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Published September 26, 2024

Audible Sucks

Audiobooks are awesome. Audible on the other hand?
'Audiobooks are awesome, but Audible Sucks.' Allia grins at the reader. She has long hair with bangs, and a striped shirt. In silhouette Audra 'boo's behind her. Audra has long curly hair, round glasses, and is wearing a hoodie.
Audra: 'Did you say Audible? I love audiobooks! I read them everywhere!' Audra wears headphones that are connected to a cell phone. Little doodles of Audra washing dishes, stretching, and riding a bike while listening to an audiobook surround their head. Allia: 'Audible is bad for authors. For starters, Audible is just Amazon in a trenchcoat.' Allia clenches her fists, scowling.
Allia holds up her pointer finger, 'Amazon controls 64% of the US audiobook market through Audible.' 'Audible doesn't pay authors: Audible's claimed cut of each sale is steep.' An image of the Audible icon with little arms and legs holds up a dollar bill marked with Audible's claimed sales cut, 80% of non-Audible-exclusives and 60% of Audible exclusives. 'But in 2020, #Audiblegate exposed their true cut.' The Audible icon holds up dollar bills marked with the actual cut Audible takes: 87% of non-exclusive titles and 81% of exclusive titles. 'Remember, Audible is a digital storefront, not a publisher. Writers pay for all audiobook production costs, or go through an audio publisher for an even smaller cut. Typically, retailers take a smaller sales cut.' A webpage labeled 'online shops' holds a dollar bill marked 30%. A store labeled 'Ye olde brick and mortar' holds a bill marked 50%.
Audra takes off their headphones (which are now connected to a CD player), no longer smiling. 'That sucks. Um. I could just buy the books somewhere else, tho, right?' Allia steeples her fingers. 'You should, but Audible is making that harder too.' A library is drawn with shaky lines, like it's disappearing. 'For non-exclusive titles, Audible forces publishers to agree to embargoes. Other bookstores and libraries can't buy or sell audiobooks for 90 days, so all presales go to Audible.
Allia leans against the side of the panel, her arms folded. 'And they won't sell exclusive titles to libraries at all.' 'Audiobooks aren't optional for many people. Audible locking them away behind a paywall is an accessibility issue.'
Audra is slumped and dejected. Their headphones are now connected to a portable cassette player. 'Audible sucks now? Is there any arm of the Amazon corporation left that we can trust?' Allia grimaces, '...no?' Allia leads Audra by the hand, 'Look, it's a little less convenient but you should ditch Audible- it's just as expensive as buying audiobooks elsewhere, and actively bad for authors and readers.'
'They won't have every title, but, Libro.fm takes a fairer cut of the audiobooks it sells, and their books are DRM-free.' Allia tosses Audra the Libro.fm icon. Audra's headphones are connected to a record player. 'And the audiobooks from your library are great. You should be using Libby, like, yesterday.' Audra holds the Libby icon, putting their headphones back on.
The silhouette of headphones in white on a dark blue background. 'The library: use it or lose it. @audmcname and @allia_makes, 2023'

Sources

Page 2: market control and royalties

  • Dimitrije Curcic. “Audible Publishing Statistics – WordsRated.” WordsRated (blog), January 10, 2023.
    Basic breakdown of Audible’s US market control in 2022.
  • Cross, Colleen. “Audible Royalties Ain’t Royalties.” Audiblegate, February 22, 2021.
    Investigation by popular author and former forensic accountant Colleen Cross into Audible’s dishonest ‘royalties’ for authors. This piece is part of Fair Deal Authors and Narrators #audiblegate campaign seeking fairer compensation and business practices from ACX/Audible/Amazon.

Page 3 and 4: embargo and libraries

Resources and Further Reading

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