Dumb question--Kobo doesn't sell audio books, correct?

[BearMountainBooks]

I just want to be sure I'm looking in the right place and that Kobo DOESN'T, in fact, sell audio books. I ask because they now offer writers a service for turning our ebooks into audiobooks, but so far as I know, they don't actually sell them on their own site. If there is some offshoot that I don't know about, please let me know...

Thx.

[AnemicOak]

Nope, at least not at this time. AFAIK no other Rakuten company sells them either.

[tubemonkey]

Nothing that I'm aware of either. There was talk about them doing so about a year or two ago, but nothing ever became of it.

[BearMountainBooks]

Isn't that weird? I assumed when the author service started that they sold them. Then I started looking to compare prices and realized I'd never seen audio books there...more looking and I couldn't find any! Maybe they are considering/planning on adding them.

Apple sells audio books, yet? Some kind of downoadable mp3 file, I expect (or do they sell wav files?) Are they competitive with Audible? I typically only hear Audible talked about so now I'm beginning to wonder about how robust Apple's audio book offerings is?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

AFAIK no other Rakuten company sells them either.

I totally forgot that Rakuten owns OverDrive so they do already have a large audiobook distribution system for both library and retail.

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Apple sells audio books, yet? Some kind of downoadable mp3 file, I expect (or do they sell wav files?) Are they competitive with Audible? I typically only hear Audible talked about so now I'm beginning to wonder about how robust Apple's audio book offerings is?

Apple's audiobooks are provided by Audible, or at least they were at one point. They may have taken it "in house" at this point, but I don't think so. I know ACX offers iTunes as a distribution option and that is essentially Audible/Amazon.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I totally forgot that Rakuten owns OverDrive so they do already have a large audiobook distribution system for both library and retail.



Apple's audiobooks are provided by Audible, or at least they were at one point. They may have taken it "in house" at this point, but I don't think so. I know ACX offers iTunes as a distribution option and that is essentially Audible/Amazon.

I know that you can use Audible to distribute to Apple, but this outfit that does audio recordings for Kobo (and a bunch of trad publishers) does distribution to Apple too (so their info says). That's what made me ask. Looks like I'll need to untangle a few more threads to understand how it works. I've nothing against audible but their percentage they pay for audio isn't very good (45 percent if you go exclusive with them, 35 if you don't if I recall the percentages and don't quote me on that as I'd have to verify). But it requires a 7 year deal and no ability to set prices and some other rules that are a little tight. I think an indie MUST be with them eventually (exclusive or not) just for the eyeballs, but I wondered if there were other avenues to things like Overdrive, Apple and maybe Kobo if they ever offer audio. I'll look more into the overdrive thing. I am pretty sure this outfit said they can distribute there.

It would be nice if Apple had their own uploading (not that I have the proper equipment myself) to create some competition...

Thanks for the info. Gives me some alleyways to explore. Some of them a bit dark so I'd better take my weapons!

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

but this outfit that does audio recordings for Kobo (and a bunch of trad publishers) does distribution to Apple too (so their info says).

I wonder though if they're using Audible to get you on iTunes though. I see they do Audible too and keep 25% of the low royalty Audible pays so an author makes even less than just going through Audible.

Open Audiobook is another company that distributes to iTunes (and Audible plus others) and might worth your time to look into. They've been around for years now.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I wonder though if they're using Audible to get you on iTunes though. I see they do Audible too and keep 25% of the low royalty Audible pays so an author makes even less than just going through Audible.

Open Audiobook is another company that distributes to iTunes (and Audible plus others) and might worth your time to look into. They've been around for years now.

Yeah, I noticed that low audible rate, but you can pick and choose where to distribute IF you use their distribution. If/when I went with audible, I'd go direct. Its a matter of researching as much as possible and since this is a growing industry avoiding locking myself into anything because better deals might very well come along.

Thanks--I'll check open audiobooks. Do they do the recording?

The Kobo place, even with a discount, is one of the highest rates I've seen quoted. Audible recorders generally range from 200 to 350 and some stop doing it after that because they make the big time.

[BearMountainBooks]

Looks like Audiobooks no longer works with indies and only does in-house production. They still have a page that says you can request a quote, but their faq says they aren't doing outside work. Thanks for the suggestion.