The audiobook landscape is expanding, creating a strong opportunity for authors. In 2024, U.S. audiobook revenues increased by 13%, with digital audiobooks comprising 99% of sales. This guide provides a roadmap for selling your audiobook, covering the steps from preparing your files to reaching your audience.
Preparing Your Audiobook for Sale
Before selling your audiobook, you need professional, retail-ready assets. The audio files must meet industry technical specifications for a quality listener experience. Files must be in MP3 format, with each chapter as a separate file, encoded at a constant bitrate of 192kbps or higher. Audio levels must be consistent, with an average loudness (RMS) between -23dB and -18dBFS, and include 0.5 to 1 second of silence at the beginning and 1 to 5 seconds at the end of each file.
Audiobook cover art has requirements separate from print or ebooks. It must be a perfect square with a minimum resolution of 2400 x 2400 pixels, saved in a PNG or JPG format. The design must be legible at a thumbnail size, as this is how most customers will first encounter it.
You also need to compile comprehensive metadata for retail sites to categorize and display your book. This includes a compelling book description and biographies for the author and narrator. An audiobook requires its own International Standard Book Number (ISBN) as it is a distinct product, and this identifier tracks its sales and library availability.
Choosing a Distribution Strategy
Your distribution strategy determines how your audiobook reaches listeners, with a choice between exclusivity or wide availability. Exclusive distribution means partnering with a single platform, like Audible’s Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX). The advantage is a higher royalty rate, as ACX’s exclusive option provides a more favorable revenue split.
This arrangement grants access to promotional tools available only within that platform’s ecosystem. The drawback is the lock-in term, where you agree not to sell your audiobook on any other platform, including your own website, for a set period. This limits your audience to a single company’s customer base.
The alternative is wide distribution, making your audiobook available in as many places as possible. This requires an audiobook aggregator, a service acting as a middleman to retailers and library services. Companies like Findaway Voices or PublishDrive distribute your files and metadata to a large network, reaching a broader audience.
This approach gives you more control over your intellectual property and avoids being tied to a single retailer’s terms. The trade-off is that royalty rates may be lower than an exclusive rate, as the revenue is split between the retailer, the aggregator, and you. It also means managing income from multiple sources, which adds administrative complexity.
Understanding the Major Retail Platforms
With wide distribution, your audiobook can appear on numerous retail and library platforms. Audible is the largest retailer, operating on a credit-based subscription model. Other major platforms include Apple Books and Google Play Books, which offer audiobooks directly to their users.
Ebook retailers like Kobo also have substantial audiobook catalogs with a strong international presence. These platforms offer both à la carte purchases and their own subscription models, providing alternatives for listeners.
A large part of the wide distribution network involves library services. Companies like OverDrive and Hoopla are major suppliers of audiobooks to public libraries worldwide. When a library purchases a license for your audiobook, it becomes available for patrons to borrow for free. While royalty payments from library borrows differ from direct sales, they provide a source of discovery for new readers.
Selling Audiobooks Directly to Customers
Selling your audiobook directly from your own website is an increasingly popular sales channel. This method allows you to retain the highest percentage of each sale by cutting out the retail and distribution middlemen. Because the revenue is not split with a platform, a significantly larger portion of the profit is yours.
This direct relationship also means you own the customer’s data, such as their email address. This allows you to build a direct line of communication with your listeners. You can inform them about future releases, offer special promotions, and cultivate a loyal following in a way that is impossible when selling through third-party retailers.
To execute a direct sales strategy, you need a website with integrated e-commerce functionality, which can be achieved using platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce. You also need a specialized digital delivery service to securely provide the audio files. Services like BookFunnel or Soundwise handle the technical aspects of the transaction and customer support for listening issues, freeing you to focus on creating and marketing.
How to Price Your Audiobook
Pricing your audiobook is influenced by your distribution strategy. With an exclusive platform like Audible, you have limited control over the consumer price. Audible operates on a credit system where subscribers exchange one credit for any audiobook. While you set a retail price, your royalty is based on the credit’s value, as most sales occur via credits.
Wide distribution or selling directly from your website provides much greater pricing flexibility. When using an aggregator, you can set a specific library price and a retail price for platforms that allow it. For direct sales, you have complete autonomy, allowing you to set the price, offer bundles, or create unique discount codes for your audience.
A common practice for setting a baseline retail price is to use the audiobook’s length as a guide. Shorter books under three hours are often priced under $10. Mid-length books, from three to ten hours, might fall in the $15-$25 range, while longer titles over ten hours can be priced at $25-$35 or more. Final pricing should also consider the genre, the author’s platform, and production costs.
Marketing and Promoting Your Audiobook
Once your audiobook is available, a focused marketing effort is needed to drive sales. Many distribution platforms provide promotional tools, such as free promo codes from ACX and aggregators like Findaway Voices. These codes can be distributed to potential reviewers, influencers, and audiobook bloggers to generate early buzz and secure reviews on retail sites.
Leveraging your existing audience is an effective strategy. Announce the audiobook’s release to your author email list, offering them a direct link to purchase it, perhaps with a special discount if you are selling direct. Cross-promotion is also effective; coordinate with your narrator to announce the release on both of your social media channels to share audiences.
Seeking out reviews from dedicated audiobook enthusiasts is another tactic. Many bloggers and podcasters focus specifically on reviewing audiobooks, so you can research and contact them with an offer of a free promo code. Positive reviews from these sources can influence purchasing decisions, and running periodic price promotions can also create a spike in sales and visibility.