Audio Outlook: Where Do Opportunity and Growth Lie for Authors?

Evidence supports authors diversifying their audiobook distribution beyond Audible

It almost goes without saying: everyone’s attention is on the audiobook market, as it represents a growth spot for traditional publishers and some independent authors, especially those who are well established. Audible is the recognized leader in digital audio sales in the US market, but it’s far from the only player, particularly when considering international markets.

In book publishing, the top retail outlets are fairly well known for both print and ebook editions: Amazon, typically followed by Apple and Barnes & Noble if you’re in the United States, or Kobo if you’re international. But for digital audio, what are the second and third biggest markets? We’ve found it a difficult question to answer, especially since the publicly available data we’ve found (e.g., consumer polls and other extrapolations) isn’t reliable.

We asked Michele Cobb at the Audio Publishers Association if she could provide any insight on top retailers. The APA conducts an annual survey of US publishers (as seen here), but Cobb told us they do not research information about retailer or library market share. However, she confirms, “There are a lot more retailers out there now—and libraries as well. I always talk about how 10 years ago, if I were to bring up a slide [showing] where you could get audio, it would have two to four places on it. Now, it’s 40 places. There are way more organizations aware of audio and [that] want it to be available.”

Fortunately, a US-based audiobook distributor has started to share some useful case studies. Last year, Will Dages at Findaway Voices presented an ALLi conference session, How Indie Authors Can Sell More Audiobooks, that indicates Audible represents not quite half of all audiobook sales for some authors they distribute. Partly this is because Audible operates only nine localized storefronts: US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, India, Australia, and Japan. Dages says, “For all of you who think ‘Audible, they’ve got to be 90 percent of the market,’ it’s just not true.”

In a case study of a USA Today bestselling mystery and thriller author distributed by Findaway Voices (graph above), Audible represents just 43 percent of her overall sales. Another 12 percent are library sales, then 45 percent “other.” Dages says this “other” category includes retail sales on Apple, Google, and Kobo but also streaming subscription services like Scribd and Storytel.

We found two independently published authors using Findaway Voices willing to share their retailer breakdown with us. Romance novelist Jean Joachim pulled together her sales figures for July through October 2019; so far, she’s selling 44 percent through Audible; 14 percent to Scribd, Bountyful, and Storytel; 41 percent to libraries (hoopla and bibliotecha); and 1 percent to Apple. She says, “I’m making significantly higher sales than when I was with ACX. … I have 173 percent more sales this year. Of course, with ACX, I didn’t have any library sales at all. … In addition, Findaway gives me the source of the sale and the country where the sale was made. So I’m learning what books are selling where. Having my books in Storytel is a real coup.” (Storytel, based in Sweden, is the leading audiobook distributor in Scandinavia, among other places.)

Because Joachim was in ACX and used the royalty share option, she had to buy out her narrator’s rights for 21 titles. However, she says, “Putting them up on Findaway was the smartest thing I’ve done regarding audiobooks. And I can offer my audiobooks on sale or change the price whenever I want.”

A low-six-figure mystery novelist also sent us her retail breakdown, which includes sales over 10 titles. Since she’s only been wide on her audio since April, Audible still accounts for 89 percent of her audio income, but here’s a breakdown of where the other sales have come from: hoopla (44 percent), bibliotecha (13 percent), Apple (12 percent), Storytel (8 percent), Scribd (5 percent), OverDrive (5 percent), Google Play (3 percent), Chirp (2 percent), Nook (1 percent), Kobo (1 percent).

Immediately apparent: the significant earnings from libraries, particularly hoopla. Hoopla delivers digital books, video, music, and more to thousands of public libraries reaching 5 million patrons. At Digital Book World last year, hoopla said it has seen huge growth in the home use of audio. In particular, hoopla says, audio in the children’s space outperforms in libraries when compared to retail. If authors distribute to hoopla through Findaway Voices, the payout is based on duration in minutes. The terms of service from Findaway state that hoopla payouts begin at 24 cents for durations up to 90 minutes; payouts max out at $1.34 (for durations between 1,081 minutes and 9,999 minutes).

Dages suggests thinking of hoopla as like a “Netflix subscription of libraries.” Instead of a librarian deciding what should be in their catalog, they’re opening up the entire catalog to their patrons and letting them check out any book. This is an advantage for independent authors, who can then focus on direct-to-patron marketing. Dages says that, for the first time, you can actually tell your readers to go check out your audiobook in the local library and have a reasonable amount of confidence that it will be there. He suggests using a variation on this marketing message if you’ve distributed your audiobook through Findaway Voices: “Search for my audiobook at your local library. If you don’t find it—ask a librarian.”

Dages also says BookBub’s Chirp, which offers daily deals on audiobooks, is growing at an “incredible” rate and motivating consumers with low price points. “They are one of the most exciting things that I think is happening in the audiobook space right now. … They’re training more and more consumers that there are better places than Audible to get audiobooks.”

We asked Score Publishing CEO Bradley Metrock, who now runs Digital Book World, about the most important opportunities after Audible. He says, “I would make sure to work with a distributor who can get your audiobooks onto Google and Apple, the number-two and number-three options to me as we head into a brand new decade. Apple’s sales right now surpass Google’s in the audiobook realm. Google, however, has recently invested significant resources into audio over the last 12 to 18 months to correspond with their tremendous investments into Google Assistant and the voice/AI realm. Add to that a rise in popularity of Google mobile devices, further eroding Apple’s advantage, and I’m bullish on Google over the short-to-intermediate term for the second-best place to find audiobook sales revenue for indie authors and larger publishers alike.”

Bottom line: The only thing that seems clear from the information we gathered is that the audiobook retail market is still taking shape and it by no means belongs to Audible. Last year, when indie author Joanna Penn offered her insights into the audiobook market, she wrote, “Some authors who are exclusive [to Amazon] with ebooks are choosing to go wide with audio,” citing Michael Anderle, who founded the 20BooksTo50K group, as a prime example. If you have signed an exclusive contract with ACX but aren’t doing a royalty split deal, you can move it to a non-exclusive contract after one year. (Email ACX and request it.) If you are on a royalty split deal, you might want to consider buying out your narrator, as Joachim did. For more thoughts on the future of audio from the indie author perspective, see Kristine Rusch’s December post.