What you should know about ACX contracts as a new narrator 

Thank you so much for watching! I'm happy to help! And welcome to the VO family!

Glad to help!

I would sign up for PayPal or PayPal business, most sites use it for payment processing, and you can invoice clients with it. It's recognizable and used everywhere.

Ok sounds good! Thanks for the quick reply!

You rock! Thank you!

I've heard alot about it, but I have not personally used it. I can see how it could be helpful!

Glad to have you!

Hi Laura! Totally relatable! Your mic should have come with a cable, plug one end into the mic, the other end into the input that matches on the M-Audio unit (your interface). Then, plug the usb from your interface into your computer. There maybe some software from your interface that needs to upload to work properly but that's about it. :) Then, choose a DAW (recording software) and get started with the tutoriaks on how to use your DAW and practice.

@@VoiceOverAngela OMG, thanks soooo much! I looked at my stuff and my interface doesn't have anywhere for a USB? I bought this one (M-Audio AIR 192|6 - 2-In 2-Out USB Audio / MIDI Interface with Recording Software from Pro-Tools & Ableton Live, Plus Studio-Grade FX & Instruments ) over a year ago...too late to return it since I didn't even look into setting it all up until recently. I also bought some HUGE cable thing and headphones. The big cable thing looks like one end goes into the interface...Ok I looked and it is a mic cord. Was suggested as what I needed when I was researching last year at this time. Sounds like it is not essential. So maybe I could try and sell this interface and get one you have suggested...I truly cannot thank you enough, your help has encouraged me. I think I will buy a new interface (haven't bothered to download their software as there was no point playing around when nothing was hooked up to power! LOL) and get this all set up, play around and see what happens. I know you are soooo busy, I appreciate you taking time to help me. I plan to watch every single video you have ever made on here! Take care! I am learning sooooo much and am excited for my new career path! No more being a nanny and chasing kids around! LOL

You can negotiate with the RH before you accept, if the rate is acceptable, tell them you collect 50% upfront. I missed last week's live due to illness, but I'll be back next Tuesday! :)

@@VoiceOverAngela Thank you, Angela! I'll reach out to the rights holder and negotiate the upfront payment before accepting the contract offer. I appreciate your advice and I'm looking forward to tuning in next Tuesday.

Well, if I were in your shoes, I would wait and send reminders. You could also include that the clock for delivery wouldn't start until you have the manuscript. :) You never know, they may have had an emergency or something come up. Thanks for watching!

Thank you so much for your response, they’ve finally sent the manuscript and I’m on my way to producing the 15 minute checkpoint, so very excited for that, hope everything goes well, again, thanks for your help, your content has been very helpful to me, I’ve learned a lot….have a great one.

As the client, the text or page format doesn't really matter for us, we just need it in a document format we can open. Microsoft Word or pdf are best. I've had many .epub or other formats that the software to open these aren't found on everyday computers. They can be converted online but some sites want to charge to convert if its too large or narrators simply don't know they can use these converters.

In my opinion, if it's the cost of doing business. Keep fees in mind when determining your rates, but fees are a common business expense.

Hi Travis! Im sorry that happened to you. I would send him an invoice for the agreed upon rate, if there was one. I would use a service like Paypal business to send invoices with due dates. Be sure to get confirmation in writing of what the terms are before you start and you can even negotiate 50% upfront.

@@VoiceOverAngela okay thanks! And yeah he totally agreed on the terms that I laid out clearly. So I’ll send him an invoice and link my PayPal. Thanks again!

If the pseudonym is what you're using to narrate the book, I wouldn't think so. To be sure, check if this is in ACX's FAQs or reach out to customer support. 😉

@@VoiceOverAngela Thank you Angela, your thinking seems right. Coincidentally after messaging it occurred to me to check with ACX too so i emailed them. They said it is OK to use a pen name and have that name in the contract. On a side note, point to be noted is they used the word "pen name" instead of "pseudo name". "Pseudo" does make me sound like a fraud but "pen" does sounds better, and in my case my voice-over name is just an abbreviation of my real name so some resemblance there, and nothing totally off like Dr. Oz.😁.