish satisfaction in hearing my book read aloud.

To be honest, I flitted between being thrilled and cringing, but I’ve done that when reading the paperback as well. (The neuroses of authors is a subject for another post.)

Not convinced? Bookbub enumerates the reasons indie authors should turn their books into audiobooks too. Continue reading →