ACX Royalty Changes 2026: What to Do Before Dec 31
If your audiobook is on Audible through ACX, you have until December 31, 2026 to enroll it in Audible's new royalty model. If you don't, it comes down from Audible. Enrolling takes a few minutes. Deciding how to enroll is the part worth thinking about.
This guide covers what changed, how the new royalties are actually calculated, the three choices you have, a dated checklist, and what to do if your narrator is on royalty share.
The ACX royalty change in one minute
How the new ACX royalties are calculated
Under the old model you earned a percentage of each sale. The Alliance of Independent Authors has a good summary of what the end of that model means for indie authors. Under the new model, Audible uses what it calls Member Value, explained in ACX's announcement of the new royalty model.
Member Value is what a listener pays for their membership that month, minus taxes and fees, plus the value of any extra credits they use. Audible splits that amount across every title the member engaged with that month, in proportion to each title's retail price. Your slice is then multiplied by your royalty rate: 50% or 30%.
Here's a made-up example to show the mechanics. The numbers are illustrations, not Audible's.
| Title the member listened to | Retail price | Share of the pool | Pool money | Your royalty at 50% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your book | $20 | 20 of 60 = 33% | $4.50 | $2.25 |
| Another book | $25 | 42% | $5.63 | - |
| Another book | $15 | 25% | $3.37 | - |
Made-up numbers. Assumes $13.50 of Member Value that month.
Two things follow from this. Your income now depends on what else your listeners listen to, not just on your book. And because the pool includes Audible's all-you-can-listen catalog, a listen can pay you where it used to pay nothing.
Will you earn more or less?
Nobody can tell you in advance, and Audible hasn't published one simple formula for it. Audible says creators in its early pilot earned more on average. Some authors and narrators say their royalties fell after they moved.
The honest answer is: measure it. Before you enroll, write down what each title earned in each of the last three months. Enroll. Then compare your first three statements against that. If a title drops sharply and stays down, that's your signal to rethink where it's sold.
When you compare, compare like with like. Put the same months side by side, note any promotions or price changes you ran, and look at each title separately. One strong month or one weak month tells you very little; three months of statements tells you a lot. Keep the baseline in a simple spreadsheet, one row per title and one column per month, so the comparison takes minutes instead of an afternoon.
Your three choices before December 31
| Choice | Royalty on Audible | Where else you can sell | Best if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enroll as exclusive | 50% | Nowhere else | Almost all your audio income comes from Audible and you have no plans to sell elsewhere. |
| Enroll as non-exclusive | 30% | Other retailers, libraries, streaming services and your own store | You want Audible plus everywhere else, including libraries. |
| Don't enroll | None: it leaves Audible | Anywhere, depending on your other agreements | You've already decided Audible isn't worth it for this title. |
Before you pick, read the distribution option terms on ACX. Its help pages say Audible has the right to distribute your audiobook for seven years, and the rules for switching between exclusive and non-exclusive are in the agreement ACX revised on May 26, 2026. Don't rely on a blog post, including this one, for your contract terms.
Exclusive or non-exclusive: how to decide
This is the biggest decision in the switch, and it's worth making with real numbers. Exclusive pays the higher 50% rate, but only Audible, Amazon and Apple Books can sell your book. Non-exclusive pays 30% on Audible, and in return you can put the same audiobook in libraries, on Spotify and in dozens of other stores.
Whether that trade is worth it depends on how much of your audio income could come from outside Audible. Here is what our own catalog earned, October 2024 to August 2026, per copy after the store and distributor took their share:
| How the copy was sold | What reached us, each |
|---|---|
| Library buys a copy (Libby) | $4 to $5 |
| Retail purchase (Apple, Kobo, Chirp and others) | $2 to $4 |
| Audible / Amazon sale | about $0.80 |
| Library borrow (hoopla) | $0.45 to $0.55 |
| Spotify listen | about $0.20 |
Academy Voices royalty reports, Oct 2024 to Aug 2026.
Across that period, Audible and Amazon brought in 34% of our royalties. hoopla brought in 32% and Spotify 21%. In other words, about two thirds of the money came from outside Audible. Your books are not our catalog, but if your readers use libraries or Spotify, non-exclusive is worth a serious look.
A simple way to decide, title by title:
- Stay exclusive if almost all your audio sales already come from Audible and you have no plan to get the book into libraries or other stores.
- Go non-exclusive if your ebooks sell well outside Amazon, your readers borrow from libraries, or you're ready to distribute the audiobook wide right away.
- Check your contract first if the title is on ACX royalty share. Royalty-share titles have to stay exclusive for the length of the deal and can't be converted to non-exclusive, so for them the real choice is to enroll or to remove.
The all-you-can-listen opt-in
Separate from enrollment, ACX lets you opt titles into Audible's all-you-can-listen catalog, the one included with the Premium membership plan. Audible curates which titles go in. When members listen to an opted-in title, you earn from that listening through the same Member Value pool.
Whether to opt in depends on the book. A first-in-series title that sells the rest of the series is a good candidate: more listeners start it, and some go on to buy the next book. A standalone that sells well at full price may be better kept out. You can decide title by title.
How to enroll your titles on ACX
- Log in at acx.com.
- Open the My Projects tab.
- Select the titles to enroll. You can do them all at once or one at a time.
- Confirm the enrollment.
- Check your ACX message center for the confirmation and the date it takes effect.
Your distribution doesn't change when you enroll. The book stays on sale.
A dated checklist
- This week: list every title you have on ACX, and whether each is exclusive or non-exclusive.
- This week: write down each title's earnings for the last three months.
- By October 31: decide, title by title: exclusive, non-exclusive, or remove.
- By November 30: enroll. Enrollment takes effect on the 1st of the next month, so this gives you December on the new model before the legacy one ends.
- January to March 2027: compare your statements to your baseline.
If your narrator is on royalty share
ACX's help page says royalty-share narrators and producers don't need to take any action. ACX notifies them when you enroll the title, and they keep earning their share.
Some guides say the narrator has to approve the move. If ACX asks you for anything involving your narrator when you enroll, message them early rather than in the last week of December. Either way, tell your narrator you're enrolling. It costs nothing and they'll appreciate hearing it from you.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Waiting until late December. Enrollment takes effect on the 1st of the next month. Leave it too late and you have no time to fix a problem before the old model ends.
- Enrolling without a baseline. If you don't write down what each title earned before, you'll never know whether the change helped or hurt.
- Treating the higher rate as a raise. 50% of a pool isn't the same as 50% of a sale price. Judge it by your statements, not the percentage.
- Deciding for every title at once. Your bestseller and your oldest backlist title may deserve different answers.
- Not telling your narrator. If they're on royalty share, their income is changing too.
- Going non-exclusive with nowhere to go. Non-exclusive pays less on Audible. It only makes sense if you actually get the book onto other retailers and libraries.
Going wide with a new audiobook
If this change has you rethinking Audible-only, the next audiobook is the easiest place to start fresh.
At Academy Voices, every audiobook is performed by a real person, in their own voice. You post your book, hear custom auditions, and choose your narrator. You can pay per finished hour and own the audio outright, or pay $350 up front and share royalties: 40% to you, 40% to your narrator, 20% to us. We publish to nearly 50 retailers, libraries and streaming services, and your sales and royalties show on your dashboard every month.
See what a new audiobook would cost:
An estimate. Your narrator's actual rate and the book's final length set the real price. Books under an hour are billed as one hour.
Read how it works, browse the audiobooks we've published, or start with our guide on how to hire an audiobook narrator.
Frequently asked questions
What is the deadline for the ACX royalty change?
December 31, 2026. Existing titles that aren't enrolled in the new model by then stop being distributed on Audible.
What are the new ACX royalty rates?
50% for exclusive distribution and 30% for non-exclusive, up from 40% and 25%.
Do I need to do anything for books I added after May 26, 2026?
No. Titles claimed on ACX after May 26, 2026 were enrolled in the new model automatically.
When does enrollment take effect?
On the 1st of the month after you enroll.
Will my book come down while I enroll?
No. Distribution doesn't change when you enroll.
Does my royalty-share narrator have to do anything?
According to ACX, no. They're notified when the title is enrolled and keep earning their share.
Should I choose exclusive or non-exclusive?
Decide title by title. If nearly all of a book's audio sales come from Audible, exclusive's higher rate probably wins. If your readers borrow from libraries or listen on Spotify, non-exclusive lets you reach them, and on our own catalog about two thirds of royalties came from outside Audible.
Can I move an ACX royalty-share title to non-exclusive?
No. Royalty-share titles have to stay exclusive for the length of the deal and can't be converted. For those titles, the choice before December 31 is to enroll or to remove.
Dates and rates are from ACX's help pages as of October 2026. We'll update this post if they change.
The Author Audiobook Checklist
What it costs, how to choose a narrator, royalty share or pay per hour, and what happens after you publish.
