Dear humans,
Thanks to several decisions by Amazon (who owns Audible), until future notice, there will be no more audiobooks produced. We’re sorry, but the current terms Amazon has opted to implement means readers/listeners can, without penalty, return audiobooks at their whim without the author being paid.
In fact, we’re charged the amount of the royalty we should have been paid.
Here is a very good summary of the problem.
As such, it’s no longer fiscally feasible to produce audiobooks. The female’s listener base is insufficient to pay the base bills as it is, although the audiobooks were being produced for those who prefer to listen to their books for any reason.
Keeping audiobooks in production was already happening at a loss, and the female is already beginning to see the impact of these changes Amazon has made.
As such, the fiscal situation has gone from ‘borderline’ to ‘unsustainable.’
Until Amazon changes their rules, the following audiobooks will be the last produced:
Water Witch (Status: headed to retail.)
Water Viper (Status: headed to retail.)
Booked for Murder (Status: in production.)
A Chip on Her Shoulder (Status: in production.)
ACX, which is the publishing platform for Audible, has also been unable to push books through to retail in a timely fashion.
Water Viper and Water Witch have been in ACX’s hands for publication (audio review, headed to retail) for 2+ months.
We’re sorry for having to make this decision, but with the encouraging of reviews and the recanting of royalties, it is no longer possible to continue audiobooks.
Should ACX change their stance and remove the royalty penalties for authors or stop encouraging listeners to return/exchange at penalties to the author, then audiobooks will be revisited.
We know this is disappointing news, but this sort of abuse of creators needs to stop–and that means no longer allowing Amazon to profit.
As it is, the female only receives a 25% royalty of the title on most of my audiobooks… and for the titles she is in a royalty share agreement, she only receives 20% royalty, while the producer receives 20%.
What can you do? Good question, because the only way Amazon will likely listen or care is if they lose a lot of income from audiobooks… and we just don’t see readers complaining about something that benefits them and makes their services look so appealing.
~The Furred & Frond Management
How. . . in what way does it make ANY form of sense that, after purchasing an item with NO evidence it is flawed, you can return it with you money back? That is zero sense. No author can afford to do audio books with this type of practice. I’m sorry for those of you who prefer/must have audio. I wonder if JAWS or Dragon software can be used by those needing audio (i. e. hard of hearing) books with e-books in kindle or other type format. They work with etextbooks.
Yeah. This practice is deplorable, because they’re already getting 60-75% of the royalties on the audiobooks as it is.
You are taking the only option open to you. You are NOT a not-for-profit entity. It is disappointing for those who do utilize Audible but the middle-man should not benefit over the artist. Much as your followers may be disappointed, you have to make a stand for what is right against those with the “might”.
So sorry to hear about this happening. I totally understand why you’re quitting the audiobooks though! The situation even before the royalty penalties sounds awful, and after, is atrocious. This just reinforces why I avoid buying from Amazon whenever possible. Buying directly from the sellers is my goal whenever possible. Thank you for ALL you do (especially your storytelling), but also for explaining when difficult decisions need to be made. Best wishes to you, your family, and especially your felines 😺. Be well this Thanksgiving and holiday season. 👵🏻
Sorry to hear that you won’t be producing any more audiobooks. I can’t blame you, given Amazon’s / Audible’s stance. Audible has changed their memberships recently (November 1) and myself, as a subscriber, can see myself ending my subscription with them. I have noticed that other Authors have started selling their audiobooks through other avenues – including buying direct from the author. Eve Langlais and Skye Mackinnon are two authors who have gone this way. I also purchase my audiobooks through Chirpaudio and have been investigating Scribd as another alternative. Kobo also provide audiobooks. My point here is that audiobooks is a medium where Audible is a reseller. You don’t have to make your audiobooks available thorugh Audible – you have options.
Either way, I will continue to buy your ebooks. Though I really wish Flame Game would be available in audio – just so I could have the entire series 🙂 – But I understand.
Necole
P.S. Flame Game is pre-ordered and I am looking forward to reading it.
The other vendors do not earn enough money to produce. I could hire my studio to do it outside of ACX’s system, yes.
I would end up footing the entire bill because the other marketplaces have very low number of consumers.
As such, while I could remove all of my non-exclusive audiobooks for sale, it would take many years to earn back, and I just can’t afford those sort of bills realistically.
If more of the market was elsewhere, this might be an option, but my current audiobook sales is 99.9% audible right now.
I can’t afford to do audiobooks relying on 0.01% of my sales.
Totally don’t blame you–that is one nasty set-up. I’m sorry for those who prefer audio books, but there are options. Thanks for explaining, and have a happy Thanksgiving.
Dissapointed, but understandable. This is your income and is necessary to live and write. I imagine you would not have made this decision lightly. So thank you for sharing your worlds and I am looking forward to all your future books.
It is horribly frustrating to have spent so much time, effort, and money trying to build my audiobook audience only to have to flush it all because of Amazon’s choice of practice.
Good for you, your decision is a sound one. No one wants to work for free or have to pay to work. I am a server, so I get it. When I have a guest that does not tip, I pay to serve them. You deserve to be paid. Amazon will only stop this practice if they are made to. I only buy ebooks so this will not affect me. I also do not read and then return books for a refund. Best wishes for you and may your work pay you well.
I tipped a driver $45 for dragging a cart across the complex. I was with him. But the gate was broken and I slowed him down from doing his work, so I gave him an extra $15 over what I was going to give him because I knew the next person probably wasn’t going to tip him.
I’m known to leave tips bigger than the bill if the waiter/waitress did a good job. Like if I’m eating in somewhere nice, and the waiter/waitress makes my stay there pleasant, I’m going to often tip a lot!
Because they’re a huge part of why a meal is nice.
I guess Jeff has to get that $791 million he just pledged to fight climate change from somewhere. The richest boys club wants to own the whole world I guess. Don’t let them get you down. I consider audiobooks a convince but will live without them.
It’s absolutely ridiculous that Amazon allows customers to abuse the system and penalize the authors.
That is just wrong. It is typical of monopolies, and Amazon/Audible has become a huge monopoly in this Covid world.
I will miss your audio books, but you deserve to be paid for your work.
Thank you for continuing to produce your ebooks. I do love them.
I’m so sorry. I love audiobooks, especially yours, but if you’re losing money on them, I’ll just have to read your books 🙂
If you ever get a chance, and decide to give audiobooks another try, audible is not the only company out there… https://writingtipsoasis.com/audiobook-publishing-companies/ I have no idea what their prices are, but it could be an option you may want to look into.
My producer is a separate entity from ACX. ACX/Audible is simply the market the books are sold on. Those publishers all sell on Audible/ACX.
Literally 99.9% of my sales are on the Audible market. Audible is NOT a publisher. It’s a market.
For me it doesn’t make a problem, because being hard of hearing, audible books don’t work. I never know if the voices are ones that I can understand, so I prefer print or ebooks. You are out to make a living so you should do whatever is necessary.
Reading that, well, it makes me glad that I don’t use Audible at all. While I have listened to audiobooks in the past, and will probably do so again in the future, they are not my preferred form of media where books are concerned.
I can not, and do not blame you for stopping audiobooks of your novels.
I will miss the audio books. But I understand completely! Unfortunately I get my audio books through chirpbooks.com and not Audible, so there isn’t much I can do.
You can only do so much before it is not sustainable. Previously you were putting a pause on doing more audiobooks and after reading this I am glad that you did.
Started reading The Flame Game last night and am enjoying it so far.
So very sorry you have had to go through this mess. Hope it can be worked out to your benefit. You are one of my favorite authors and it is so wrong that these publishers are treating you so shabbily.
As always, I look forward to any forth-coming books with great anticipation.
wishing you and yours a very happy holiday season.
Best regards, Anne Renner
I can’t believe they are doing this with audio books. I prefer digital, but I also do listen to some audio. I tend to get them from authorsdirect or chirp, though. I signed a form somewhere requesting that Audible stop that practice. It isn’t even that they allow them to be returned, even after completed listened to and after a long period of time – it is that they actually promote the practice!
Is it sad there will be no more audiobooks yes. But I can’t believe they would do that to the authors! That’s horrible and makes absolutely NO sense! Why would they penalize the people who create what they are selling, without you there is no product! I hope this changes and I definitely will be complaining to audible about it. People need to be held responsible and I feel like there is no accountability anymore.
Omfg, I can’t believe Amazon is doing that to authors. I will go through kindle and buy your books that way. I was wondering do you get the choice on the narrator of your stories as they are yours? But I digress. I love your books please do not give up because there are some ****ers with their panties in a twist because everything should be perfect for them. I say we send Bailey over to burn them.
I’ve purchase every single one of you magical comedy books and now they are being removed from my audible account. Is this related?
They should not be removing the books from your account. You bought them. Amazon lost rights to SELL more copies, but aren’t supposed to be taking away purchases. They’re fucking morons. But yes, Audible’s lack-luster practices are why I no longer sell with them.
I also own ebook/ kindle books as well 🤷♀️