Consequences of Audible Royalty Changes

With ACX (the production arm of Audible) changing their policy and no longer paying royalties on promo codes given out for Audible books released from April 2020 on, there have been several consequences. Obviously, there will be fewer royalties for both the author and narrator, making producing Audible books less profitable for them. 

Because of this, authors and narrators are less likely to find it worth their time to offer the promo codes for new books to listeners. It takes time that they have far too little of as it is. It might also take away some of the customers who would have paid for the book if they weren't offered the free code. In addition, listeners may find fewer books being produced for Audible.

As an author, I am also finding it harder to find quality narrators for my books. Since all my profits go to a scholarship fund for missionary children, I only do royalty sharing with the narrator, and without the revenue from promo codes, many are no longer accepting that method of payment. Thankfully, I have a great male and female narrator I have worked with and can turn to, but I do occasionally need a narrator with a different accent, and new ones are getting harder to find. As time goes on, there may even be other repercussions. I would love for ACX to take another look at the change and decide to reinstate royalties for promo codes, but I don't think that's likely to happen. 

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