ACX and Audible’s New Payment Model: What You Need to Decide Before 31 December

If you have audiobooks on Audible through ACX, you have a decision to make in the next twelve weeks. From 1 January 2027, Audible’s legacy payment model ends.

Every title still on the old terms on that date must either have been enrolled in the new model by its rights holder or be withdrawn from distribution. There is no third option, and there is no indication yet of a grace period.

This advisory sets out what is changing, what we know and don’t know about how it works, what the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) is doing about it, and what you can do now.

As always, we offer information rather than instruction. You are the publisher. The decision is yours.

What’s Happening with ACX

For more than a decade, ACX paid a flat share of each sale of an audiobook: 40 per cent of the retail price for titles exclusive to Audible, Amazon and Apple, 25 per cent for titles distributed non-exclusively. A credit spent by a listener on your book earned you an individual payment (which ACX referred to as a ‘royalty’) on your book.

The new model, in open enrolment since 26 May 2026, replaces that for all membership listening with something Audible calls ‘Member Value’. Audible takes each member’s monthly plan price, minus taxes and fees, adds the value of any extra credits that member bought in the month, and then divides that pot among every title the member engaged with during the month, weighted by each title’s list price.

Your payment now becomes your share of that pot, multiplied by your rate.

A member who buys your book with a credit and also listens to two other titles that month shares their value three ways. Cash purchases, whether by members or non-members, are unaffected; they continue to pay on list price. The change bites only on membership listening, which for most indie authors is where most of the money has come from.

As part of the adjustment, headline rates are going up: 50 per cent for exclusive distribution and 30 per cent for non-exclusive distribution—but a higher percentage of a different, and perhaps smaller, base is not the same as a rise.

Three further features arrive with the new model.

• The minimum exclusivity term shortens to 90 days from the old multi-year lock, which is a genuine improvement.
• Rights holders can suggest a price for each title across Audible marketplaces, though Audible retains the final say.
• And titles can be opted into All You Can Listen, Audible’s subscription catalogue, where qualifying listens become royalty-bearing events paid through the same Member Value calculation.

What we know and what we don’t

Audible originally reported that its early-access participants saw average earnings rise by around 45 per cent against the old model. In its response to ALLi, ACX now reports that, comparing the same titles over equivalent periods, creators on the new model collectively earned over 26 per cent more in total royalties in their first one to two months, and that 64 per cent of creators earned more overall. It also reports that the average credit royalty per unit has risen by around 20 per cent.

These figures are Audible’s own. ALLi has not independently verified them, and the company has not published an average Member Value or any breakdown that would let an author or an auditor check them. We note that, on Audible’s own figures, around a third of creators did not earn more, and we have asked Audible for more detail on how these figures were calculated.

John Doppler, Head of ALLi’s Watchdog Desk, puts it plainly: ‘The Member Value model is not transparent, and it makes it harder, not easier, for authors to estimate their income.’ Some will earn more. Writers of long series with devoted Audible listeners, where a member spends most of their month inside one author’s catalogue, are likely to fare best.

Our expectation at the moment is that more will earn less, particularly mid-list authors whose readers tend to listen widely.

ACX has now confirmed its position on removal. From 1 January 2027, it will begin the process of withdrawing titles that have not been enrolled in the new model by 31 December 2026. Withdrawn titles can be reinstated, with their reviews, ranking history and Whispersync pairing intact, by agreeing to the new terms, and ACX says it will publish details of the reinstatement process in the coming weeks. Rights holders do not need producer consent to enrol royalty-share titles, and producers will continue to receive their share of royalties after a title converts. Authors who distribute through aggregators should check with those aggregators about any action required.

A wider concern, raised by authors and by the Change.org petition started by Robin Sullivan in August 2025, which now carries more than 30,000 signatures, is that pooling moves money from titles bought with credits towards the Plus catalogue, and that a flood of cheaply produced AI-narrated audio into that catalogue will dilute every human-made title’s share.

That remains an open question, and one we are watching closely.

ALLi’s position

Audible is a dominant audiobook marketplace, run by a company whose interests are not the same as ours, and it warrants the scrutiny we give any such platform: check them, understand the terms, and decide with your eyes open. Our aim is to have Audible commit publicly to the full method of calculation so that payments can be understood and audited.

Payments paid on an undisclosed formula are payments made on trust, and authors have reason to be wary of Audible/ACX, as those who remember the Audiblegate scandal will recall:

What you can do now

Check every title. Log in to ACX and confirm the status of each of your audiobooks. Newly claimed titles are being enrolled in the new model automatically; older ones are not. Know which of yours is which.

Revisit exclusivity. The 90-day minimum term makes going wide a smaller commitment than it was. If you would like to sell direct from your website (which Bookfunnel makes easy), use Spotify or other distributors, access library sales or make any moves towards wide, which is recommended, it’s time to think seriously about that.

Decide on ‘All You Can Listen’ title by title. Opting in may bring discovery for a first-in-series or a backlist title; it may erode a strong seller. Treat it as a per-book decision, not a blanket one.

Plan with ranges, not points. Until Audible publishes better Member Value data, treat your 2027 audio income as a band rather than a figure, and build the rest of your publishing budget accordingly.

Tell us what you see. If you are an ALLi Member and your earnings statements from the new model show something unexpected, or if you are approached by Audible Studios with new terms, or if you have questions, reports and concerns, write to the Watchdog Desk. [email protected] Member reports are how we hold platforms to account.

Use the comments below to ask your own questions, or offer additional information.

Deadline

Audible’s stated date for the end of the legacy model is 31 December 2026. Treat the end of November as your own deadline, so that any teething problems in the portal have time to resolve.