In a bid to be a hybrid of of Amazon’s ACX and an ebook distributor like Smashwords, Audiobooks.com has revealed their new distribution service called Author’s Republic. Unlike ACX, which distributes to Amazon, Audible, and iTunes, Author’s Republic has a longer list of distribution partners. From the press release:
Most notable about the new service is the extensive retail and distributor network made available to authors who use it. Author’s Republic will submit titles to over a dozen merchants including Audiobooks.com, Audible, iTunes, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Scribd, Downpour, and tunein, as well as library providers like Findaway and Overdrive.
“There are a lot of places to sell audiobooks, but until now, there was no easy way for authors to access them,” says Singhal. “Services like Smashwords and Draft2Digital have done great things for eBook distribution. Now, Author’s Republic is doing the same thing for audiobooks.”
The service also offers competitive royalty rates. On most platforms, authors will receive an average of 35% of what their titles are sold for. Authors selling their titles through Audible, iTunes and Amazon will receive 25% of what their book is sold for on those platforms, a rate that matches the royalty rate offered through ACX for titles sold non-exclusively.
Author’s Republic will appeal strongly to international authors and publishers who are often excluded from similar distribution services based on regional restrictions. Author’s Republic offers a “back-door” for international authors to bring their audiobooks to the sizeable North American market.
The downside is fairly sizable. From their “How it Works” page:
The rights holder (that’s you!) comes to us with a completed audiobook and registers for a Rights Holder account.
The value in ACX is connecting authors with audiobook narrators, which is the biggest hurdle for many authors. They do provide an audiobook creation app called Recordio, but this is only to record an audiobook, and audiobook narration is an artform in itself.
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That is good news. When I first got into publishing, the process could hardly have been simpler. I uploaded two print files to Lightning Source/Ingram and within two weeks that book was available online and around the world. Doing revisions was even easier.
Now I spend hours preparing books and ebooks in various formats and uploading them here and there. It’s a time consuming pain and updates are even worse.
Anything that streamlines that process, in this case for audiobooks, is to be welcomed. I might add that authors looking for a reader might want to listen to those who volunteer for Librivox. Find a good reader and offer to pay them.