An Auditory Empire
One author’s stand against Audible’s growing monopoly
To ardent fans of fantasy and sci-fi, the name Brandon Sanderson is far from unheard of. Author of the acclaimed Mistborn and Stormlight Archives series (among others), Sanderson has sold over 20 million copies worldwide and his works have been translated into twenty-five languages. Most recently, his Kickstarter project raised over thirty million dollars to self-publish a series of “secret novels” he wrote during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. But on “State of the Sanderson,” his annual blog, Sanderson recently revealed that the novels associated with the project would not be available via Audible for the foreseeable future.
Sanderson, who has had issues with Amazon’s publishing arm in the past, has taken the release of the “secret novels” as an opportunity to call attention to harmful business practices that Audible use when engaging with independent authors, namely through Audible’s Audiobook Creation Exchange, the service that independent authors use to create and publish their own audiobooks through Audible.
Through the Creation Exchange service, Audible will take a 60% commission for every audiobook sold (or in other words, the author receives 40% of the money made from each sale). However, if the author chooses to participate in the royalty-share program or not publish exclusively with Audible, the commission increases to 80% or 75% respectively. Comparatively, the industry standard for other forms of digital media is only a 30% commission. From apps downloaded through Apple to video games bought through Steam, creators typically receive 70% of the money made from each purchase. For many small independent authors, Audible’s deal is simply an offer they can’t refuse. They are by far the largest and most dominant supplier of audiobooks and there simply aren’t any other competitors for smaller authors to turn to. They can reject Audible’s offer, and see their audiobooks not reach considerable portions of their audience or agree to have the majority of their profits taken by Audible. Neither is an enticing offer.
Fortunately, for authors like Sanderson, he has the clout and financial stability to be able to refuse Audible’s services (mind you, Sanderson’s own reputation affords him a much higher rate from Audible as it is). Instead, he has decided to release the audiobooks of his secret novels on Spotify and Speechify. Spotify, most known for its music and podcast streaming services, recently began expanding into the realm of audiobooks in the latter half of 2022. Speechify, on the other hand, is curiously enough, not a primary distributor of media. Rather, it began as a text-to-speech app developed by Cliff Weitzman, a dyslexic student at Brown University, to help those with dyslexia read works that they otherwise might have struggled with (in fact, Sanderson’s own son uses Speechify). So, in keeping with increasing accessibility for those diagnosed with dyslexia, it made perfect sense for Speechify to branch out into audiobooks.
But what about Apple and other popular audiobook sources? The issue, according to Sanderson, is that, due to Audible’s size and reach, most other sources rely on the company:
Here’s the problem. (I’m sorry for going on at length. I’m passionate about this though.) There are no true competitors to Audible. Sure, there are other companies that can buy your book—but they all just list on Audible, and then take a percentage on top of what Audible is taking. Apple? Their books come in large part from Audible. Recorded Books? They are an awesome company, whom I love, but their biggest market is Audible. Macmillian, my publisher? They just turn around and put the books on Audible. I had a huge problem finding anyone who, if I sold the Secret Projects to them, wouldn’t just put them on Audible—and while I can’t tell you details, all of their deals are around the same low rates that Audible is paying indie authors. Audible runs this town, and they set the rates. For everyone. Everywhere.
Spotify and Speechify, according to Sanderson, were the only two companies willing to take on Audible’s monopoly. This is exactly what Sanderson wanted, as he wishes to help “rejuvenate the industry” and end Audible’s stranglehold on the audiobook landscape, which, in turn, will hopefully drive the company to treat their authors better.
But just how big is Audible? In a word: big. Like really big. Those paying attention to publishing news will no doubt remember the recent and failed merger between Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, which was blocked on the grounds that such a move would decrease competition. Penguin Random House is the largest of the Big Five Publishers and boasts a market share of 25%. Simon & Schuster, on the other hand, claims 9.1% of the market share. According to basic arithmetic, had the merger gone through, the resulting corporation would have claimed 34% of the print-books market share (Go Math!), just over an entire third of the market.
Interestingly enough, there’s an even bigger fish over in the realm of audiobooks. According to Codex Group research, Audible has a market share of a staggering 41% (in fact, in some genres, they have a market share of 90%). That’s four times the market share of Simon & Schuster, and even bigger than what Penguin Random House would’ve held if the companies had successfully merged. For further reference, according to the Federal Trade Commission, most courts will only find monopoly power at 50% market share or more. So, while all of that was going on within the paperback publishing industry, Audible (and Amazon, by extension), was sitting pretty in the corner with an even larger market share.
No wonder Sanderson had such trouble finding a vendor that didn’t work with Audible. Thankfully though, there are other entities that are vying to grab a cut of the audiobook pie, which will ideally take the wind out of Audible’s and Amazon’s sails. Along with the aforementioned Spotify and Speechify, Walmart’s partnership with Kobo, a Canadian bookseller, and Google’s Google Audiobooks will also provide some competition to Audible’s market dominance.
Personally, I’m not huge on audiobooks. They’re just not my thing. I like taking notes and having the ability to cite specific page numbers. I only had a passing knowledge of Audible and its services from all the sponsorships they offer and various internet content creators I follow. The audiobook market was never something I had particularly looked into. But I was a minor fan of Sanderson, having read his Reckoner’s trilogy some years ago. So, when I first heard about his decision to not offer his books on Audible and their affiliates, along with his reasoning why, I was quite shocked. But I can really only applaud Sanderson for helping take a stand against Audible’s dominance and hope that other authors with serious clout will also help support smaller indie authors and push back against Audible’s predatory practices.
Harrison Chin (’24) is a creative writing major with a publishing and editing minor. His love for science and technology informs his science fiction writing.