It’s a digital lockdown that naturally suits Amazon, harms the opposition, and leaves many indies feeling short-changed despite the fact that they, generally, voluntarily entered into the subscription service agreement (that wasn’t always the case with Amazon Escape). There is no other revenue option for these digital titles anywhere, not just in the countries the subscription service is available in. Audible’s ACX has a slight variant on exclusivity in that titles exclusive to ACX also get distributed to Apple.īut the bottom line is indies going into any Amazon-owned subscription service can only earn from the outlets Amazon permits. Kindle Unlimited requires self-publishers to upload their ebooks exclusively to Amazon.

The negativity about Kindle Unlimited and Audible Escape has caused deep divisions within the self-publishing movement and the arguments have been latched onto by opponents of subscription at a wider level, so it’s worth taking the opportunity to look at the bigger picture here. Romance authors saw regular sales evaporate as readers realised they could get the exact same material for a one-off monthly fee, and Audible’s payout to authors often came nowhere near making up the difference. In the case of Audible Escape that was very much the case. Just as with its sister ebook subscription service Kindle Unlimited, Audible Escape has for many come to epitomise the downsides of unlimited subscription with its low payout per minutes listened (pages read for ebooks) leaving many authors feeling they were earning less than before.

Since November 2017, Audible Romance, which later became known as Audible Escape, had been upsetting self-published audiobook authors with low payouts for authors and narrators and the cannibalisation of retail sales as listeners unsurprisingly opted for the monthly fee unlimited consumption model on offer. Why the opposing strategies in the US and Spain? – but those not privy to the confidential behind the scenes dealing that got us this far will be surprised to learn Audible has, as TNPS has argued on many occasions it must, conceded the Storytel model is the future and has offered Spain’s consumers the unlimited consumption model.

Brazil's Ubook prepares IPO as Amazon launches Audible Latino, suggesting Audible Spain is still some way off

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