Breaking news: as of July 7, Amazon has extended the upper limit of the 70 percent KDP royalty bracket to $12.99 from $9.99. That allows some books to have a higher ticket price reflecting an author's desire to price within the market, without having to take a hit down to the 35 percent royalty rate. For those in that $10–$12.99 range currently, you may be eligible to switch to 70 percent per the FAQs, but will not automatically be switched.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
Sometimes the news surprises me in the “I thought that had already happened” sense. Today's second story is one of those, but on hearing that it hadn't already happened, I was delighted that it now has!
Bookshop.org Adds Audiobooks
What is it? Bookshop.org has announced that from July 8, it will now offer audiobooks to UK readers through its app. This means that, in theory, readers will now be able to use Bookshop.org to access all three main formats of books. And as authors, we will be able to make all of those three formats available to readers and listeners who want to buy our work and support indie bookstores at the same time.
Bookshop will be using a £12.99 per month subscription model, which provides one credit per account per month that can be swapped for one audiobook per credit.
At present, Bookshop.org is announcing on its website that readers can choose from 500,000 audiobooks, which presumably means that it receives audiobooks from the same catalogs from which it receives other books. That would mean that if you distribute your e-books through Draft2Digital, in light of the partnership announced between Draft2Digital and Bookshop earlier this year, you should be able to distribute audiobooks there too very soon if not already.
Indie Exclusive Editions
An interesting feature that differentiates audiobooks from other formats is that Bookshop.org is looking to produce “indie exclusive” editions of some titles, which will then only be available through independent booksellers. These will be limited in number to start, and at present, there is no mention of indie-author-created titles.
What is most interesting is that this move is a response, apparently, to the most commonly asked question by bookstores. And the credit model has been selected so that bookstores can explain it simply to readers. Unlike print, where most of what happens is online, and readers can share the love for their favorite indie store hundreds of miles away, in this case, there is a clearly envisioned scenario in which indie bookstores walk listeners through the process, and those listeners then reward that store through the app.
Thoughts or further questions on this post or any self-publishing issue?
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