A short advisory video (by Julie Broad of Book Launchers) comparing audiobook distribution choices for North American authors — primarily exclusive distribution via ACX/Audible vs wide distribution via aggregators like Findaway Voices (and Authors Republic). Key points: ACX exclusivity pays higher Audible/Amazon royalties (quoted 40% exclusive vs 25% non-exclusive), but locks authors into a seven-year agreement and cedes price control to Amazon; Findaway Voices offers broader/wider distribution (Apple Books, BookBub/Chirp partnership, Storyteller) and different royalty shares (quoted Apple Books share and Findaway revenue split). The speaker recommends weighing short-term ROI (ACX exclusive) against long-term opportunity and market access (Findaway/wide).
Questions this video answers
40% (exclusive ACX/Audible/Amazon).
25% (non-exclusive ACX distribution).
80% of whatever Findaway Voices receives from their partners.
45% of the list price (when delivered to Apple Books via Findaway Voices).
Seven years (ACX exclusive contract term).
Chapters
One of our clients was about to release her audiobook and wanted our advice. Should she go with an aggregator like Authors Republic, use Findaway Voices to get distribution, or go for the bigger royalty cut and go exclusive with ACX and Audible? If you're wondering this too, stick around because this video is for you. Hey there. I'm Julie the Book Broad author and founder of Book Launchers, a self publishing services company that will help you write, publish and sell a fantastic nonfiction book. As part of our services, we also help clients narrate and produce and distribute audiobooks. Something I highly recommend most nonfiction authors do for their books if they have the budget to do it. I talked about why in this video right here, but today I simply want to address the giant question of how to get your audiobook out there in North America. Audible is the big player and if you go exclusive with acx, which is Amazon's company, you get a bigger cut of the pie. A much bigger cut. With ACX, you can reach Audible, Amazon.com and Apple Books. And if you go exclusive, you'll earn earn a 40% royalty rate on every book sold. If you don't go exclusive, you're only earning 25%. So on a first glance, it might seem like a no brainer to go exclusive with ACX and make more money. Because with Findaway Voices, for example, you'll receive 80% of whatever they receive from their partners. So if you upload them to distribute to audible, you'll receive 80% of 25%. Personally as a side note, I would upload to ACX Direct and then use Findaway Voices. So for the rest, if you don't mind having two accounts for this. Now I know the numbers are getting ugly and I could run a bunch of numbers to compare it, but here are the things I really think you should consider before making the decision to go exclusive or go wide. Number one, if you go exclusive with acx, the contract is for seven years. A lot of things are going to change in seven years. Just in 2019 in Q1, Findaway Voices launched a deal with Apple Books. When you deliver your audiobook to Apple Books through through Findaway voices, you earn 45% of the list price that you get to set for every sale. Previously going through ACX, it was 25% royalties on non exclusive or 40% for exclusive. So with Findaway Voices, you're getting a better rate and you don't have to be exclusive. Bookbub, the biggest player in book ads, announced their very own audiobook system called Chirp. If the millions of BookBub buyers on their list become audiobook listeners via that app and you can promote to them through bookbub. They this is huge. And guess who Chirp's partner in this is right now? Findaway Voices. So exclusive means you're stuck and missing out of those developments. And seven years is a long time and they're constantly innovating at Findaway Voices to get new distribution agreements. They also added Storyteller to their list this year, which is huge and growing. Largely European subscription service. It's based in markets that tend to be audiobook first markets and they currently have more than 750,000 paying subscribers across 5015 countries. And that's growing rapidly. Number two, with ACX, who has audible and Apple Books, you do not set your list price. They choose it for you. So you have no control over that. Number three, every time you make yourself exclusive with Amazon, you're feeding that monster. That's been a blessing and a curse to authors. Because of them, we can self publish and get massive distribution and reach a big audience. But they have a lot of power over us self publishing authors. They can constantly switch, squeeze us for smaller royalties and dictate terms we don't like, like setting the price of our books. And if you keep giving them exclusivity and not supporting the companies that are trying to open more doors for us to reach other readers, well, you're feeding that monster. And you know what happens when monsters find out they can eat more and more and more food and nobody stops them. I don't know. I don't know where to go with this analogy. They'll just keep eating, keep feeding me. I'm gonna take everything you have. Okay, that analogy sucks. But it has nothing to do with your short term roi, but everything to do with your long term ROI and long term opportunities as an author. So I do recommend you carefully consider it. Bottom line, companies like Authors Republic, I'll talk about them another day soon. And Findaway Voices are doing a great service to us authors and it's very smart to support them. But you have to do your numbers and make your own ch. If the majority of your book buyers are in North America, they likely use Audible and ROI is the most important thing. Exclusive is the way to go. If you want to reach your readers wherever they are and you want more and interesting and innovative ways to market your book, consider expanded distribution through a company like Findaway Voices. And by the way, if you are already exclusive with Amazon or set on giving acx, which is Amazon, that exclusivity you can be forgiven after a period of time, they say roughly a year, although you can apply for release as soon as six months. So long as you own the rights to your audiobook, which means you didn't do some sort of a shared narration agreement with somebody on their platform, then you can always write them and ask to be released from that exclusivity after you've been with them for at least a year. Our contacts at ACX told us they typically do not hold an author to that seven year exclusive. If you own all the rights, what are you gonna do with your audiobook? Let's chat about it in the comments below. And while you're here, make sure you subscribe to the channel so you can catch the videos I'm going to do on authors Republic vs Findaway and and why it's important to read fine print on both contracts. There were some things that surprised us and delayed an audiobook launch we worked on by over a month, so I don't want that to happen to you. Oh, and if you're wondering all the places your book will be available for sale via Findaway, the link is in the description. To get the exact royalty shares you need to create an account, you can do that via the other link below. Smash that thumbs up button makes me happy. And subscribe to the channel and turn those notifications on so you'll be notified when a video comes out. And if you comment on the day a video is released, you'll be entered to win some fantastic book launcher swag and we just might become YouTube besties. All right, I've got some fantastic videos for you to watch. There's this one right here. Oh, that one's really special. You're gonna like that one. But ooh, this one's good too. So go ahead, you choose, click it and I'll see you over.
