Business Post: Audiobook Publishing Negotiations & More

I'm making this a free post, mostly because it's a literal C&P of what I posted on Threads. I'm adding a few bolded comments since I'm more candid with my thoughts here.

There's been a lot of discussion about audiobook deals, and since I've negotiated (by myself, with the help of lawyers and agents) ~7 audio deals, here are some points you should negotiate for.

- Terms are generally offered for 10 years. You should get 7 years. Don't ever sign copyright for life.

- Royalty rates should be at a minimum 25% digital. You might be able to get escalator clauses or higher rates. Physical varies, generally 15-25%. (Don't expect to have physical copies made).

- License non-dramatic English rights only

 

Nitty gritty that is missing in the contract:

- Stipulate exactly what rights are reserved. Most often, dramatic or multicast works should be excluded, but also exclude print, ebook, etc.

- Not all language rights.

- Options should be limited to the next work in the series ONLY. Do not give open-ended options. (have a specific timeline of when they have to refuse, so you aren't stuck waiting forever for them to pass)

- Reserves should be limited to physical copies only. No reserves on digital sales.

- Audit rights should be present

- Payments every quarter are best, bi-annual at worst

- Watch for the territory of contract

(Also, ignore any marketing promises unless it's in the contract. Unless you're in the top 0.1%, the marketing they offer is nothing special and does NOT move the needle).

 

Easy to get concessions:

- Narrator approval (not generally considered)

- Anti-AI clause

- Cover art approval (you might be able to get yourself or your artist a small fee for audiobook use)

- Publication within 12 months of manuscript delivery

- Your copyright on the recording (generally present)

 

It's worth noting that the big audiobook publishers have a basic template, and you'll be negotiating around the language of that template. Each contract is going to differ a little, and every contract needs to be read in its entirety, not individually.

This is where the IP lawyer is important. Agents can help here, but unless the agent has a lawyer on file, remember, they are not lawyers themselves (mostly). And depending on where the territory is, there might be minor concerns about laws

 

The process of negotiation (in my experience) generally follows this line:

- Expression of interest - Deal terms (in email) - Negotiation of deal (or not!) - Agreement and contract sent along - Contract negotiation (agents if you have on here, contract committee of Author Guild or ALLI or SFWA if not or an IP lawyer) - Final contract agreement (or not!)

IP lawyers negotiating contracts are around $500 or so. They will cost more if you want them to negotiate the deal itself

 

Advances

You might have noticed I said nothing about advances. Those differ hugely, depending on your sales, your genre (some genres are more audiobook heavy than others, and thus have higher expected audio sales) and your negotiations.

I've seen advance offers from USD$0 to $20k or more. Most, I think, for new authors are in the $3-6k range.

Remember that an audiobook generally costs $350 per finished hour, 9300 words per finished hour. So a 93,000-word book is 10 hours long and costs $3,500 to produce.

 

Before or After Publication

Whether you choose to go with an audiobook publisher or not will depend on the author, but if you have released/published your book, and you are being approached, understand that the audiobook publisher has done the math and realized they can make money on your work AFTER paying for audiobook production and paying you.

Which means you likely could make more money on the audiobook if you produced it yourself.

So, if that's the case, get a BIG advance if you are going to sign a deal. Also, negotiate for subsequent (multiple) books in the series. So that you get paid in the future.

(NOT in Threads)

Realistically, I MUCH prefer negotiating in advance of a release. Then the audiobook publisher is taking on a risk, too. That pays (to some extent) their cut of the deal, which is important. It also means, if I get a good enough advance, I alleviate my risk and potentially put the entire work in the positive before I publish.

But that's me.