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Originally Posted by Josieb1
I’m on Facebook with quite a few authors who produce their own audiobooks that are in the Romance Package. One has spoken to an Audible VP and her response is to tell her readers that she will no longer produce audiobooks. She can’t afford to. Audible have a 7 year tie in the Romance Package and they won’t release authors or books. They have no solution to the abysmal royalty rates and no ideas on how to improve things. The end result will be less new audiobooks produced.
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@Josieb1. I had a quick look at this, and the contract terms are terrible. Authors have a 7 year initial term for their Audible books. But once they enrol in the Romance Package, they can't unenrol. They are stuck for the term of their agreement. I don't know how obvious this was made when they were signing up, but I suspect if it was not highlighted in huge bold flashing letters many authors would have just assumed that it was like KU, where books can easily be taken in and out.
The agreement concerned is the
Catalog Subscription Service Agreement. Clause 3 reads:
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Term/Termination. This Agreement will be effective upon your enrollment, and will continue with respect to each Work until the corresponding license and distribution agreement or book posting agreement for such Work expires or is terminated (the "Term"). If the Term ends and/or a Digital Audio Product is no longer available in a Catalog Subscription Service, any subscriber who has selected that Digital Audio Product for listening during the Term may continue to access it until they return it or their subscription terminates, subject to Audible's continued payment of Catalog Subscription Royalties as set forth in Section 1 above.
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This is the sort of stuff I would expect to see from the Big 5, not from Amazon through Audible. It sounds like the business model for the Romance Package is not viable. I also expect that this treatment will severely damage Amazon's relationships with any Romance Author unlucky enough to have enrolled in the program, and many of their friends and colleagues.
Yet another example of what can happen when you don't read or understand the terms. I suspect many of the authors concerned simply trusted Audible, which has proved itself unworthy of that trust.