How Much Can You Earn From Distributing an Audiobook?
When you start looking into how much money can be made from selling an audiobook production, you quickly realize that the available data is fairly opaque. We want to provide a rough overview of how revenue is divided, which parties receive a share, and what you can generally expect.
Chris Kling
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And to say it upfront: there is no simple, one-size-fits-all answer.
Naturally, you want a quick answer to the question of how much you can earn from an audiobook, but the large number of stores and their different payment models make that difficult.
How do I make money from my audiobook?
Let’s start with the straightforward part.
Once the audiobook is finished, it is distributed through a publisher or distribution service to digital stores such as Audible, Spotify, BookBeat and others.
A publisher or self-publisher earns a share of the revenue generated by a finished and released audiobook with every transaction in these digital stores.
There are essentially two different models:
Download: Revenue is paid out for each audiobook sold and downloaded, as with Amazon/Audible or Apple Books.
Streaming: A payment is made for each track played, as with streaming platforms such as Spotify and Deezer.
Different stores, payment models and terms
So how much is actually paid per download or stream?
In principle, the revenue generated by a release depends on the business model through which the product was purchased or listened to, as well as the individual store.
For example, we distribute the audiobooks produced for our clients through our distribution partners to more than a hundred digital stores and streaming platforms.
Each of these stores has its own payment model and terms.
They are not all equally important either. In general, you can assume that more than 90% of your revenue will come from only a handful of these platforms.
Important and popular audiobook platforms in Germany include Audible (Amazon), Apple Books, BookBeat, Tolino, Spotify, Rhapsody and Deezer.
Exactly how much is paid per download or stream depends heavily on the individual business model of the store or streaming provider.
Who gets a share of the revenue?
Let’s go into a little more detail.
Which parties actually earn money from the sale or streaming of an audiobook?
The stores:
For downloads, the largest absolute share of the sales price usually goes directly to the store where the product is sold, such as Amazon.
For streaming platforms, the calculation is less directly traceable on a per-unit basis because revenue comes from subscriptions and advertising, but naturally these platforms also generate a profit.
The distribution service:
Instead of manually delivering a new audiobook title to more than 100 different stores, distribution companies bundle and automate this process.
Publishers — including Klangkantine Audiobooks — have agreements with these distributors for this service.
The distributor generally receives a percentage of the revenue paid by the stores in exchange for its services.
A common figure is approximately 10–20%.
The publisher:
For management and other services, a publisher retains a contractually agreed share and pays the remainder to the author.
Publisher shares of 30%, 50% or even more are not uncommon.
For self-publishers, there are also intermediary publishing services that help bring a book into the stores. In these cases, it is important to pay close attention to the exact terms, as they can often be quite opaque.
For clients whose audiobooks we produce, we also offer distribution through our Klangkantine Audiobooks imprint under particularly favorable terms:
We pay out 90% of the distribution revenue directly — with no minimum contract period or ongoing fees.
So how much is actually paid out?
Exact terms are constantly changing and are often subject to contractual confidentiality agreements.
However, as a rough guide, selling a download through platforms such as Audible or Apple Books generally generates slightly less than 50% of the retail price.
If the download takes place as part of a subscription model — such as Audible — the payout is lower, usually around 10% of the retail price.
Keep in mind that the listed retail price can also be adjusted slightly by individual stores. There are several reasons for this, and these adjustments are generally made automatically.
With streaming, revenue depends on how often the individual tracks of the audiobook are played.
The exact amount paid per stream — meaning per track listened to for at least 30 seconds — depends on the listener’s country, the total amount of listening activity during that month, and the proportion of subscribers versus ad-supported users.
On average, Spotify pays approximately €0.003 per stream.
To maximize streaming revenue, our distribution service optimizes audiobook monetization through an adjusted track structure.
While dividing files by chapter makes perfect sense for download-based payments, before delivering content to streaming services we split chapters into approximately three-minute segments.
The result: if one chapter is 30 minutes long, ten three-minute segments can generate ten times the monetization from the same number of listeners.
How long does it take to recoup the audiobook’s production costs?
Compared with the traditional book or physical media market, different standards apply here because streaming revenue is becoming increasingly important.
Since revenue is generated every time a title is listened to, the revenue stream is not a sprint but rather an ongoing process.
This should definitely be taken into account in financial planning as well as in marketing, promotion and PR strategies.
Audiobook revenue is not a sprint and should be calculated over a longer period. The first complete figures only become available around six months after release.
The good news is that, unlike the one-time purchase of an audiobook, streaming continues to generate revenue every time the material is played.
This makes it suitable for creating a passive income stream.
It simply takes a little longer.
In our experience, it is usually only after around two years that you can properly assess whether a title has successfully recouped its costs and is generating a profit.
There is another reason why you should be cautious about drawing conclusions too quickly.
While some stores provide distributors with sales figures every month, market leader Audible only provides statements on a quarterly basis.
On top of that, the figures arrive at least one quarter behind.
This means the first meaningful statements are generally available no earlier than six months after the initial release — and often even later.
Interested in starting an audiobook production with us?
Learn more about the production and distribution services offered by our studios.
Photo credit: Addictive Stock / Photocase
