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title still on the old terms on that date must either have been enrolled in the new model by its rights holder or be withdrawn from distribution.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.
We have reached out Audible and will update this blog post as needed, as new information emerges.
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 reports that its early-access participants saw average earnings rise by around 45 per cent against the old model. That figure is Audible's, drawn from a self-selected group, and the company has not published an average Member Value or any breakdown that would let an author or an auditor check it. We are not in a position to confirm or deny it, neither is anyone else outside Audible, and we await their response on this question.
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.
We also do not yet know the mechanics of removal. Is a title taken down on 1 January if its rights holder hasn't acted, or is there a window? Can a removed title be reinstated by enrolling late? What happens to royalty-share titles where the narrator has not responded to the consent request? We have put these questions to Audible and will report what we hear.
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.
Chase your royalty-share narrators. A royalty-share title cannot move to the new model without the narrator's approval. If you have such titles, contact your narrators now, not in December. Silence on their part may cost you the listing.
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 narrator consent and any teething problems in the portal have time to resolve.
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