Audible, an Amazon subsidiary, is proposing a new royalties model to publishers and authors, aiming to increase the availability of audiobooks for unlimited consumption. This model moves away from the traditional "credit" system and introduces royalties based on actual listening time from a shared revenue pool. The change is designed to help Audible compete with services like Spotify, which recently entered the audiobook market. The new model could provide more income for publishers and authors but may reduce per-title earnings if listeners spread their consumption across many books. Audible's previous approach involved upfront payments for certain titles, but now it seeks to compensate based on listener engagement. The shift is part of Audible's broader strategy, following the launch of its lower-priced Audible Plus plan in 2020.
Marvin Cook
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Audible wants to pay royalties for audiobooks
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Discussion (2)
Not sure if authors are going to be crazy about the idea that they can’t control their books price.
It seems like each book will be reduced to whatever the royalty model will be, without the control to sell your knowledge and information for higher prices.
I love listening to audio books, so this is really cool and great news for me.
I'm not sure if this is particularly a better model for authors. I think they gain exposure on the frontend but could potentially lose profits on the tail end (for more mature and better known authors).