Audible Updates Royalty Plan for ACX Authors

Responding to what it says is a myriad of changes in what is now a global audiobook business, Audible is amending its royalty plan—which the company first announced in July 2024 and began to implement in November 2024—in order to give ACX authors a greater share of what Audible members are spending on audiobooks.

The new plan comes after some 15 months of testing and is designed to meet the demands of a listening audience who want more choices, be it the ability to listen to books from bestselling or self-published authors.

In a new ACX blog post, Audible says its “new royalty model is designed to unlock new earning opportunities for ACX creators by reflecting how members listen today.” The biggest change is that ACX creators will now be paid across different plans whether listeners use credits or listen through the AYCL (All You Can Listen) catalog. The post explains how that is calculated:

“At its core is Member Value—the price of a listener’s monthly membership plan (for example, Standard or Premium) minus taxes and fees. When a member uses additional credits that month, we add the value of that credit to the Member Value. That total is then divided proportionally among the titles the member engaged with based on their a la carte price, and your share is multiplied by your contractual royalty rate to determine your payment.”

According to the post, the legacy royalty model will be discontinued by the end of the year. By that time, authors must either choose to enroll their titles in the new model or discontinue distribution through audible. ACX creators can begin enrolling existing titles May 26.

How the royalty model works is laid out here.