The truth about Audible "passive income" scams
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ค. 2024
- NEW Audible passive income scam: "Make $100/hour narrating audio books": • New Audible passive in...
My blog: ➡️ leanmedia.org/blog/
DESCRIPTION: I'm seeing more and more Audible publishing scams claiming easy money and passive income. As a professional publisher, let me break it down for you.
UPDATE: The passive income scam relies on a legitimate Amazon/Audible service called ACX which bring publishers and narrators together to publish the audiobooks on Audible, which are in turn made available on Amazon to customers. The scammers are making money off of expensive "masterclasses", affiliate links, and crappy apps that supposedly unlock a flow of "passive income" from Audible/ACX. It's a complete lie. No one following advice like "hire a writer on Fiverr" to write a book or "download this app that will enable you to get paid $100/hour as a narrator" will meet with any success, and will likely get a stream of 2-star reviews on Amazon, copyright violations from the "authors" who scraped content off the web, and potentially permanent Amazon account bans.
Narrator Ian Lamont is an experienced Amazon, Shopify, and Etsy seller who has built two successful brands from scratch. He is also the creator of the Lean Media framework, which provides a new approach to innovation that reduces costs and risk while boosting the chances of making media that audiences love.
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FINALLY someone NOT talking about "Scams" while still pushing "Their" so called legit scam. Thank You!
Lmao
Agreed, and subscribed to him now.
I didn't see anything about this video asking for your money. I fail to see how that is a scam. Even if monetized, he isn't getting rich off the video views or likes.
@@berky1976 They aren’t saying that this is a scam. Quite the opposite. I think you need to reread the comment carefully
Agreed. Thanks for just being a kind person sharing some valuable info!
As someone who made the mistake of trying to make money narrating on Audible I can tell you, 1) they pay you very little 2) they take their time paying 3) you edit the recording yourself, 4) Audible does nothing to promote your audiobook unless you pay them, and 5) the only good contracts go to people who are already famous narrators.
Absolutely. Naturally, the Audible scammers (and Amazon/Audible/ACX) don't like to talk about those pesky details.
Thaank you for raising public awareness
And youtube does nothing to stop these scammers from advertising on their channel. Shows how much they value their viewers.
Exactly, they almost just got me, damn 😂
As long as they get paid, they do not care what the ad is...unless it portrays Donald Trump in a favorable way.
TH-cam makes money advertising the scam and looks the other way, Amazon/Audible makes money hosting the scam and look the other way, the person pushing the scam makes money. Only person that doesn't make money is the poor sucker that buys into the scam. A year after this video you still get tons of those 'make money on audible' adverts. Don't chase get rich quick schemes, they only put money in someone else's pocket.
I was just thinking the same thing. That’s crazy!
@@ancestorbackwithanewname And you know, the funny thing is I think you could make some pocket change on Audible, but it wouldn't be easy. If you had a good voice for narration there are plenty of almost unknown public domain books. I think a person could put together a catalog of such books and get enough sales to make it worthwhile. Though you wouldn't get rich. One book I remember stumbling across was an old dime novel called "The blunders of a bashful man". Get some lesser known period pieces like that and who knows.
Literally had a scam ad for passive audible content before the video. Thanks for your video!
Was it the one with the host showing off paper "earnings statements" from Audible? The scam is a paid Audible "masterclass" that apparently costs $2000. Avoid at all costs!
@@LeanMedia that was the exact one. I will thank you again!
@@LeanMedia sadly, if you even listen to the pitch closely, you'll hear the discrepancies. "He taught me." "I taught my mother." "I taught my brother in college." "He taught all of us."
Wait...what? I thought you taught your mother and brother?
Oh, and why is Amazon mailing you anything? Invoices can be emailed to you, be attached to your account and if you really want paper, then you download and print the PDF. Get real! I'm not falling for a hack Excel job you mocked up to show me your monthly "statements." Give me 5 mins and I can produce that same "statement." Proves nothing.
Is it the one with the guy who has a twin Rasmus? He showed statements too..i just lost my job and was desperately tempted to pull the trigger..btw are the ads during your channel legit?
@@DannyBoYfutube the exact same one. I’ve heard from creators that TH-cam controls the non sponsored ads. Good luck on your job hunt.
Thank you. You tube is bombarding me with these ads. Today's version of the old "tiny classified ads" income scam. In fact every money making scam is really a scam to get you to pay for classes to teach you how to make money.. as if people who make a lot of money really want to sell seminars.
Exactly! Most of them lead to expensive "masterclasses" dispensing terrible advice.
Thank you. I was hoping someone would mention this scam. Sick of them dang audible commercials
Kudos from a professional nerd
I have been tracking royalties for self-published authors since 2012 and I can tell you what Ian is saying is completely true. Now, the authors I work with make quite a lot of money on Audible and KDP, but it is the volume (quantity) of sales that allow them to make money, which means the book HAS to be well written, well edited, well narrated and promoted, all of which costs money! Generally authors start by self publishing on KDP, Nook, iTunes, Google, etc. to see if their book gets any traction. Only after its success on those platforms do they invest in a quality narrator and add their book to audible. THEN, it can still take years for the book to pay out against the narrator investment.
If it's too good to be true, it isn't true.
Exactly. What these scammers are selling is the dream of easy money, aka "passive income", as long as you buy their worthless $2000 "masterclass." There are no shortcuts when it comes to publishing, and even if you do it the right way there are still no guarantees whether the channel is Audible, KDP, or even a book published by one of the Big 5 publishing houses.
Thanks Sandy. Figured as such.
Very well explained Sandy. I am so sick of the ads on TH-cam. I know a lot of people are looking for a side gig these days and getting sucked in.
Also writers need to write a book people want to read.
I think more people should see this before it becomes a really big problem. Thanks for your help.
I hope more people do see it. TH-cam does nothing about such scammers, and Amazon which could take them down quickly does nothing either.
I'm SO glad I found this video! I have been getting a lot of the Audible scam ads on my feed and it's quite annoying. Thank you for sharing the facts!
Funny thing is, this video was preceded by an ad for making great passive income on Audible!
Thanks for the public service announcement. I thought it was too good to be true when this lady in the Audible TH-cam commercial kept showing her paper earning "statements" and say it is an easy process etc etc
As if any serious publisher or merchant gets paper anything from Amazon.
plus her voice is sooo annoying who would pay for her to talk more lol
Well said! A voice of clarity and sanity in a flood of scams out there. Thank you!!! Subscribed!
Finally a place where these ads are called out as scams. You have a new subscriber. Trying to keep a friend from getting sucked in to this, you've given me the ammunition I need. Subscribed
Thanks for putting this together and sharing. I knew those audible publishing webinars were suspicious once they started mentioning partnerships and doing all the work for you, then you have to pay $2000 for a masterclass.
Thank you so much for bringing this to light. It's nice to see the actual percentages of royalties. I just finished watching their webinar, and there is no way this is possible to make thousands of dollars so passively. It was gross how salesy it was. Idk why all these guys sound the same with slimy advice. Makes me sick how they present themselves as trying to help others.
Well said!
If it sounds to good to be true, it often is.
To be clear: The passive income scam relies on a legitimate Amazon/Audible service called ACX which bring publishers and narrators together to publish the audiobooks on Audible, which are in turn made available on Amazon to customers. The scammers are making money off of expensive "masterclasses", affiliate links, and crappy apps that supposedly unlock a flow of "passive income" from Audible/ACX. It's a complete lie. No one following advice like "hire a writer on Fiverr" to write a book or "download this app that will enable you to get paid $100/hour as a narrator" will meet with any success, and will likely get a stream of 2-star reviews on Amazon, copyright violations from the "authors" who scraped content off the web, and potentially permanent Amazon account bans.
I came here to see if the ACX hype is a way I might ACTUALLY make money, I do have good creds to narrate, but it's unclear whether this itself is a scam, or folks piggybacking on it is the scam.
Thank you for this. I got half way through a ‘webinar’ about creating cheap ‘dupe’ low quality non-fiction books and turned away. It felt very unethical.
Knowing audible is allowing this activity to go on is disappointing.
Absolutely unethical. Most creators of these "passive income" webinars aren't good people. They're greedy, lazy, narcissistic bottom feeders looking to make a quick buck through worthless "hacks" and paid webinars that trick the gullible and provide worthless advice. Amazon and Audible could shut them down quickly, but they don't, leading me to believe they don't understand the root cause of so much bad and illegal content flooding their platforms.
Ditto for Amazon with the publishing scam version of this. It just floods an already burgeoning market with a bunch of sub-par products.
I got tired of seeing the YT ads and when I searched YT, there you were. Thanks for the direct take.
I love how the ads showing up before your video are all the same scams you're describing. LOL 😂 Little do they know that they're about to be debunked.
thanks for this. i in fact stumnled yesterday on one of those promoting this and i was seriously considering it. you just save me a ton of wasted hours studying and probably venturing into this.
Thank you for this video, I see these audible advertisements daily and wondered with the deal was. I'm reminded of the adage "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is"
Nice, short and concise video. Just straight to the point. So good. Thank you.
Thank God that you have uploaded this video because I was so excited to almost start the entire signing procedure. But as I always do before starting something - I look up everything online with a very sceptical approach. So I happened to come across your video and the comments that I read have helped as well! Thank you thank you thank you!
Nice video, thanks. Funny thing is that I get bombarded with those Audible scheme ads recently and even when I watched your video, I had an ad for those playing right before 🤔
Ian... I am both a small time publisher on KDP and Audio Books publisher on (ACX) Audible...not going into details but you are 100% correct in your video you made. (I 2nd your opinion and the facts you pointed out) .. Making money on these platforms can be done BUT it's a slow process...takes times. Not a get quick Rich as these fraudsters advertise.. cheers
Thank you for the comment. It's amazing how many people watch and believe these get rich quick publishing schemes.
I’ve seen those commercials multiple times with “and it’s not just me! It’s also Lisa, Tonya, Chris, and Dave! But we all got it from Christian” like we know these people. “Check out my book” and “click here to begin my class where I’ll teach you…” have become the lines I wait for just before I click away. Thanks for discussing this. I’ve always wondered what it was about but thought it sounded too good to be true.
Seen a lot of those ads for audible and self publishing. Thanks for exposing!!!
I just watched the twins' webinar through to the point where they offered their DFY course of about 2000 dollars, They even suggested putting this fee on a credit card for 12 months to afford payment. As a rather savvy scam detector, I listened critically, sign off without enrolling, and search for audible scam information on Google. I found Lean Media's comments and am happy to say my instincts were correct. Thank you.
The audacity too try and make people take on credit 😅
This is the real information we need! Thank you LM. I am subscribing to THIS!
Thank you so much for answering my questions about this program. There is not a lot said during the pitch about how these books are being written and how we contribute to the content and how anyone can create a book quickly unless you are an expert in the subject. Good quality books are not produced quickly, not even by a ghost writer, and you have to hope that he/she knows enough about the subject we pick to write an actual book that people are going to want to read. It pretty much sounded scammy. I just needed a little bit more information and I am so grateful that you have analyzed this opportunity and have given your honest opinion. You saved me from jumping on it.
It's nice to know that this video I've been seeing all over, even on TV with Dish Network, I keep seeing the same woman touting the same thing over and over, claiming she's making so much money "passively" with Audible, is a scam. Thank you for bringing the truth to light!
I've been receiving these audible ads in my feed, so I thought I'd look it up to see if they're scams. Thank you very much for the confirmation!
Thanks for being clear and precise…. These scammers should be locked up.
Unfortunately, nothing will happen as long as Amazon and TH-cam sit back and fail to take action.
what a great, helpful video. It's a shame that someone trying to get their own, best work out into the world would have to contend against scam artists etc. Thank you Ian.
Yes, that's one of the outcomes of these Amazon scams, whether it's KDP, Audible, or Amazon FBA. Legit books and products get drowned out by the garbage shoveled into the system by clueless passive income apostles who believe the scam "easy money" pitches and masterclasses.
Thanks for this video. TH-cam needs more people like you. I just watched the twins presentation. Two hours long! 😭 87% of the content was selling. Nothing educational. It seems like we would need to comeback to caves soon in order to learn how to see our neighbors like human beings and not like money machines. I know I’m being dramatic but man… these adds people make you feel you are in a jungle. They will eat you alive.
I appreciate the info...I just finished my first novel that i am going to be publishing through KDP and was debating whether or not to do an audible...
I wouldn't do it with a human narrator. To much expense and time required for not enough reward. However, high quality AI-generated narrators are just around the corner and will likely be much cheaper. Amazon/Audible for sure will introduce this option soon ... it's apparently being tested.
Good job explaining it in a way folks will listen at no point did it feel compelling to shut this off. You kept the information flowing with solid explanations as to why those situations are false and why not to buy into it
Thank you for educating people on scam schemes .. hope those people could watch this kind before they invest
Thanks for the advice mate...I swear I nearly fell for it. I can't believe TH-cam allowing these scam advertising on there platform
Thanks for this. So much of this out there right now. Appreciate you!
Thank you! Subscribed.
Thank you for the video Lean.
Thank you SO MUCH for enlightening us!
i'm dying at the fact that as soon as the video was done, youtube served me up an ad for another passive income scam 🙄
Ironic that I was served an ad promoting the masterclass on how to make passive income on Audible before watching this video about the scam.
Thank you for taking the time and effort to call this scam out.
Some humans manage to ruin everything. It’s sad. I appreciate this video, thank you
Thank you for this video. So many people are being scammed while looking to make passive income.
God Bless you for exposing the truth behind the lies. You saved me from making a mistake as well🙏🏾
Thanks for the advice! Just junked my plan to do an audio version of my latest book.
Yikes! So glad I found this video before attempting as a side hustle. Thank you very much!
Thank you, everybody must raise public awareness whenever the notice any scams. I don’t think people that made big money will share their secrets to the whole world.
I have to agree...regardless of the money there is (theoretically) to be made, I cannot bring myself to just hire a ghostwriter to pump out worthless content - it feels icky. The reward is in producing something of value and getting compensated in return.
Thank you for the information. What is your recommendation for writing an high quality Ebook ?Which route should one take?
thank you for this been seeing these audible ads a lot on TH-cam I knew it was to good to be true smh
Yes, thank you!! I had watched one very slick advertisement about how 2 do it and was just going 2 try myself instead of paying $2000, I really think u saved me from alot of bs, n wasting money. We need more ppl like you!!
Thank you @Daniel!
Thanks for sharing this video. There is a rule in life that goes like this: If it sounds too good to be true, then it's a lie. If someone is promising you an easy way to make thousands of dollars online, then more than likely it's a scam. Stay away from it!
Very useful.
Thank you!
I have been scammed routinely by people who routinely stick their chests out while saying something about "Christian" to make me put my guard down!
Great video! Ironically, the ad that followed was a different passive income scam (this one to make money from other you tubers' videos)
Thanks. Knew there was a trap as it had all the familiar smells of a common 'desperation business model' scam. Apart from her being ultra annoying and smug with her fake cheques. Technically not a business but a supply chain hack that takes the low road without providing any actual valuable product / service.
A loophole that's undiscovered until it becomes another saturated area like drop shipping ( which is NOT a business no matter what anyone says)
Dropshipping is legit. I made a lot of money doing it
Thank you. I keep seeing this ads all over YT
Yep. I am seeing two ads on YT for Audible passive income scams. The floppy haired guy with a nasal voice who changes the Amazon passive income scheme every 3-4 months and a young lady showing paper statements from Audible as if she's actually getting a check in the mail. Both look like paid "Masterclass" funnels.
@@LeanMedia That's them! Fcking annoying. Hopefully they will get their karma soon
I've been getting hit a lot with these online money-making ads, especially the Audible ones. I must have clicked on something I shouldn't have somewhere. Of course, the ads promise all sorts of things without giving you any solid details, and I haven't dug far enough into any of them to get any actual details about how they work. So this video was helpful. .
Thank you for giving the truth!
Thanks for giving us the truth. I see these adds all the time
Thank you! I figured it was a scam but one gets curious about how these work ya know? It's hard to imagine ppl falling for these scams and actually putting in effort just to earn little to no money..
As an ACX audiobook narrator, it's very discouraging to know they consider what I do a low-cost cog in this process to churn out mediocre (at best) content.
Yes, it is discouraging. It's the people who do things right that suffer through lost opportunities.
@Jim Rush I've been looking at ACX as an income stream but haven't taken the plunge yet. Is it hard to get work as a newbie? Also, I have a strong southern accent and was afraid that might not go over well.
@@queenbee9581 I certainly encourage you to become an ACX narrator if you have the time for it. It's a good avenue to gain auditioning experience and it doesn't cost anything to start. Yet remember, a lot of what you'll find on ACX are "authors" churning out poorly written material and wanting to pay "pennies" for narration. Also be cautious about "royalty" offers that never sell because honestly it's crap. On the other end of the spectrum, there are good authors / publishers willing to pay a fair narration cost, but there is stiff competition from other good narrators. Honestly, I've narrated more audiobooks outside of ACX. It's not the only show in town, so don't put all your eggs in that basket.
I was actually really considering selling audiobooks myself to make money online,
I don't think I'll bother now.. Thanks for this video!..😊 It was a big help!..
That's really cool that you are a narrator and experience this from a different angle. Thanks for sharing.
He is sooo right! Even when reading to my kids at night- holy mackerel the chore that it could become if they didn't have "the right character voice"! To be a professional narrator/ actor/ media producer is a tough job with plenty of training and dedication needed. I for one am happy to pay the real professionals. Thank you!
Thank you for this honesty
I just sat through the first 20 minutes of such a webinar and noted not only how unethical but also it sounded like they were encouraging plagiarizing as well...which I am so surprised that Amazon & Audible would allow that. As a published author through KDP, I am very disappointed that they are OK with this practice. Thank you @leanmedia for bringing this to light
Yes. The New York Times just had an article about TH-cam scams and plagiarism is COMMON
Thank you!
Hahaha! I know exactly who you are talking about! I've been resisting YT no ads forever. I was soooooooooooo sick of his face, I pulled the trigger and I am finally free of ads. Best thing ever.
Thanks for taking the time to save us all, time and money to be stolen due to these scamming schemes perpetrated by these fake gurus!!!
Thank you for this!
Great video❤. Thank you very much
thank you for the confirmations… 🙏 🌠
I’ve seen this ad quite a few times. I had the feeling if it’s too good to be true it’s a scam. You video confirmed my suspicion. Anytime they say completely free your the product.
Thanks for the good information I've always been hesitant in purchasing a masterclass.. so glad I didn't thank you.
thanks, I kind of figured as much - was pretty funny that the ads opening and ending the video were, you guessed it, passive income ads.
Thanks, Dude!
Thank you for this. It answers all my questions. 👍
Thank u for all the info.
Sir, thank you for the insight here. I don't fall for those if you can download an app you can make a passive income, first of all if that's the case why don't you just keep it to themselves why do they need me? The fact that they need me indicates they need my money. Nothing is as easy as these clowns make it seem. Thank you again sir
Why does You Tube allow these scammers to advertise?
Thanks for the explanation of this scam
You saved me from a rabbit hole!
Lean Media is right. Seven minutes with zero information. How is publishing on Audible a scam? Huge help, Ian. Thank you.
An honest review on TH-cam. WOW!
THANK YOU
Do I dare ask about selling a screenplay without getting ripped off?
Screenplay scams are legion. I've seen it extending to self-published book authors, promises to "get your story in front of directors." Complete BS.
Nah this seriously help me I was just looking into way to make some passive income and Audible came up so I look at some video and I’m glad I saw yours before I went in fully
I just left a comment on the blog you mentioned about English language movies/TV translated to lesser known language.. Not really a money thing, it's about allowing ppl to see something wonderful..
I had to look this up. Thank you for confirming what I knew what was going on. I was not surprised. I am a hobby writer. This was the basic example of if it sounds too good to be true. The free class thing was extremely on the far too good to be true wisdom. Amazon and Kindle Unlimited Amazon is pushing all the writers into is complete crap. Last I heard was .0045 cents per word at best. Is there a more current word on the status of the mess. I listened to some audio books. The market is crap right now. I am not in a rush.
Thank you! Finally someone is telling the truth!
Thank you for saving me so much trouble I've been seeing all the ebooks forever
I knew it was a crap scam the minute she started bragging about making $1.000 a month. Get wise people...
thank you for the honest take
Thank you so much for this information I truly appreciate it do you recommend any other passive income that you consider legitimate
"Passive income" is basically dead. The easy ideas have too many people doing them, and all the rest have been taken over by hustlers and scammers.
The closest thing these days is probably a low-maintenance TH-cam channel in a profitable product niche with lots of subs.
Excellent video 👏
Tnx for sharing, I would think twice now
Thank you! Almost wasted my time trying to figure this one out. :)
Yup I'm sick of the liars on YT promoting this stuff. Thanks!
Thank you so much for this video I’ve been wondering what those ads were for and totally sounded fake
Thanks for confirming
I watched the "advertisement" from one of the most popular TH-cam advertisements (WHICH HAD A LOT OF HIGH PRESSURE TO SIGN UP WITH THERE ARE "STILL SLOTS AVAILABLE"), and they FAIL to EMPHASIZE that YOU NEED TO MAKE YOUR OWN OUTLINE & WRITE YOUR OWN BOOK! IT IS NOT CLEAR AND IS VERY CONFUSING… the "sales pitch" focuses so much on the "publishing" part that it makes it seem like you're only "PUBLISHING" existing content by having an audio book created on a popular existing book/topic… THEY ARE VERY CONFUSING!!! There is so much talk about all the benefits of the program they offer, it totally glosses over the fact you STILL MUST CREATE YOUR OWN CONTENT AND OUTLINE FOR A BOOK! So AFTER I SIGN UP… to "meet their high-pressure of getting into the "limited slots available", THEN all the pieces finally fall into place and make sense! HELL! I'M NO WRITER, (they say that you don't have to know how to write, but use "ghost writers" and they will even "GIVE YOU" topics on what types of books are the most popular for audio books) but I DON'T KNOW HOW TO EVEN CREATE A FREAKING OUTLINE! THAT is NOT my skill-set!!! So I would just be creating a TRASH PRODUCT based on nonsense!!!! SOOOOO… under the thinking I was merely going to coordinate "publishing" an audio book from an existing book, I signed up! OMG I feel so STUPID! At least they do have a 3-day refund (for knuckleheads like myself, or for people who finally "get" what was lightly glossed over…) IF you DON'T get a REFUND IN 3 DAYS, you HAVE to go through the steps of actually PUBLISHING a book to get your money back within the agreed time (in this case a year). THANK YOU for your honest review, without trying to sell something yourself! I was TRYING to find this kind of review before buying into their deal, but didn't find it in time… I hope your review helps someone else in the future and saves them the serious trouble!
Good analysis. Keep up the good work!