• Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • TikTok
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Tahlia Newland

Editor, Author & Artist

  • Editing Services
  • Me & My Creative Life
    • My Books
      • Metaphysical Fiction
    • My Poetry
    • My Masks
    • My Hats
    • Permaculture, Forest & Garden
    • Performing Arts
  • Blog
  • Contact

A Comparison of Audio Book Distributors– ACX, Author’s Republic and Scribl

October 31, 2016 by Tahlia Newland

 microphone-1

Are you planning an audiobook? If you have a good reading voice and some decent recording equipment, you can do it yourself. That’s what I’m doing with Worlds Within Worlds. The issue though, once you’ve done it, is how to distribute it to the places where people go to get audiobooks. You can’t put your book up on itunes yourself; you need to go through a distributor, so here is a comparison of audio book distributors to help you decide how to go about it.

For more up to date audio book information see this post https://selfpublishingadvice.org/the-ultimate-guide-to-audiobooks-for-authors/ 

ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange)

“What Amazon and Kindle are to book publishing, Amazon’s ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange) and Audible subsidiaries are to audiobooks.” (quote from http://audiobookrevolution.com/2016/01/07/new-audiobook-option-for-authors/ ) but there are big issues with using their service. 

  • ACX will organise production of your audiobook for you,
  • The content you make through them is exclusive to them. There’s a 7-year exclusivity clause unless you pay the production fee and opt for non-exclusivity,
  • Authors have no control over the price,
  • The service is limited to authors in the USA and UK,
  • Distribution is to Amazon, Audible, Itunes “as well as wherever else Audible chooses”,
  • Royalties are 20% of retail, or 40% if you pay your own production fees or 25% if you pay your own production fees and opt for non-exclusivity.
  • There have been issues with transparency and payments.

Alternatives to ACX

Luckily, there are now options in Author’s Republic and Scribl both of which give an opportunity for authors to create a new revenue stream without a big up-front investment and long exclusivity contracts.

Though ACX is good for those who need someone to record the book, the following are better options for those with access to quality recording equipment and can do it themselves. Author’s Republic has slightly higher royalty rates than ACX, but Scribl has far better returns for authors than both of them, not just in audio books but in their ebook distribution as well.

Author’s Republic

  • Hasa dozen retail and distributor partners –i.e. more than just Amazon and itunes. They include Audiobooks.com, Barnes and Noble, Nook, Scribd, libraries and more.
  • Authors can earn up to 35% of the final sales.
  • They take your retail price suggestion into account and it’s honoured in most places, but Amazon, Audible and itunes will set the prices they want.
  • You can opt-out after six months
  • Authors have the option to record their own book on their iPhone, iPad, or on the web through the Recordioapp, but though AR may do a little post-production on it there is no guarantee of professional quality.

Scribl and Podiobooks (both Scribliotech Inc companies)

Scribl is an ebook sales outlet and distributor who also does audio books.  You have to give them a copy of the ebook to sell on their website along with the audio book; however, you can put the ebook or audiobook,or both, or neither onto their distribution platform (CrowdPricing Everywhere.)

  • For sales on Scribl.com, you earn 75-85% of the GROSS revenue they receive.
  • You don’t have pricing control. They set the pricing automatically according to how popular your book is. They call it CrowdPricing. Readers discover your title for free, and CrowdPricing automatically ramps up the price as it gains popularity.
  • If you opt into CrowdPricing Everywhere, Scribl can automatically distribute your book through just about every retail site—including Apple, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo, to name a few. Unlike other sites that offer distribution, with Scribl you always earn the full 70% share at all prices (often more than if you posted directly – see below). This applies to both ebooks and audiobooks. See figures here. The 85% return is if you list an audio book along with your ebook.
  • Audio books sold and distributed through Scribl are also posted on Podiobooks as a free serialised podcast. Podiobooks.com titles are free; however, they do solicit “tips” from listeners from time to time. When that happens for your book, Podiobooks.com will send you 75% of those donations. (I doubt that will come to much but, as they say, “this is a path to payment.” Some people don’t want to wait until the next episode and so will buy the book, and you’ll be reaching more people.)
  • a free ISBN for every ebook or audiobook edition that you opt-in to CrowdPricing Everywhere.

What is CrowdPricing?

In CrowdPricing, each title moves between a set of predefined price tiers based on popularity within its genre. When a title’s downloads increase, its price goes up a notch. When downloads decrease, the price drops to the lower tier. All books start at free, the idea being to give it the most visibility, and encourage readers to check out new releases.

CrowdPricing rewards authors based on the market appeal of their work relative to similar works; meanwhile, a new book finds fans through a lower starting price. And long-term prices are protected by keeping the full prices for the most popular titles. More about all this here.

Always 70%? Even on Amazon, B&N etc?

In an email to me on this question, Dorian from Support at Scribliotech, Inc. said, “Going direct to each of those sites would yield less revenue and more work for you. Every download under CrowdPricing Everywhere ALWAYS gets you at least the full 70% of your book (75% for sales on scribl.com, or 85% if you also provide an audiobook edition of the book). Even where Amazon only pays 35% in some markets or if you price outside their core band of $2.99 – $9.99, Scribl pays you the full 70% of the $CP price. At Barnes & Noble, they never pay more than 65% and go as low as 40%, where again you still get the full 70% for those sales when you self-publish through Scribl. We are uniquely able to do this because of our CrowdPricing system and the terms we have secured for authors through all of these distribution channels.”

How can they offer more than double the returns of their competitors?

Apart from whatever deal they’ve brokered with the stores, CrowdPricing produces 30 times more total revenue for content than with conventional, author-priced systems. How does CrowdPricing produce so much more? Apparently:

  • Customers trust the prices, so they’re more willing to pay,
  • Most downloads are paid downloads—unlike conventional systems, where most of the downloads are the free kind.

Anyway, that’s what they say. I’m planning to use them to release the audiobook of Worlds Within Worlds that I’m recording now, so I’ll let you know how it goes. I’ll be selling the book here for a start, but I do want it available in the major retail outlets as well.

Update

I had to use Author’s Republic for the book I had ready to go because Scribd, I discovered, only published fiction, and the book I did the audiobook for was non-fiction. I was pleased with their service and sold a reasonable number of books even though I never marketed it. See more here.

As of February 2021, I have not completed the fiction audiobook. And the audio book landscape has changed. There are now new options available. See here.

If you like fantasy stories with action, romance and a contemplative element, you’ll enjoy my fiction, so take a look in my bookshop before you go.

You can also follow me on all sorts of social media by clicking the buttons at the top of my website.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Editing, Writing & publishing Tagged With: audiobook distribution, audiobook production, how to get your audiobook on itunes

« YAY! Another award for The Locksmith’s Secret
A great book: Bardwell’s Folly by Sandra Hutchison »

Search

Recent Posts

  • Fantasy Book Review: The High Priestess by Val Tobin
  • Book Genres – What you Need to Know.
  • How to See Edits in Word Documents
  • Finding an Editor You Can Trust
  • Review of ‘The Guild Codex Spellbound Series’ by Annette Marie

View Posts by Category

Writing a novel? Feeling overwhelmed? Get new insight and inspiration with my FREE Novel Revision Checklist. 

DOWNLOAD  NOW

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Free Book Download  
Get Lethal Inheritance free when you sign up to my new release email list.  I won’t share your details and you can unsubscribe at any time.

My Latest Books

  • Fallout: Recovering from Abuse in Tibetan Buddhism
  • The Elements of Active Prose: Writing Tips to Make Your Prose Shine
  • The Locksmith's Secret
    Rated 5.00 out of 5

Alliance of Independent Authors

Alliance of Independent Authors

Click HERE to see all my books.

Books
Reviews, Writing, Cats & Contemplation
Editing

Click HERE to subscribe to my newsletter and get my fantasy novel Lethal Inheritance FREE. 

How to Meditate – the crucial points

See more

Hi I’m Tahlia Newland

I can help you express yourself and share your story with the world.

 

Do you want to write a really good story and have it professionally polished and published?

As an editor, I help you be the best writer you can possibly be. I strengthen your voice, support your vision and can assist you all the way to publication.

On my blog you’ll find book reviews, writer’s tips, contemplative articles on meditation and working with your mind, and occaisonally pictures of my Burmese cats.

If you’re interested mostly in my contemplative articles then  Sign up to the Living in Peace & Clarity Newsletter to get those articles delivered by email. And check out the resources on my Living in Peace and Clarity Page.

I do a lot of community work involving blogging and general support for Buddhist students processing revelations of abuse in their spiritual communities.  Please consider supporting me to continue this work.

Occiasonally, when inspired and not too busy with community work, I make masks.

All my books are

Visit my Mask & Steampunk Accessories Shop

2015-03-19 15.46.12
Blue Burmese
Like cats in stories? Check out my books. And click the photo to read the cat colomn.

Click Here for More Articles in This Series

Book reviews – sci fi, fantasy, literary fiction, Buddhist fiction and related non-fiction

Fantasy Book Review: The High Priestess by Val Tobin

Fantasy Book Review: The High Priestess by Val Tobin

The High Priestess: Persephone’s Return is the third book in Val Tobin’s Tales from the Unmasqued World Series, and in it she deepens and expands the stories from the previous two book. The book has two central story arcs based around characters we’ve met before. One arc follows Kelsey (a human) who is with Josh […]

More Posts from this Category

My gorgeous Burmese cats

Renovated Website & Cute Cat Series

Renovated Website & Cute Cat Series

Yesterday I did a photoshoot for my renovated website. Take a look around, particulary at the home page (Click on my name at the top to go there). It’s designed for editing clients with my books secondary because I need to focus on the part of this publishing business that actually earns me more than […]

More Posts from this Category

Seven of my novels have an Awesome Indies Seal of Excellence

Four of my books earned BRAG Medallions

I abide by the ethical author code

I'm an Ethical Author
Alliance of Independent Authors

Copyright

All material on this website is under copyright to Tahlia Newland and cannot be shared without written permission.

  • Editing Services
  • About Me
  • My Books
  • My Masks
  • Blog
  • Contact

Copyright © 2023 · Amoré Theme by Oh, Hello Designs on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

FREE Novel Revision Checklist

Written a book? Need some help reviewing and revising it? Download my Novel Revision Checklist for step by step guidance.  

DOWNLOAD NOW

no thanks

{"cookieName":"wBounce","isAggressive":false,"isSitewide":true,"hesitation":"120","openAnimation":false,"exitAnimation":false,"timer":"","sensitivity":"","cookieExpire":"7","cookieDomain":"","autoFire":"","isAnalyticsEnabled":false}

Please note: I am closed for holidays from Christmas day until Jan 30th 2023. Dismiss

 

Loading Comments...