Erggo

Karen@KarenCommins.com

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™

Authors

Revoked Findaway’s License to Apple for Machine Learning

As I wrote in 2021, taking steps to remove the human voice and replace it with a synthesized one destroys the art form.

I certainly do not want or intend to participate in any attempt to create artificial voices meant to replace human narrators.

However, I unknowingly may have done that very thing by choosing to distribute audiobooks through FindawayVoices.com. Today, I took action to revoke Findaway’s license to Apple to use my audiobooks for machine learning.


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How to Download Clubhouse Replays

I’ve recently enjoyed participating in several Clubhouse chats. In fact, I held an Ask Me Anything on the site on 9/16/22 to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of NarratorsRoadmap.com.

If you click the link above, you’ll see it goes to an Evernote page that has the Clubhouse graphic and audio recording of the chat, as well as an AI-generated transcript from Sonix.ai. (Please see the additional comments about the transcript in the notes below.)

When creating an open Clubhouse room, Replays are ON by default. The Replay is created automatically once you open the room and will be available on Clubhouse until you delete it. Replays let your audience hear the discussion at a later time, share the link to the chat on and off Clubhouse, skip to the next speaker, and make 30-second clips.

Just as — perhaps even more — importantly, Replays can be re-purposed in other ways, such as in part or whole on other social media sites. You know I LOVE to re-purpose content! For instance, I could transcribe one or more recordings and copy my words to a blog article. I’m also extracting clips to make audiograms to promote the replay in between live events.

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Much More Than “Just Reading”

An author wrote to me this week because her publisher sent her a list of items to be done before they could produce the audiobook. She wanted to know if these requests were typical. She complained that the publisher is only uploading the audiobook files and taking her royalties, but she had to design the cover and market the audiobook. She concluded, “I feel I’m doing all the work for someone to just read my book out loud.”

I’ll answer her question, but, more importantly, I also want to address the erroneous statement that the narrator is “just reading the book out loud.”

The word READING spell in colorful, kid's letters with other letters lying around it.

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Feather, Phone, and Fun

I’ve been receiving Mike Dooley’s daily Notes from the Universe for years. I’ve taken some of his courses, and I enjoy how he presents material on the Law of Attraction.

I signed up for his Magical Mystery Manifesting Adventure, which began today. Each day in the 21 days, he and co-presenter Pam Grout will send an email with a secret mission of something to manifest.

When I read today’s assignment of a feather, I thought of a peacock feather. If you read my last blog post or saw this tweet or this Facebook post of a my picture of a real peacock, you might think I have a fondness for peacocks! I thought a feather would be unusual to find.

Drew and I were on our way to pick up something we had ordered. It was Friday lunchtime traffic on a major road that is always congested.

I saw we were about to drive by a flea market I like but haven’t shopped in for a year or more. It’s one of those places that used to be a grocery store but is now filled with several hundred vendors who sell everything from baseball cards to crystal chandeliers. Some of the booths contain so much merchandise that you can’t see everything and have difficulty even walking in. I fear one wrong move will send some precarious piece crashing to the floor.

I said I’d like to stop there. His first inclination was that it was too difficult to turn left out of its parking lot to get to the store. I said I had no business at the flea market and wasn’t looking for anything in particular. We should go on to our destination.

As we turned on the street by the flea market, I commented that we could’ve turned right out of the parking lot and gone only a little bit out of the way to the store. He offered to turn around, but I stubbornly said to keep going where we were headed.

He said again he could turn around because he knew I’d want to go to the flea market.

Reader, that wonderful man I married DID turn around, drove back to the flea market, and parked in front of the door.

I usually like to walk up and down every aisle, taking a quick look left and right to see everything crammed in all the stalls. I skipped a couple of aisles to avoid other shoppers and thought about leaving and returning some weekday when fewer people would be there.

I had not told Drew about the feather assignment.

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Commit to Creativity Workshop

Yesterday I attended the Commit to Creativity workshop hosted by Krista Vernoff, show runner for the Grey’s Anatomy TV show and others. After doing 2 writing exercises during the workshop, I feel inspired and energized to write more articles here on my blog.

I’ll discuss the workshop and share those 2 powerful writing prompts in a minute. First, I want to discuss my plans for this blog going forward.

I want to write more frequently, and I want to write shorter pieces sometimes.

I also give myself permission to write more about my own journey as a recording artist, writer, and owner of a membership site. While I’m changing my format and focus somewhat from more substantive content that I’d call “teachable moments” — I will still write those, of course! — I think the lessons I learn and observations I have along the way will still be relevant to other narrators and authors who are publishing their work in audiobooks.

With that said, let me tell you now about the workshop yesterday.

Zoom window of panelists Krista Vernoff, Debbie Allen, Cheryl Strayed, Nia Vardalos

I could say that I only learned about this workshop through accident.

On 29 December 2020, I saw a post in a Facebook group where someone referenced this Twitter thread that Krista Vernoff wrote about having a life in the arts. I confess that I did not know who she was when I clicked the link.

I connected to what she wrote and saw that she was hosting this workshop. Her guests were actress/director/dancer/choreographer Debbie Allen, actress/writer Nia Vardalos, and author Cheryl Strayed.

I knew the phenomenal accomplishments of these ladies and thought the afternoon would be entertaining, if nothing else. I signed up.

When the event started, I felt excited to be in the presence of these creative powerhouses! Within a few minutes, their genuine natures had crossed the ether in the casual Zoom atmosphere and made me feel like they were mentors and friends I had known for years.

Of course, I took a loooong page of notes in Evernote! Almost every utterance from each of these accomplished women was a golden nugget of wisdom. Listed below are a few of the gems I heard:

  • The most important thing is to learn how to take a note even if you don’t like it. — Krista Vernoff
  • If the phone doesn’t ring with a job offer, call yourself and do your own project. — Nia Vardalos
  • Don’t reject yourself. Don’t let someone else’s opinion or criticism come for you. — Debbie Allen
  • Part of creating art is letting it go. — Cheryl Strayed

 

A Compelling Case Study

One part of the conversation was particularly thrilling to anyone in a creative field as we all can follow similar steps to our own destiny!

Early in her career, Cheryl wrote a series of essays as if she were an advice columnist named Sugar. She wrote them for free to create content for a friend’s web site.

At some point, she repackaged and repurposed those essays into a book named Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar.

Some time later, a director urged Nia to read Tiny Beautiful Things. Nia had a highly emotional experience in reading the book; she used the phrase “it unzipped me” to describe it.

Nia decided she wanted to adapt it for a stage play — not that she had any experience in stage adaptations.

She laughed as she said she had the AUDACITY to ask Cheryl Strayed for the permission to develop that adaptation.

Not only did Cheryl say “yes” to the adaptation, but she asked Nia to play Sugar in the stage production! Although Nia hadn’t even given herself permission to ask that question, she had no hesitation in her answer: “Yes, please!”

She and Cheryl lived on opposite coasts, so it cost Nia money to fly back and forth for meetings with Cheryl and later the Broadway production.

In its review of the play, the New York Times awarded a Critics Pick designation.

Nia commented that she’d made the least money on that play than any other professional pursuit, but it gave her the most professional satisfaction.

Now, the play has been done in numerous other cities and theatres. I’m sure when Cheryl wrote all of the columns originally way back when, she never would have dreamed that her creative output would take on the life that it did.

By the way, Nia did an incredible reading from the libretto that had us all in tears. Cheryl’s words and Nia’s interpretation left me breathless and further motivated me to continue improving my acting ability in order to bring even more nuance to my narration.

 

The Writing Prompts

At the workshop’s conclusion, I no longer thought of this workshop as an “accidental” find. It was more a case of “when the student is ready, the teacher appears.”

You’ll remember that I said Cheryl gave us 2 writing prompts. In writing the second one, I found marching orders to guide my path going forward!

She explained we must trust the clarity of our deepest inner truth. Every day, she has to face down the inner critic and start new. Cheryl said, “Every time you do it, you evolve. You hand yourself the key to your next becoming.”

The writing prompt she gave us was:

Dear [your name here],

This is your deepest inner truth, and here is what I know.

In her prelude to the second prompt, Cheryl stated that your power/strength/love is at the root of your desire. She encouraged us to not think about the obstacles we face, but to instead think how it feels when you have stepped into your power and are creating your art. “Who are you when you are doing what you are most deeply, divinely called to do?”

Here’s the writing prompt:

Dear [your name here],

This is your power, and this is who you are when you own me.

In both cases, you should set a timer for 10 minutes and then write everything that comes to you as fast as you can. Don’t stop to edit or fix mistakes. Just keep writing.

For me, the last 3 sentences I wrote about my power contained truths I knew but had tried to ignore.

I won’t ignore them any more.

 

If you do these 2 exercises, did you learn something about yourself? I hope you’ll share your comments below!

 

Cure For The ACX 7-Year Itch

Last updated 2/20/21

 

If you own the audio rights to your book, you are referred to as the rights holder (RH). The RH has many choices when starting an audiobook project. Two of the most important decisions you’ll make are the narrator’s payment and the audiobook’s distribution.

Make these decisions very carefully and INDEPENDENTLY because their long-term repercussions could be harmful to you in ways you don’t expect!

Payment Options

You basically have 3 ways to pay your narrator:

  1. Per Finished Hour (PFH) — You pay $X times each finished hour of audio up-front to the narrator. For instance, a $300 PFH rate on an 8-hour audiobook would cost $2400 at the time the audiobook is completed.
  2. Royalty Share (RS) — Rather than you paying anything up-front to the narrator, you agree to share your royalties with the narrator. The narrator gambles that her narrator fee and production expenses for team members (director, editor, proofer) will earn out over time through the royalties. This contract can be structured so that the narrator receives ALL royalties until her fee is paid or, more typically, the royalties are split equally between the RH and narrator for the course of the contract.
  3. Hybrid/Royalty Share Plus (RS+) — You pay the narrator some up-front fee to cover their hard expenses and also have a royalty share contract.

Recommendation:  By using a PFH payment, you could contract with a narrator completely outside of ACX or any other distribution platform and upload your completed audiobook to the distributors of your choice as a DIY project.

You may want to download and modify one of the contracts on this page if you go this route.

 

street sign that says 7 year itch

ACX as Distributor

This article focuses on using ACX as your distributor since it is the most widely known and utilized site.

Many RHs find a Royalty Share (RS) contract with the narrator on ACX.com to be very attractive because they can get an audiobook made without incurring up-front costs. They often don’t consider that this kind of contract marries the narrator’s payment to the distribution agreement.

Narrators are reluctant to accept an RS contract because the narrator shoulders ALL of the risk for low or no sales. Narrators look for several conditions to mitigate their risk.

A narrator is much more willing to accept the ACX hybrid contract known as Royalty Share Plus (RS+). In addition to the equal royalty split, the RH pays the narrator an amount up-front to help offset the narrator’s immediate expenses. The amount is negotiated between the RH and narrator and can be a set fee but is usually priced per finished hour (PFH).

With either an RS or RS+ contract, you are forced to accept exclusive distribution, meaning your audiobook will only be sold on Audible, Amazon, and Apple Books for the initial distribution term of 7 years. You have no option to upload your audiobook to other sites for wide distribution or sell it on CD or from your web site.

As I’ve previously written, indie authors get frustrated with the RS option for a number of reasons, especially when they itch to be relieved of the 7-year distribution term.

 

Contract Language

You have 2 contracts in place: the Book Posting Agreement between you and Audible, and the Production Standard Terms between you, Audible, and the narrator.

The distribution language is contained in the ACX Book Posting Agreement.

Sections 5A and 5B on exclusive or non-exclusive distribution set the initial distribution term at 7 years and include this auto-renewal clause:

After the Initial Term [7 years], this Agreement will renew automatically for additional 1 year terms (each, a “Renewal Term”) unless either party provides written notice of termination to the other party at least 60 days prior to the end of the Initial Term or the then-current Renewal Term.

Section 13B about changing the distribution to non-exclusive states:

If you elect to pay the Producer who produces an Audiobook using the ACX royalty share option, you must grant Audible exclusive distribution rights to the Audiobook and you cannot change your grant to non-exclusive.

In Section 14, the RH agrees that Audible will pay the royalties to producers on an RS contract.

Section 5-1 of the Production Standard Terms discusses the royalty payments.

Suppose you decide to use an RS or RS+ contract. Can you cancel distribution before the end of the initial 7 years?

If you want to cancel the distribution before the end of the 7 years, you must obtain the narrator’s permission to dissolve an RS or RS+ contract. Almost certainly, the narrator rightfully will demand a termination fee at that point. While section 8B of the Book Posting Agreement specifies termination fees prior to the completion of production, the contracts are silent about the termination fee once the book is on sale.

You and the narrator therefore will need to negotiate the kill fee. Remember, the narrator is expecting to earn at least their PFH rate through the royalties. If the audiobook’s sales have surpassed the total of what the PFH rate would have been, the narrator may reasonably propose a kill fee that also includes the loss of expected royalties.

The ACX blog states:

Effective February 1, ACX Rights Holders of DIY or Pay-for-Production titles that have been on sale for 90 or more days can convert their distribution type from exclusive to non-exclusive. In addition, all ACX Rights Holders will have the option to terminate after 90 days of distribution, but Rights Holders with Royalty Share or Royalty Share Plus deals must provide Producer consent when making their request.

The contract language has not been updated to reflect this policy change.

What happens after the contract finishes its initial 7-year distribution term?

As you saw above, Audible’s contract language says exclusive RS agreements can’t be changed. The only way the RH can remove the narrator from the RS agreement is for them to terminate distribution with Audible, as confirmed in this section of the Contracts and Agreements Qs and As page:

Can I change my contract from Exclusive to Non-exclusive?

Changing the distribution rights to your audiobook depends on the payment option you have chosen. If the audiobook was completed as a pay-for-production deal, the distribution rights can be changed from exclusive to non-exclusive after it has been live in the store for one year. If this audiobook is in a royalty share deal, then the agreement can never be changed. For more information, please reference section 12.a. of the Book Posting Agreement.”

I’ve had a number of RS books I narrated pulled by the RH after the 7-year initial distribution term because they wanted to terminate the RS contract. The big downside to this approach is that the RH not only loses the income and visibility of the book being on Audible, but all of the ratings and reviews the book earned during the 7 years are gone, too.

At the point the RH terminates the RS contract, he then may republish the audiobook since he owns the copyright to the recording, and the producer has assigned all interest in the book to the RH, as explicitly stated in Section 10 of the Production Standard Terms:

Ownership. Subject to the restriction on audiobook production rights above and the distribution rights granted by Rights Holder to Audible, Rights Holder will retain all right, title, and interest in and to the Book and the Audiobook, including the copyright in the Book and the sound recording copyright in the Audiobook. Producer agrees that the Audiobook is a “work made for hire” to the full extent permitted by law, with all copyrights in the Audiobook owned by Rights Holder. To the extent that the Audiobook does not qualify as a work made for hire under applicable law, Producer assigns to Rights Holder all right, title and interest Producer may have in and to the Audiobook, including, but not limited to, all copyright or rights of authorship in the Audiobook. Producer will ensure that its agreements with any third parties Producer engages to assist in the production of the Audiobook establish Rights Holder’s sole ownership in the Audiobook. Producer will use the form agreements referenced in Section 2 above. At Rights Holder’s request, Producer will provide Rights Holder with copies of the agreements.

Be aware that ACX and Audible will not send the audio files to you. You would need to download them from your ACX Dashboard. Go to Completed Projects, select the book, choose Produce Audiobook tab, and download each file by pressing Download on the right side.

 

The cure for the ACX 7-year itch is available to you at the BEGINNING of the project: decide to pay the narrator per finished hour (PFH) instead of using an RS or RS+ contract. 

When you pay a PFH rate at the outset, you can select non-exclusive distribution on ACX and then immediately distribute your audiobook to other platforms, including those that offer your audiobook to libraries. You also have the option of exclusive distribution for the first year and then changing to non-exclusive distribution as early as year two.

As you can see on my RH info page, I ask new clients to pay a 50% deposit after approving the 15-minute sample. I invoice for the final 50% after uploading the completed audiobook. In cases where the RH and I contract independently of ACX or another platform, I withhold at least the end credits and retail sample until the invoice is paid. I encourage other narrators to adopt a similar policy.