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Are audiobooks worth it for indies? The mid-2026 version

  1. R. S. Breed Founder

    3 months ago

    This comes up every few weeks, and the ground keeps moving under it, so here's where things stand in the middle of June.

    The market is there. The APA's figures for 2025 put audiobook sales at $2.43 billion, up 9%, so listeners are spending.

    ACX also pays more than it did, if you can use it (it only takes authors from a few countries, and Australia isn't one). Since 26 May, its new model pays 50% exclusive and 30% non-exclusive, up from 40% and 25%. The legacy model ends at the end of the year, when existing titles have to move to the new model or come out of distribution, so if you already have titles there, read what that means for them specifically.

    Wide audio has changed shape. Findaway Voices closed last August, with wide distribution moving to INaudio and direct publishing to Spotify for Authors.

    And AI narration exists, but it's gated. Amazon's Virtual Voice has been invite-only and US-only since 2023, paying 40% on list prices from $3.99 to $14.99. Spotify announced ElevenLabs narration for Spotify for Authors on 21 May, also invite-only and English only at launch. Per the APA, AI narration was 0.03% of audiobook revenue last year.

    So, is it worth it?

    My view is that for most indies, audio is a later decision, not a first-book decision.

    For it:

    • Some genres have heavy listeners, and those listeners tend to stick with a series and a narrator.
    • A finished series in audio can earn across every book. One standalone mostly can't.
    • The market is growing, and the ACX rates just went up.

    Against it:

    • Good human narration is a real upfront cost, and a book that isn't selling as an ebook rarely gets rescued by audio.
    • Production and checking take time you could spend writing the next book.
    • Exclusive pays better but ties you in. Non-exclusive now sits 20 points behind.

    Where I'd land. Do it when:

    1. The ebook sells steadily without constant ads.
    2. It's a series, or has an obvious follow-up.
    3. Your genre has listeners. Check the audio charts, not your hopes.
    4. You can pay for narration without it hurting.

    All four, yes. One or two, probably wait. If an AI invitation arrives, it changes the cost side of the sum but not whether listeners want the result, and that 0.03% suggests they aren't rushing.

    If you've run ACX's new rates against an existing title, how big was the difference?

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