A Popularidade Dos 'Audiobooks' Está Crescendo

The Rising Popularity of Audiobooks Highlights The Industry's Backwards Payscale

First of all thanks to Adam Rowe for this article.

Audiobooks were digital content subscription service Scribd's fastest growing segment in 2017: Primary audiobook subscriber numbers for Scribd grew by more than 20% in 2016. Audiobooks are also up about 20%year over year across the publishing industry for the first eight months of 2017, according to the Association of American Publishers' data reports from 1,200 publishers. In the same time period, print books just rose 1.5% and e-books dropped by 5.4%.

What's behind the rise of the audiobook? According to 2018 Edison Research data, the number of Americans who have ever listened to an audiobook stands at 44%, just one point up from 2015's 43%. If the audience base isn't expanding, the number of audiobooks each individual listens to must be going up, and that's likely due to tech advancements that are changing their listening habits. 18% of Americans own smart speakers, the same research found, a number that has risen shockingly fast since 2017, when it was just 7%. And don't forget to factor in airpods, wearables, and the still-increasing 83% of smartphone-owning Americans.

“Not only is audiobook production constantly improving, but recent developments in technology have made audiobooks extremely convenient for the consumer," Scribd CEO and co-founder Trip Adler says. "With the Scribd app, for example, a user can download any audiobook to their device and enjoy it during their commute, while doing chores at home, or even at the gym. And as AI-enabled home devices like Echo and Google Home continue to improve, I think we’ll continue to see the popularity of audiobooks grow."

Technology might be making it easier to produce audiobooks, but it's still a time- and resource-consuming process — one that is punished rather than rewarded by the industry's payment standards, according to Mark Suster, CEO of Smashwords.

"Despite the high production expenses, industry-standard payout percentages for audiobooks are abysmal. Traditional publishers and indie authors alike will often earn only between 25 and 40% list on audiobooks, whereas on the ebook side, where production expenses are negligible, they earn 60-80% list," Mark tells me. Since 2016 audiobook sales in the U.S. alone were $2.1 billion, authors are leaving a large chunk of change on the counter.

"In other words," he adds, "the compensation structures are backward. Authors and publishers have to invest more yet earn less. Why do retailers get away with paying authors and publishers so little on audiobooks? The answer is because the industry is asleep at the wheel."

Smashwords' solution? A partnership with the audiobook production and distribution platform Findaway Voices that will allow Smashwords authors and publishers to distribute their audiobook to Findaway with a single click. It's something Smashwords has been considering since Audible dropped its royalty rates from 50-90% of the listed price to 25-40% in early 2014, but is only feasible now due to the end of Apple iTunes' exclusive supplier arrangement with Audible in early 2017.

Retailers are increasingly getting into the audiobook market: Google Play is selling audiobooks, and Kobo is even a major hidden player in the audiobook industry. Apple iTunes is the second largest seller of audiobooks, and after parting ways with Audible, will likely build a new channel to allow users on its more than one billion iOS devices — possibly an audiobook-specific app to match its default Podcasts and iBooks apps.

"Audio rights are now seen as increasingly valuable, to the point that even Audible is bidding against traditional publishers to acquire the exclusive audio rights to promising projects," Mark says. As the number of smart speakers in homes around the globe continues to pick up speed, I wouldn't be surprised to see audiobooks continue to ride that same wave.