ACX option for non-US writers

[Joe_Nobody]

If you are a non-US author and want to do audio books through ACX, I dreamed up a little process that can open up this service for you.

I verified all is well with ACX this morning.

Here's the deal:

1. If you are a non-US writer and want to use ACX, email us at: [email protected]
2. We will email you back a single page, dirt-simple agreement. You give up zero rights. You are only agreeing to pay us a commission on sales.
3. Once you sign the agreement, we will give you a US address.
4. You use that address to set up your own ACX profile. Since it is in the US, you shouldn't have any issues. I don't want to know you email, password, account or anything else. That is your business.
5. You will manage the process, auditions, contracts... the entire deal. Again, that is your business.
6. Once you start selling audio books, the check, along with a statement, will be mailed to us. We will match these ACX statements with the contracts we have on file and forward 90% of the royalty onto your preferred method of payment. We will pay within 5 business days of receiving money from ACX. You can verify our numbers via your on-line account with ACX (they have a nice sales dashboard).
7. We will handle all US tax issues on our 10%. Your 90% is up to you and your home country.
8. You can cancel at any time by simply changing your pay-to information in ACX. No notice is needed. If we don't see any money deposited into our account (after you change it) then obviously we won't send you any more money.
9. You will be given a real person to call with any issues, questions or problems. He's not a nice guy, but gets the job done.

Payment methods:

We can do:
International Wire
Paypal
Check (on a US bank)

If there is any fee associated with sending you money, we are going to take it out of your 90%. If someone has a better way for us to pay, we will consider it.

Let me know if you have any questions. I am doing this to be nice and help my fellow writers. Nothing will make me happier than to see ACX open its doors to non-US writers and get me out of this. Please be kind.

You can all see the history, feedback and concerns on another thread here on the WC:

https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,170763.0.html

[KBoards.com]

[Zoe York]

Joe, I think this is fantastic! And just to confirm, while our agreement with ACX would be for a fixed number of years, our agreement with you as the pseudo-distributor could be canceled at any time, if/when they allow people to use international addresses?

I need to get my narrator busy!

[Cappy]

Joe, that's fantastic. A real boon to all of us based outside the U.S. who have watched the rise of ACX in the States with frustration.

[Lydniz]

Who would be responsible for collecting W8BEN tax exemption forms? Would it be you or ACX?

[Joe_Nobody]

Joe, I think this is fantastic! And just to confirm, while our agreement with ACX would be for a fixed number of years, our agreement with you as the pseudo-distributor could be canceled at any time, if/when they allow people to use international addresses?

I need to get my narrator busy!

Yes, you can cancel with us at any time. Since you (the author) has the only sign-on to ACX, you can simply modify your profile and change your pay-to information as you see fit. When ACX does open their doors for international business, you won't need us anymore (hooray!).

As with all such things, I recommend every author read and understand the ACX terms and conditions before taking the plunge. My little company being in the middle of the pay-chain does not alter the legal relationship between the writer and ACX.

[Joe_Nobody]

Who would be responsible for collecting W8BEN tax exemption forms? Would it be you or ACX?

We would do that. That is part of the reason why our cut is 10%. There is overhead associated with this.

[Mark E. Cooper]

We would do that. That is part of the reason why our cut is 10%. There is overhead associated with this.

Cool. Your service is going to be a huge boon, Joe. ACX is about to be swamped with new titles. This is so scary and exciting I just can't tell you. I love audio and have wanted my books on audible ever since I discovered the site.

Good on you mate.

[The 13th Doctor]

Bookmarking this. Thanks, Joe!

[73735]

Apparently, Vertical Scope doesn't seem to think they need to comply with the right to be forgotten.

[Faye Hunter]

Thanks so much, bookmarked!

[Cheryl M.]

I'm in the US, but I still think it's awesome. Good on ye. You're nicer than you're letting on.


Ink Slinger Editorial Services
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. These are not the typos you are looking for...

[Joe_Nobody]

This is very awesome of you Joe. A quick question about submitting W8BENs. Will we be able to scan and email them to you like we can with Draft2Digital, or will we need to send them via snail-mail as required by Smashwords?

Regards,
Sadie
 
Edited for typo

Scanned copy is fine. Our CPA has some system where she transfers the information directly to the IRS. Not sure how it all works, but she seems confident about the whole thing.

[Courtney Milan]

I'm local, but have had to do a bunch of international payments recently (my ACX narrator lives in the UK, plus translation stuff) so this is just a note about international payment fees.

I've found international wires to be very expensive (relatively), and if your audible money is under a few thousand dollars a month, the wire fees may end up eating significantly into profits.

The lowest cost options I've found are xoom.com and xe.com. They both have reasonable currency exchange fees. xoom.com charges a $4.99 fee per transaction. Xe.com is free, fast and has a SLIGHTLY better exchange rate, but it can take up to 2 weeks for the transactions to go through. So you might want to look into those for payment options.

[Zoe York]

Is Paypal not international? That's how I'm going to do it (Canadian).

[Mark E. Cooper]

I'm local, but have had to do a bunch of international payments recently (my ACX narrator lives in the UK, plus translation stuff) so this is just a note about international payment fees.

I've found international wires to be very expensive (relatively), and if your audible money is under a few thousand dollars a month, the wire fees may end up eating significantly into profits.

The lowest cost options I've found are xoom.com and xe.com. They both have reasonable currency exchange fees. xoom.com charges a $4.99 fee per transaction. Xe.com is free, fast and has a SLIGHTLY better exchange rate, but it can take up to 2 weeks for the transactions to go through. So you might want to look into those for payment options.

It sounds as if paper cheques might be coming back into fashion then.

[73735]

Apparently, Vertical Scope doesn't seem to think they need to comply with the right to be forgotten.

[Rick Gualtieri]

Genius idea, Joe.  Classic example of seeing an opportunity and filling a needed vacuum.

[kdarden]

This is a great idea - I had thought about doing something similar for my writer friends outside the US, but I honestly don't want to be bothered with the bookkeeping aspect of it. Since you have everything set up already, I have shared this post with them instead.

Great good luck to you and to the authors who take advantage of it! 

[Ardin]

Thanks so much Joe. I'll be taking you up on this!!!!

[-alex-]

Fantastic, Joe! Thank you! Bookmarked!

[Mark Dawson]

Good for you, Joe.

[JeffreyKafer]

How will you handle payment to narrators for Pay-for-production? Or is that between the narrator and the rights holder?

[Zoe York]

That would be between the author and narrator. Joe's name isn't anywhere on this, we're just using his address and bank account.

[Mark E. Cooper]

Is Paypal not international? That's how I'm going to do it (Canadian).

I think PayPal does charge a conversion and handling fee. Isn't it 2.5% of the sum converted?

[Ardin]

I just signed the contract with David. I'm very excited.

[KBoards.com]