Royalty Comparison

This page contains pictorial representations comparing the current royalty percentages (to the best of my knowledge) for a number of aggregators under various contract options for an audiobook sold at Audible. The full 100% bar in the right-hand column represents the price paid for an audiobook at Audible. The bright green segments show the relative proportions an author will receive in royalties for each of the listed aggregators, for wide versus exclusive, and 50/50 royalty share versus per finished hour.

NOTES:
– ACX is only available for residents of the USA, UK, Canada and Ireland.
– Spoken Realms has not been included on this list, as their contracts prevent them from publicly stating their royalties, but they are very competitive and an option with royalties comparable to others listed.
– At the time this material was prepared, it was my understanding that retailer deduction percentages were equal between ACX and the various Aggregators. It has since come to light that there is some variation in the percentage that ACX deducts compared to the percentage that Audible/Amazon/iTunes deduct where going through alternative Aggregators. As more information comes to hand, this will be incorporated into the material on this page.

DISCLAIMER: The information on this page is true to the best of my knowledge. This is meant as a tool only, and you should always do your own research direct with aggregators before making any decision. If you feel anything on this page is inaccurate, incomplete or misleading, please let me know via the Contact page.

This images below provide a pictorial comparison of various aggregators’ royalty share arrangements under a variety of contracts. The areas in bright green are the percentage of a book’s selling price that the author should expect to receive, allowing you to compare the offerings from various aggregators, whether wide/exclusive or PFH/royalty share. This is a comparison for audiobooks sold at Audible and Amazon, (since they are the biggest markets). Irrespective of aggregator, I believe percentages from other retailers are generally more favourable for authors and narrators than those listed for Audible and Amazon (for example, many other retailers only take 50%, rather than 60 to 75% like Audible and Amazon do).