Audible Romance: 57 cent royalty for 10 hour Audiobook?

[darryl]

Although I am not a big reader of romance, I have followed KU's business model closely, so have been fascinated to see how Audible went with a similar subscription model for romance audiobooks. The service as I understand it divides an Amazon allocated pool according to minutes read. Payments are quarterly, the first in February with the next due in May. The heading says it all about the first payment. 57 cents for a 10 hour audiobook. Needless to say, outrage was the result. So much so that Audible has made extra payments on some undisclosed basis, but has not so far resolved the matter, admitting in a letter to authors that "consumption patterns have challenged our original economic model for the service."

Nate at the Digital Reader has posted a good summary of what is happening HERE

I find this fascinating for a number of reasons, incluging that I find it diffiecult to envisage what a solution might look like. Audible romance has adopted a KU type subscription model. KU has been successful because it has been able to exercise control of its costs. Authors have been prepared to trust Amazon by enrolling their books in KU and leaving the amount of remuneration to be paid at Amazon's discretion. This trust is balanced by the ease of withdrawing books from KU, which is a powerful incentive for Amazon to try to get the balance between themselves, authors and readers right. This is probably the main risk to Amazon in KU, and the most likely way for KU to fail. Authors place a great deal of trust in Amazon and if Amazon is perceived to have betrayed that trust the whole concept will quickly cease to be viable.

I suspect Audible is being honest when they write that they "recognize that these impressive consumption patterns have challenged our original economic model for the service." In other words, subscribers are listening too much! I suspect that their economic model has been based on KU, and the response to Audible romance have blown these figures out of the water. I can guess at a couple of reasons why. Firstly, romance readers do so voraciously, as other subscription services have found out to their cost. And audiobooks are far more "accessible" than ebooks, in the sense that they do not demand a listener's exclusive attention. I have listened to Audiobooks in the car, on the train, bus, tram, plane, waiting at the airport, whilst using my computer and/or the Internet, whilst exercising or sometimes simply when I'm enjoying a walk. Finally, the result of these two factors is, I suspect, that Audible Romance listeners are taking full advantage of their subscription, unlike KU in which I think many subscribers do not take full advantage of the service and thus effectively subsidise those who do.

Audible is not doing itself any favours by delaying an effective response. This is a real challenge to its business model. Whilst it is considering what to do it may be well advised to allocate a far larger pool, even if it leads to a loss on the service. I would not be surprised if Audible ultimately abandons this service, or at least experiments with a higher subscription fee. However, if it does not handle this situation property and loses the Trust of its authors the implications may carry over beyond Audible to Amazon itself and KU.

[pwalker8]

I think that I would like to get paid a bit more than 57 cents for 10 hours of work!

Audiobooks have two different artists to pay, the author and the reader. Good voice talent isn't cheap and is in heavy demand. Some audiobook voice talent also does voice work for Hollywood. I suspect that romance books read by the author's sister-in-law or next door neighbor aren't going to be in that high of demand.

[booklover6]

I will support and subscribe to this program as long as possible. As a consumer, it is not my responsibility to feel guilt or outrage over this subscription on behalf of anyone else, but to enjoy the legal offerings as long as I can afford to pay for it. I love the program and hope it will continue to offer thousands of good books. I can't afford to buy audio books. So these authors are not loosing out on sales from me. And they are gaining more than they would should I happen to find their audio books on youtube, which can sometimes be done. If the program were to be cancelled (which I find unlikely), I would be back to relying solely on libraries for audio books. How much do content providers get from library sales? Again, not my concern.

[darryl]

@booklover6. I agree totally, and made no suggestion to the contrary. Enjoy it while you can. If I was into romance I certainly would be.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by darryl

@booklover6. I agree totally, and made no suggestion to the contrary. Enjoy it while you can. If I was into romance I certainly would be.

I am hoping that Audible will do something similar for the mystery/suspense/thriller category.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I am hoping that Audible will do something similar for the mystery/suspense/thriller category.

Me too. A bit of Science Fiction and Horror wouldn't hurt either.

[pwalker8]

From a consumer point of view, it's a good deal. From an author/reader point of view, not so much. I really can't imagine any of the top line readers or authors buying in to this. I can imagine authors and readers trying to make a name for themselves buying in for a little while. At least that seems to be the pattern that developed with KU.

Of course, audible has been owned by Amazon for a long time, so of course if audible screws over the authors and readers, it's going to create concern in the KU area.

[booklover6]

Well there is a ton of Audio books by Gena Showalter in the program, and I would say she is definitely a top of the line author. Same with Robyn Carr.

[darryl]

The point is that this service, like KU, requires a balancing act. The Romance package is in very early days. It has made one payment with the next not due until May. The challenge for Audible is to balance its own interests with the interests of both Authors and Consumers. Many authors have given it a try. If Audible doesn't fix things to their satisfaction then I expect they will leave the program. Audible is experiencing the same problem as Scribd and other services before it. The KU and Romance services model relies to some extent on some subscribers not using the service that extensively. Romance readers have demonstrated that they read (and listen) prodigiously. As I posted above, Audible themselves admit that their economic model for the service have been "challenged". It is possible that Audible will not be able to come up with a viable business model for this service and it will cease to operate, which would be a shame. In the meantime listeners should enjoy the service.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

From a consumer point of view, it's a good deal. From an author/reader point of view, not so much. I really can't imagine any of the top line readers or authors buying in to this. I can imagine authors and readers trying to make a name for themselves buying in for a little while. At least that seems to be the pattern that developed with KU.

Of course, audible has been owned by Amazon for a long time, so of course if audible screws over the authors and readers, it's going to create concern in the KU area.

"Top line readers"? As opposed to, what, the riff-raff?

I'm not a romance reader, but there are a lot of big-name authors represented in the extensive list of Audible offerings. But more to the point, I fail to see how Audible "screws over" the readers who subscribe. Heck, even as a non-romance reader, I can find enough titles in some of the subcategories to make it worthwhile for a couple of months at least.

I don't know what kind of deal it is for authors and publishers. I don't care; it's not my problem. But for a reader, it looks pretty darn good.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Catlady

"Top line readers"? As opposed to, what, the riff-raff?

I'm not a romance reader, but there are a lot of big-name authors represented in the extensive list of Audible offerings. But more to the point, I fail to see how Audible "screws over" the readers who subscribe. Heck, even as a non-romance reader, I can find enough titles in some of the subcategories to make it worthwhile for a couple of months at least.

I don't know what kind of deal it is for authors and publishers. I don't care; it's not my problem. But for a reader, it looks pretty darn good.

Top line readers as opposed to someone's next door neighbor who just happens to have a nice speaking voice.

At one end of the spectrum, you have big name actors who regularly do voice work. Tim Curry and Wil Wheaton are examples. Then you have to top level of readers, people like Simon Vance or Oliver Wyman. You aren't going to get them for 57 cents. The other end of the spectrum is self published stories read by whomever they could find that worked cheap. I ran across one where the reader was actually the author's next door neighbor who just happened to have a good speaking voice.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Top line readers as opposed to someone's next door neighbor who just happens to have a nice speaking voice.

At one end of the spectrum, you have big name actors who regularly do voice work. Tim Curry and Wil Wheaton are examples. Then you have to top level of readers, people like Simon Vance or Oliver Wyman. You aren't going to get them for 57 cents. The other end of the spectrum is self published stories read by whomever they could find that worked cheap. I ran across one where the reader was actually the author's next door neighbor who just happened to have a good speaking voice.

Duh. I defined "reader" as the end user/listener; I didn't realize you meant the narrator/performer/voice actor.

But in any case, the Audible romance package books seem to include many from mainstream publishers with well-known narrators; in my skimming I haven't noticed an abundance of self-pubbed books or books done on the cheap. My impression was that there were a lot of slightly older titles or books that were part of a series, perhaps to entice subscribers to buy an author's nonincluded books.

[darryl]

Does anyone know what the usual practice is in paying narrators, whether or not actors? I would not be surprised at all to find that such narrators receive a once-off payment for their work and do not share in the Copyright at all.

Edit: Well, a quick search and I've answered my own question. A narrator who does work for several publishers and Audible writes:

I'm not paid in royalties (well, not most of the time). Most narrators prefer to work on a pay-for-production basis. Once I'm done with the project I won't get anything from it.

Some projects are royalty share, but unless there's going to be stratospheric sales numbers, they're almost never worth it, sadly.

He also said he made less than he did in a previous career in IT.

This is from a Reddit where he answers questions about his profession. It makes for interesting reading:

Reddit Q&A

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by darryl

Does anyone know what the usual practice is in paying narrators, whether or not actors? I would not be surprised at all to find that such narrators receive a once-off payment for their work and do not share in the Copyright at all.

Edit: Well, a quick search and I've answered my own question. A narrator who does work for several publishers and Audible writes:



He also said he made less than he did in a previous career in IT.

This is from a Reddit where he answers questions about his profession. It makes for interesting reading:

Reddit Q&A

Very interesting read thanks for posting.

At the beginning or end of most audiobooks, they give the copyright. Most of the time, the word copyright is the author and the performance copyright is the production company (audible inc for many of the books that I listen to). It makes sense that it's paid as work for hire.

One of my former girlfriends was a voice over actor (local commercials for the most part). She considered herself mostly a stage actor who did voice over work on the side. I suspect that most voice over talent falls into that category. Certainly when I look at the bio's of most of the readers that I listen to enough to recognize, it seems to be a common thread and acting is mentioned in the link you posted. People would be surprised how hard it is to make a living as an actor.

To take the figures listed in your link, the voice talent for a 13 hour book (most audiobooks in my library run between 12-14 hours) gets between $2,600 and $5,200. That gives you a ball park idea of how many copies need to get sold to make a profit.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Duh. I defined "reader" as the end user/listener; I didn't realize you meant the narrator/performer/voice actor.

But in any case, the Audible romance package books seem to include many from mainstream publishers with well-known narrators; in my skimming I haven't noticed an abundance of self-pubbed books or books done on the cheap. My impression was that there were a lot of slightly older titles or books that were part of a series, perhaps to entice subscribers to buy an author's nonincluded books.

I think KU started out that way as well.