You’ve published your audiobook and now you’re wondering how to make the money that everyone was talking about? Luckily for you, this article will cover the top five ways to sell your audiobook to make sure you receive a paycheck for all of your hard work.
In order to set your audiobook up for success, you need to be able to reach the biggest audience you can. This can be done by first getting on as many platforms to make your product accessible, no matter how the targer user listens to book. The other half of this is to market your audiobook with ads and other forms of advertisement to spread the word about it. The top five platforms to sell your audiobook are listed below.
- Audible is by far the leader in the market for selling audiobooks. The platform has over 41 percent of the audiobook market.
- Avocado Audio allows you upload your audiobook on your own terms, with your preferred price.
- Kobo is a Canadian company, that is a subsidiary of the Japanese e-commerce conglomerate, Rakuten. The company sells e-books, audiobooks, and eReaders. They have Kobo Writing Life (KWL) in which they allow free self-publishing for authors to easily create eBooks and upload them to Kobo.
- iTunes This can be done only through one of the distributors that work directly with Apple. Options can be found here.
- Google Audiobooks can be purchased in the Google Play Store on Android devices.
Notable mentions for places to sell your audiobook are Kobo, OverDrive, and Scribd.
What is an audiobook distributor?
This is the process of getting your audiobook out into the world. In other words, after your audiobook has been published, in order for people to find it, you need it on various platforms that people use, such as Amazon, Kobo, or OverDrive. This is done by using a distributor who takes a cut of your profit in exchange for allowing you to sell your audiobook on their site.
What companies are the top audiobook distributors?
- Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX): Amazon-owned, and sells audiobooks on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. They set the price based on the length and can change it based on promotions and other methods of pricing. There are two forms of distribution, exclusive and non-exclusive. An exclusive contract with ACX would mean that you only sell your audiobook on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. By doing this you would receive up to 40% of the revenue from the sale of your product. Non-exclusive distribution would mean that you earn up to 25% of the revenue from their three sites, while also having the ability to sell it on other sites.
- Findaway voices allows you, the publisher to set the price of your audiobook. You will then earn a 45% royalty rate based on that price, just on Apple Books in particular. In addition to this, you have access to over 30 audiobook platforms to sell your books on. This includes library services, international markets, subscription services (Scribd), and retailers such as Google.
- Kobo Writing Life allows you to sell directly to its readers, as well as its library distribution company, Overdrive. Authors that publish their books directly with OverDrive will receive 50% of the library price they set.
Other notable options include ListenUp, Sellfy, and Author’s Republic.
How much should I charge for my audiobook?
Pricing for audiobooks will be determined differently depending on the retailer. Some will do it based on a flat rate, while others will do it based on the length of it. If you are the one deciding on the rate, compare it to companies such as Audible or those that price it for you, in order to gauge what it would cost on other markets. For the biggest distributor, Audible, the pricing follows the general outline listed below, based on the length of it:
- under 1 hour: under $7
- 1 - 3 hours: $7 - $10
- 3 - 5 hours: $10 - $20
- 5 - 10 hours: $15 - $25
- 10 - 20 hours: $20 - $30
- over 20 hours: $25 - 35
What is the best way to sell my audiobook?
In short, whatever works for you and gets you the most return for your money and time spent on this project. There are plenty of options out there, so explore and find your favorite.