Next month, podcasters distributing through Apple Podcasts will be able to make some or all of their content available through paid subscription only. Content creators have to pay Apple $19.99/year to offer paid subscriptions; Apple takes a 30 percent cut of subscription sales during the first year and 15 percent in the years following. (As a point of comparison: Apple takes a 30 percent cut on every ebook sale through Apple Books.) Not to be outdone, Apple’s major competitor, Spotify, quickly announced that it too would offer a subscription option. But it will let content creators keep 100 percent of subscription fees—at least to start. Learn more (subscription required).
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.
