ACX, a service used predominantly by self-publishing authors to distribute and sell audiobooks on Audible, recently emailed creators about price changes. The letter states, “As we strive to ensure our listeners continue to engage with and enjoy a variety of content across our service, we periodically try out different pricing on content with the goal of improving customer satisfaction and interaction with our offerings—and driving sales of your titles. Starting today, Audible is reducing prices on titles, including ACX titles, across the site. While we cannot make projections on a title-by-title basis, we anticipate that these price reductions will lead to increased sales for titles overall. In tandem, as the vast majority of Audible content is purchased with a credit, you should expect your average royalty per unit for credit sales to remain steady.”
When authors distribute and sell through ACX, they do not control pricing of their audiobooks. Some authors have accused ACX of stealing their earnings through incorrectly calculated royalties and a lenient returns policy, which led to legal action against ACX. (We last reported on Audiblegate in November 2020; you can also learn more at the Audiblegate website.) Authors who wish to control their audiobook list price should consider another distributor, such as Findaway Voices.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
