Spotify Launches Audiobooks

How authors will get paid for them.

Findaway Voices, the largest audiobook distributor in the independent author space, was purchased by Spotify back in November 2021 and they closed the deal in June 2022.

So authors knew that their audiobooks were headed to Spotify, but I must admit, I’m a little surprised by how authors are going to be paid (if the contracts provide any indication of what’s to come).

Findaway has updated their Schedule C (which explains how authors get paid at all of their distribution channels) and Spotify is, at the moment, only listed under their Retail (à la carte) business model.

Screenshot taken by the author

Is it true? The largest audio streamer on the planet will be selling audiobooks à la carte for the time being?

How Authors Will Get Paid For Books Sold on Spotify

It looks like Spotify will offer 50% royalties on audiobooks sold through them, which is the same revenue split that traditional audiobook retailers like Barnes and Noble and Google Play Books offer. (Findaway takes a distribution split of 20%, which means roughly 40% of the sale goes to authors.)

This is in contrast to what authors speculated, which was that Spotify would stream audiobooks as part of their subscription service…