Beast Business is available for preorder on Audible and Amazon. The publishing date is December 08, 2026. This audiobook will be exclusive to Audible and Amazon for several weeks, after which it will go into wide distribution.
Why are you doing it this way?
Audible implemented a new royalty model.
Whenever we do a post like this, people ask if they should stop Audible plans, etc. You should purchase the audiobook in whatever way you prefer to get your audiobooks. If Audible/Amazon is your preferred retailer, use it. The burden of choice here is on the author, not the reader. Meaning that if we have an issue with Audible, it is up to us to deal with that. We do not police, recommend, or worry about how you buy or rent our content. We only ask that you do not pirate.
Now then, back to the convoluted land of Audible royalties.
Old Legacy Royalty Model, straight from the horse’s mouth:
Royalty for Rights Holders under Pay-for-Production Deals (Audible Exclusive Distribution Rights)
Audible will pay the Rights Holder 40% of all A La Carte Net Sales Receipts and 40% of all Member Net Sales Receipts from sales of the Audiobook.Royalty Calculation
During the Distribution Period, Audible will pay the Rights Holder the Royalty set above. For purposes of this agreement, Audible Net Sales Receipts consist of: (i) A La Carte Net Sales Receipts (as defined below) for all a la carte sales of the Audiobook, and (ii) Membership Net Sales Receipts (as defined below) for all sales of the Audiobook to customers who are members of one of Audible’s membership programs, in each case, during the immediately preceding monthly period. No Royalty will be paid on the transmission or distribution of downloads or other copies of the Audiobook distributed for free for purposes of review, sample, advertising, publicity or promotion.
- “A La Carte Net Sales Receipts” means the monetary amount received by Audible from a la carte sales of each Unit, less any cash incentives, promotional discounts, sales or use taxes, excise taxes, value-added taxes, duties, and returns.
- “Membership Net Sales Receipts” means, for each Unit, the monetary amount obtained by multiplying the AudibleListener Allocation Factor (as defined below) by Audible’s a la carte price for the Unit at the time the AudibleListener Allocation Factor is calculated.
- The “AudibleListener Allocation Factor” means the total of all membership sales receipts derived from sales of all content sold by Audible in the applicable accounting period, less any cash incentives, promotional discounts, device subsidies or rebates, sales or use taxes, excise taxes, value-added taxes, duties and returns, divided by the total a la carte value (as determined by Audible’s applicable a la carte price for the Audiobook at the time the AudibleListener Allocation Factor is calculated) of the membership sales of all content sold by Audible in the applicable accounting period.
New Royalty Model, again from Amazon:
- How does the new royalty model calculate royalties? In the new model, royalties for Audible’s membership offerings will equal Member Value multiplied by your contractual royalty rate. Member Value for each offering will be shared with you on your earnings statement.
- What is “Member Value”? How is it determined? Member Value is what’s net new in the updated royalty model. It represents the value of a member’s listening behavior.To determine Member Value, we first look at which plan a member is subscribed to in a given marketplace (e.g. Premium, Plus, Standard or monthly AYCL plan) and capture that monthly membership revenue minus discounts, taxes and fees. This amount is Member Value at the most basic level. We then look to see if the member used an additional credit on a title above their plan allowance, in which case the amount of Member Value will be increased. The total Member Value is then divided up and divided proportionally among each title the member engaged with, based on the a la carte price of those titles. This step ensures a fair share of Member Value is divided among each title before multiplying by your contractual royalty rate to get to royalties due.Once enrolled, you can reference your monthly earnings statements to view membership plan values or any adjustments to Member Value over a monthly period.
Yeah, clear as mud. There is a video at the second link and it is even more confusing. The way we understand it is that you, the consumer, are assigned a Member Value, which is the price of your plan minus fees and taxes. This Member Value is then divided over the number of titles you listened to.
So, if you Membership Value is $10 and you listen to 5 books a month, the percentage of that $10 is being split evenly across all 5 titles. The more you listen, the less each individual author gets.
Sigh.
We need to see what this looks like in practice, so we are sacrificing Beast Business Audio to test this scheme out. Once we have our numbers, it will be released into wider distribution.
Yikes! Stupid Amazon!
First certified 🙂
Oh, wow. 🤩🥳
Oh I was so close!
I wish Amazon would use their powers for good rather than evil.
+1
So say we all!
Crap, that means you get less from me cause I listen to a ton of books? At least I always buy in all formats so you at least get some $$ out of me.
Same! I am proud owner of ebooks, graphic audio and paper for the entire Kate Daniels series! If a graphic audio book is planned for TKWNKM too, then I will own two adiobooks for it :D. Anywhooo, in case the world as we know it will collapse, for a short while I will have the joy of rereading on paper all IAs books that I own, before I pass this earth. Toodaloo!
So Stupid.
Argh.
Best Wishes and good luck.
This is kind of horrifying.
I appreciate that House Andrews always does their best to share the business side of publishing with us because it helps me have a clearer understanding of what my friends in the industry are dealing with.
Good luck with the test, I’m looking forward to hearing what you learn!
+1
Not that I’ve listened to any audiobooks now that they’re in the cloud or whatever, and not on CDs or, back in the Dark Ages, tapes. But this royalty models sounds needlessly…needless.
A further question, when is the member’s value calculated for a pre-order? If I pre-order the book on a month where I am listening to several audiobooks. And the month it becomes available it’s the only one I listen to, which month applies to Amazon‘s calculation? I’m not asking Alana and Gordon to answer this, but I think it is something authors might like to know.
A very good question!
that is a bunch of horse sh….
wow the rich getting more money for work they did not put much effort into. seems about right.
kinda glad I did not renew my audible membership. they had that 4 months thing but I don’t think people realized that 8.99 really doesn’t do much as to keeping any title you buy for the month. if I am paying 9 dollars without tax I want to revisit that book whenever I want. I’d rather own it not rent it for the month. I have K.U and that gives me a better discount on things I want to keep then their monthly membership offer in Audible. in most cases I can get 3 titles for the amount they charge for premium. just by downloading through Kindle first. I keep debating keeping K.U but I think it gives me more options. And books are not always in audio.
So, since I don’t have membership and buying your books outright, you getting more from those sales? Yay, if yes.
Wow. They claim they couldn’t possibly condone Pool Model because it gives them the ickies and then they give you something Frankensteined that is actually worse 😳 Because it takes PM and then filters out the sleeper accounts that actually drive up your renumeration in that system. Wow. Just wow.
But let’s await results, I might be too negative here! It’s been known to happen 😅😉
I am forced to be politic because I’m in official capacity but: https://tenor.com/view/ugh-headache-yzma-emperors-new-groove-gif-15370781
This is how I feel.
I feel ya… Here’s to hoping it won’t be all bad 🤞 I mean, we can hope…
As an attorney who drafts agreements regularly, I want to go off on the poor drafting. However, I know no one wants to hear me wax poetic on the finer points of contract language.
Suffice to say, that the contract could have been much better in terms of clarity.
This may be a case of – if you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS.
When I tell you my eyelid was twitching reading through it 😅.
That “engage with” doing heavy lifting with no definition! The ‘assurance’ of that fair share, with no transparency.
Painful. I haven’t practiced law in a significant while and still got flashbacks.
I’m not a lawyer. However, I could see that the above contract is BS. I guess it’s the health policy reading I do that gets my BS meter going with other things. 😝
The only positive thing I can say right now is that ambiguity in a contract should be construed against the drafter–make it better or suffer the consequences of your bad writing. Very appropriate for businesses where writing is the product!
In all countries, always the same tap dancing and BS while we (the “good” lawyers) try to explain to our clients. Sigh.
For the record, I would love to hear you wax poetic on the finer points of contract language. All I can get out of it is vibes, and I would love to know the actual details.
Here is a question. I listened to Maggi 4 times now. If it was on Audible would you get paid every time I listen? Then the new system might have some merit, otherwise what is the point? I’m a book addict, like many here I spend my days listening or reading ALL the time. So 15 per month is my norm. Not much if it’s a portion of the £10.
Worse is that after they divide each between each title, they then multiple that small amount by the author’s royalty rate of either 30 or 50%, which means the author would actually get even less. For example. If the member value is $10 and listens to 5 books, the author actually only gets $0.60 or $1.00 for a book. For higher listeners, that means an author would literally get pennies.
Oh, and it also said the member value is split proportionally between authors based on the book’s à la carte value, so the author with the more expensive book would bigger get a piece of the money.
Seems like it should be the other way around. If you buy a lot through Audible then your Member Value should be higher, because you’re a reliable buyer and that should be the type Amazon wants to reward. Therefore, if you as authors attract that kind of listener, then you should be rewarded with higher royalties. If you only occasionally listen to Audible, then lower Member Price, and lower rewards for reader and author. (I don’t think authors should be penalized if their readers don’t use audible. They’re already penalized if the book isn’t popular and doesn’t sell.)
It should, but this is Amazon we’re talking about.
so how does that compare to Kindle unlimited for books like Fated Blades? do you get a set amount every time some reads it? or a similar pooled amount of the KU membership amount?
I keep KU and thought the authors were getting at least some compensation but if it’s based on the number of books I read a month, now I would really feel bad…
Kindle Unlimited operates under a different royalty model, based on pages read rather than the number of books you read each month.
Fated Blades is also traditionally published by Montlake, so its royalties arrangements are not the standard self-publishing terms 🙂
Another author I follow mentioned KU renumeration. I think it worked out to something like 1/2 a cent per page. Because they also somehow charge the author for art work? Still confusing (obviously, Amazon) and nowhere near what authors should be getting.
I try not to do anything Amazon, which has been increasingly difficult as they gobble up sites and services I used to enjoy (Goodreads)
This is now being offset by the fact that, increasingly, if I drill down I can buy many things directly from the producer. That is now my default if I can manage it.
StoryGraph and Kobo now have a symbiotic relationship to keep track of the books you read similar to Goodreads and Amazon if you enter the market looking for an ereader.
My spouse’s reader died, so he got my Kindle and I splurged on a libra color. I like it a lot
I’m very glad I didn’t go down the Audible bunny trail. Wow, that’s awful for authors if their readers listen to more books per month. I would rather pay for a book (whether paper or e-book) and let the authors get more money.
I agree, that contract is a bunch of BS. Good luck with the numbers for Beast Business.
Got my pre-order already; thank you! I really hope for your sake that the new royalties are profitable. You put so much of yourselves into these wonderful books and you deserve the lion’s share of the profits for them. If I could buy them from you directly, I definitely would!
This might be the dumbest thing I heard in a good while. “books the member engaged with”? Like if I listen to an audiobook several months in a row, does it count for each month? What if I listen to just a few minutes? Do you know how often I browse between different audios before settling on one? Do they all lower my member value? It almost sounds like they want to create a system so complicated noone will be able to verify how they got to the divided value of membership to pay authors when they make it up…
You can bet that fuzzy language means they are paying a lot less and there is no way to confirm you are getting the promised amount.
This. Exactly and precisely this.
I and the other user of my account listen to about 10 to 12 titles a month on audible – but most of them are ones I purchased months ago if not years ago. As I purchase them with cash a while ago, I don’t see why that should impact how much royalty gets paid to the authors I need to have now and get this month….
But also, my audible plan is so old I don’t get credits and I appreciate that its been grandfathered in for the discounted pricing.
It does feel a lot like a spell of math and economics being whipped up
I wish we still had a free market economy.
Good luck
Quite a few litrpg authors I listen to won’t be returning to audible. they are working on a new app and a way to purchase their books direct. I expect when my credits are gone I’ll leave audible too.
+1 to buying direct. I adore the Graphic Audio versions of HA books and buy them as soon as they come out.
I’ve also bought the BookFunnel versions because I’m just that chalant. 😀
This sounds so very bizarre. I have over 150 Audible titles (half of my collection, given how few come out on cds or another service), most of which I have listened to only once. I had supposed that the author got paid when I “bought” the book. Once and done. I tend to listen to my few Audible IA books monthly. And there are a few other authors I might re-listen to on occasion. But I listen to something from them probably every day. So now you’re going to get some tiny fraction of what you’re owed based on how often I listen to any Audible book? Geez, how best to get every author out there to find another audiobook publisher or self publish. I’m very much looking forward to a further report on this unadulterated BS.
I will be waiting to get my copy of Beast Business from Libro.fm, so I fortunately or unfortunately won’t be a part of your experiment. Best wishes!
+1
+ 1
This! I frequently relisten to series from my favorite authors in the background while working from home. It gives me the feel of office voices but because I know them so well, I don’t have to go back and relisten to sections if I got distracted and was listening closely.
Why should you be punished when I get a new book that I listen to in the mix with my well loved, long since paid for books? Sounds like I will have to make sure that when new books come out I match up my re-listens with the new book author so that author gets everything!
QQ… does this new model apply to previously published books or are they grandfathered into the old model?
Wow Ilona, I’m glad my life did not depend on me understanding all that.
Ugh.
Clear as mud except– clear that they are punished authors for people devoted to reading/listening a lot.
I just pre-order and it was odd. Non-member $15.99, Member price $11.99, credit ($10) so I paid $1.99.
I have bad eyes so I buy all your books on my kindle – I need the backlight, also audible and then dramatized when they come out. That way I can listen to the books as I drive to visit my daughter – 5 hours away or read the books when around other people.
I’m glad I continue to find my people in this group. Amazon is truly terrible. Like someone else commented I miss free enterprise. That being said I’ll just continue to wait to purchase from libro.fm and support my local book store. Thank you to the authors for continuing to provide entertainment in a world where change seems to come faster than ever
that sounds like horse dookie.. i listen to audiobooks like I do music, I don’t see why authors get penalized if a listener decides to buy your book and listens to it along with lots of other audiobooks that they have purchased as well. I am so glad I canceled my premium membership. -insert eyeroll!-
Sounds like a stitch up to me, ,how can authors get their royalties reduced because Members listen More !!!
This suggests that YOU will be penalized when I re-listen, use one of your books as my ‘go to sleep’ audio book, etc. Really appreciate your direction to buy where it makes sense for me… But knowing that confirms for me my decision to try to buy via other sources where available. It’s sad to see the enshitification of another platform I once really delighted in…
I am stealing your word, enshitification. Brilliant! Thank you. 🙂
It was actually coined (or popularized according to Wikipedia) by Cory Doctorow. But he’s the one associated with it’s proliferation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification
Sounds like more dirty tricks, Amazon!! *shakes fist*
Once the no download option on Kindle was implemented, I stopped using my Kindle e-reader and went back to my older Kobo Clara just on principle.
I would prefer to buy direct — please let us know how when you figure it out. Thank you!
Please share the results of the experiment! I’m going to ditch Audible if they truly are shorting authors. I listen on my phone anyway so it’s simple enough to click on a different app.
I’ve had a subscription to Audible for basically forever. I didn’t pay a credit, because it was slightly less than $2.50 to buy the audio booo. But I would absolutely buy the audiobook from your website.
Well at least no Kittys were harmed in the releasing of the audio version of Beast Business. Too bad we can’t say the same for some Primes.
I saw what you did there 🙂
I’ve been am Audible reader for a very long time. Most of the time I’m reading your books. I’ve been listening to TKWNKM almost continuously since you released it. If I’m not listening to it I’m listening to Sweep of the Heart. I still have 10 credits to spend but I’ve already bought all your others. Kristen and Nora have amazing voices. I’m stuck here because if I don’t pay the membership I can’t hear the books. You’re with the free, I just wish it was all going to you.
The new rules for Audible look like shit.
If you can, get ahold of some other popular audible authors (Matt Dinniman, Patricia Briggs, Martha Wells, etc..) and see what their thoughts are. Or if Amazon has offered them any special deals.
ok. this sucks. so everytime i relisten to any of IG’s work, or other ebooks, they slash other authors’ profits?
agreed. very confusing. and v. disappointed (in Amazon/Audible).
time to buy the audios directly I guess. i enjoy all the mediums – book, audio, graphic audio… i have an extensive digital collection… IG’s work is often my safe and happy place. thank you for that!
I just pre-ordered and paid for the audiobook instead of using a credit, which hopefully gets you more money – but who can actually tell?
I’m happy to purchase audiobooks from whomever pays you the most money. I have a vested interest in my favorite authors being financially successful.
Every day I’m a little happier with my decision to go paper-only. License terms that I don’t understand, you say? Let’s go with, “It’s mine because I have physical possession of it.” That I understand.
“If it ain’t broke, fix it til it is”
-Audible
So, in essence, all of you authors have to support each other with your work while the companies waltz away with the lion’s share for themselves… Please let us know how that works out with this title.
ok so how does it work for someone who cancelled her plan but still purchase audiobook from audible. How do they calculate those royalties?? I am sorry if this was asked before ☺️
If you’re no longer an Audible subscriber but still purchase audiobooks individually, those count as à la carte sales.
The royalties are calculated from Audible’s net receipts for each sale, as explained in the first section of the post 🙂
So basically, they’ve made it unauditable. I particularly “like” the fact that part of the member value is whether the member Pais for extra credits or not. I am an Audible member so I will be helping you to test this out, but if you move to another platform, I am following you there.
+ 1. I’m tired of this unethical nonsense. I’m very close to moving anyway.
I’ve read through three different “contracts” at audible as an indie over the last year plus. And my exact thought was “no one can audit that.” And how would an individual even ask QUESTIONS! There are some other good audio places. Chirp has great deals, libro.fm, kobo plus audio subscription…and direct! Not saying I understand all those contracts either, but they don’t set new records for gogglygoop.
I read through that word salad in the new model and thought, “This is the exact language I would use if I was trying to con somebody”. It sounds like wibbly wobbly timey whimey nonsense.
How are billionaires still so money hungry??? Argh I hate avarice so much.
Imagine a world where not everything needs to be obscured by multiple levels of legal speak and made, seemingly with one intent in mind, to make sure no one can know what to expect beforehand and thus level such expectations…
How is Chirp for payouts? I’ve swapped most of my listening over there (unless I simply can’t find the book I’m looking for).
I canceled my audible subscription last year when I heard about a model like this being implemented. Daniel Greene and some other YouTubers had videos on it, not sure this is exactly the same but it’s still bad. I was already not happy that Amazon was the biggest player in the space but that was the final straw for me. Been happy with libroFM so far.
This looks like something Hreban would’ve drafted.
Their description reads more like “we will pay you what we feel like paying you”. I assume you have no right to audit any of their calculations, those are all black box/proprietary to Amazon/Audible?
Also, I can see why Audible wants to push the “cost” of subscribers who really take advantage of the platform to the authors but I completely fail to see why that is a good deal for authors. If someone reads more of your books, you should be paid more and if a voracious reader listens to one of your books you should be paid the same amount as if a once a month reader listens to one of your books.
I realize you need to check it out and this isn’t helpful but I had to express my annoyance at the continued enshittifcation of the world.
Holy BS batman! I’m glad I cancelled my audible membership and used up all my credits a few months ago (hopefully before this new royalty system kicked in). It’s genuinely impressive how Amazon manages to reach new heights of scrounging writers/creators every time…
Sooo … basically, there is no way for authors to check the math on their payouts. That’s shady af. It may be legal, but it is unethical in many ways.
If any authors decide to band together and sue them because of these obfuscated business practices, I would so contribute to that. Js.
Wth? I have anxiety and I listen A LOT, particularly to your books, to help me chill out. So me listening to books I’ve bought means you get less? I don’t even listen to their free books. I only listen to what I’ve either used my credit on or bought outright. It’s ridiculous for you to be punished for that!
I am really glad that I started buying physical copies of the books I love from Audible. I have been using them for so long and have such a big library. I also have a ton of your books on Kindle. This is infuriating. The only reason I keep the minimal membership tier and haven’t canceled is that I’m afraid they’ll suddenly change their policies and remove my books. We canceled Prime and try not to use them at all outside of Audible.
Yeeesh! Audible also tried to talk me into spending $1.19 on the pre-order instead of using a credit, because apparently I have $10.00 in “discounts” just waiting to be applied. Which probably also gets calculated into this mystery called “member value” but it can’t possibly be in a good way.
40% minus taxes of whatever I actually paid for the book (or the credit) just seems so much more fair and straightforward. This imparsable nonsense language seems more greedy than just straight-up telling authors they want 62%, or 65%, instead of their traditional 60%.
Member Value doesn’t sound dystopian at all…
I’ll just be over here touching things up in my bunker a little.
I feel like the combo of “listening behavior” and “engaged with” makes some very confusing mud.
I suspect (NO PROOF) that for those that get credits, the ‘engaged with’ is spending a credit or purchase price in full. So if I get 1 credit a month and in a month I spent 2 credits (1 on each book) my member value is the total 2 credits value and then split 50/50.
If I was a member at the ‘All you can listen’ level then my monthly value is split amongst all the titles I listen to proportionally by the total minutes/title.
I hope I’m right, but I know I could be wrong.
i hope it will be available in libro. that’s my audio of choice (for small business).
Yeesh, I go thru a lot of books per month. Most of them are re-reads. Sounds more like Kindle Unlimited model paying for per page. Hmmm, so if I make a point of listening to Maggie the Undying every month, will HOA get paid more?
Elizabeth Wheatley gives a really good explanation about what Audible is doing. She also shares a link to a petition we can sign. Here is the FB link for Elizabeth’s post, if you can share it- https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1HtTGxebL2/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Oh no! The more I listen the less you get? I listen every day on my way to and from work.
I mostly use Autible as I have a large library there but If they are royally screwing you over I can get some from kobo going foreword
I am a CPA and I can’t understand this math.
Aargh. This smells of Audible/Amazon trying to stiff authors based on reader behavior out of the author’s control. I wish I could say I was surprised.
I hope House Andrews falls on the “high-value reader” part of the curve, if such a thing exists. For me, I’ll buy books somewhere that has a more transparent plan.
It is my understanding that the “sharing of royalties” isn’t for re-listening to an already purchased book, especially under the old model.
So if you buy beast business and then listen to 4 other books in the “all you can listen” or plus catalog in 1 month, then HA would be sharing the value of that credit with the other 4 authors based on list price math.
If you buy beast business and then listen to maggie 10 times in 1 month then HA still gets the full value of the credit spend on beast business.
My understanding could be flawed. 🙂
So, the way I figure it – Download and listen off line? Not using the website or app means that Amazon/Audible has less clue about how many books I listen to a month. And it means that my membership should….. Interesting to see what they do about that – apportion by downloads? By new “purchases?
My head hurts…
First – Wow that is convoluted! I’m an audible premium at $15.94/m (incl tax). Half the time I end up paying separate for books since they are less than $15. I now have 11 credits 😐. Beast Business is showing it will be $11.19, so another cash buy. Hopefully Audible will find this system stupid & change it. Authors need their royalties and Audible needs to stay competitive or authors will stop using it and then members will leave, since they can’t get the books they want.
Second – Woo-hoo! Can’t wait for Beast Business😃
This has been on my mind all night since first reading it. I have been a loyal Audible listener starting with them years before Amazon took over. I started with them because I COULD relisten to the books I bought as many times as I wanted and do so in a convenient and legal way.
I checked last night and my full library count is 782 books. Yes, some I will never listen to again, some I never even finished, but some, like House Andrews books, I come back to again and again. That is the privilege of “owning” the book.
Prior to the Amazon buy out, I could also download a copy in mp3 format to play and listen to the book on the device of my choosing sans App. Again because I “owned” the books.
Now I have to use the app or find a computer that still has a cd drive and burn a copy.
I also was happy with my purchases knowing that they were mine and that when I bought them, just like a physical copy my author got tgeir money and I could listen as much or little as I want.
Now I keep getting promos to change to the stream only, don’t buy model and find out they plan to stiff my favorite authors for me loving their books!
Even if I was on the “rent it” plan, where their promos are about listening as much you want, this is wrong! Because again my favorites would be penalized for my living their books. I would think they would do it more like the music industry and that authors would get paid for the number of “performances/songs” listened to or like the Kindle one number of pages/minutes listened to on the rental plan.
Well, I guess I’m going have to start slowly replacing my favorites from other sources so that I know they don’t get less because I love them more.
Thank you for being open about this process. It’s helpful to understand what these companies are doing, because as others have said… we need you financially stable so you can focus on writing the books we live and also enjoying the lives you live. 💜
I am glad to know this. I am glad I buy from Graphic audio as well as Audible. Unfortunately I dont have room for physical books anymore. Ive been looking forward to Beast Business in audio form. Thank you for releasing it. I wonder what it would be like for you to do your own version of audio books?
Beast Business *is* House Andrews’ own version of audio books. It is a self-published audio they have commissioned and produced and paid for 🙂
So are all the traditional Innkeeper audiobooks, Inheritance, the Wilmington Years, Blood Heir etc.
Did Audible put a member value on people who listen to their audiobooks over and over, but are not members? I am a past member of Audible with a library there with a couple hundred books in it, more or less. I re-listen to some of my books often including the complete series of the Kate Daniels books which I finished again just today. Does Audible pay royalties on those?
Thank you.
No, you don’t have a member value if you’re not a member 🙂
And also no, Audible does not pay additional royalties when you listen again to audiobooks you’ve already purchased, regardless of whether you’re still an Audible member or not. Royalties are generated by qualifying sales, not by how many times you listen to a book you own.
It’s the same principle as rereading a physical book: the author doesn’t receive another royalty every time you read it again.
The Audible thing seems like a scam. They do not have to be transparent to you, the authors, or us, the Audible customers, about what value they assign. They also basically make an Audible customer, if they understand this model, feel badly the more they use Audible each month.
What Audible COULD do is actually provide a price value per point that is fixed(1 point=$1), assign each Audible book a set point cost (Book A= 10 points), and when people download the book it is easy to see the dollar value that your 40% is calculated against. If Audible wants to promote a book and make it free because they decide to do it (not author/publisher), or give out free points to loyal users or as a gimmick to get someone to sign up- not the author’s problem, your 40% is calculated off the set # of points x cost/point. This new system essentially makes all of the value of each point/download opaque and mercurial because it is up to Audible to decide the value of each customer’s business, and that value is itself mercurial based on the customer’s changing reading habits each month. You, the author, should bail immediately.
I’ll wait for it on Libro. fm or direct since I download all of my ebooks and audiobooks. Screw amazon
And this is is an example of why I will not buy audio or ebooks from Amazon/Audible!
I deeply resent, and still don’t understand why there was not a public outcry, when Amazon ‘stole’ ebooks from us. How was it legal to remove the facility to download ebooks already purchased, and replace it with the facility to borrow back those ebooks by only accessing them via a kindle app?
I have a huge number of ebooks (>60,000) so the only way to control them is to download onto my pc and transfer select ebooks onto an ereader. I can’t do that for any new kindle books, so I won’t purchase. And if my originals get corrupted or lost, I can’t download replacements. The same model will, if it doesn’t already, apply to audio books purchased via Amazon or Audible, so I refuse to purchase them too.
My preferred ereaders have always been Kobo, not only are their features more flexible than Kindle, I can purchase epubs from any seller and transfer the ebooks I ‘own’ as I want. Kobo also offer a price match guarantee for purchased ebooks.
Logging this information in my mental file called how to move away from Amazon. Thank you.
Do you get the value of a re-read after the purchase? I am a comfort reader and that means I re-read often, especially by audio. Am I only diluting royalties to my favorite authors? Or is the calculation of royalties adding a tiny $ with each listen?
Well, dog my cats! I knew audible wasn’t the best deal ever for authors, but I didn’t realize just how bad it really is. I’ve been listening to Audible books since the early 2000’s, back when it was a good deal because public libraries stock a limited number of audio books. I’ve been reading books from House Andrews since around 2018, when I found a paperback in Walgreens. I treasure your blog for its own sake, but also for information like this.
Confusing. I listen to audible everyday. But I don’t use my credits that often. I’m listening to what’s in my library. And I’ve never sent a book back to the library after using a credit. As I have the ebook then I’ll often look at the price to add the audible book. I’m thinking that’s a la carte purchase, but at a lower rate than the full audible purchase price? But if I’m only listening to what’s in my library and have used a/1 credit then surely that wouldn’t impact the member price from the credit I’ve used? But it sounds like it does?
I just finished re-reading this today. I can’t wait, it’s my favorite series of all time. I love the friendship that is forming between Arabella and Tia. They really get each other, wanting to just be known for their physical strength. I can’t wait to see where their story goes.