ACX – audiobook creation exchange – which is Amazon’s audiobook self-publishing platform – announced a new royalty model. This model will replace the current model by the end of the year. So you either opt into the new model by Dec 31, 2026, or you aren’t distributed via ACX anymore. (I’m assuming – assuming – distribution to Audible via InAudio and Author’s Republic will also require these terms.)

What is changing:
Authors can now opt in to the all-you-can-listen model. So if someone has Audible Premium, they can listen to all the audiobooks they want, and you get a percentage of that monthly pool based on how many qualified listening hours you have. Similar to how KU pays out for pages read and the pool of KU membership money.
Authors can suggest pricing – not change pricing – suggest pricing.
Digital sales still an option
Authors can start opting in as early as May 26 (already passed).

ACX has a page that really clearly breaks this down: https://help.acx.com/s/article/audible-s-new-royalty-model

What I plan to do and why:
I feel like I’m going to echo a lot of what I said the other week about the new D2D fee structure, and that is – none of us should be making hasty decisions about this change. And thankfully, ACX is giving us all until the end of the year to decide. You can look at your monthly royalty statements and do the math on the differences based on sales with the new royalty amount. The AYCL is tough because we don’t know the pool of money.

You have to be enrolled in the new royalty model in order to put your books into the all-you-can-listen pool. You can be in the all-you-can-listen pool without being exclusive to Audible. If you are already exclusive, you will remain exclusive when you switch over. If you are non-exclusive, you will remain non-exclusive when you switch over.

But I do know my percentage of sales year over year from ACX. Now the data for this year to date is off because the reporting is so wonky and clunky. I found out some the same month, Hoopla reporting to InAudio is DELAYED, but ACX makes up a portion of my annual audiobook sales that I can’t ignore. So I’ll be switching to the new model so I can still distribute with them.

You have time to decide. IF you have a book in a royalty share, you should give your narrators a heads-up if you plan to remove your books from distribution. That’s the polite thing to do.

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