Presenting: Audiblegate.

This was the name given to a controversy back in 2020, concerning Audible's shady returns policy, where the consumer could return their audiobook whenever they pleased, and the PRODUCER shouldered the cost. This issue has been partially resolved, but there's something far more nefarious going on, and it's been going on for years.

Essentially, Audible is paying its audiobook producers pennies. When you purchase an audiobook from Audible's store, they could be pocketing between 79% - 87% of the profits. This despite the fact that, in our contracts as producers, we're asked to choose a royalty rate of 40% (Audible exclusive) or 25% (non-exclusive to Audible).

Audible is not even paying its creators what they're legally entitled to.

How does Audible get away this? Through some very shady practices. This includes a deliberately confusing royalty statement for producers to sift through, and new terminology called Net Sales, which is based around the use of credits. Confused? Don't worry, the good folks at Audiblegate have worked on this exact issue, summarising it all in this handy article.

Prepare to be disgusted, shocked, and eager for an Audible alternative. 

After my Twitter thread on this issue went viral, it confirmed something which I suspected - most people who listen to audiobooks and even those that produce audiobooks for Audible had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA THIS WAS GOING ON! And how could they - these practices aren't mentioned anywhere in our contract!

So what do I want this petition to achieve?

Well, the end-goal is to actually change all of this.

• Most of all, to lift the veil on what Audible is blatantly doing here, and inform people so they know who they're dealing with when they get their latest Audible purchase. 
• Let's make it newsworthy! More than 300k people have seen my Twitter thread, so please apply additional pressure by sharing this petition on your socials - Amazon has backed down over the returns controversy before!
• To get what we're actually owed from Audible according to the contract we sign with them. It's time to stop hiding behind opaque techno-speak. Give us our due, and end these nefarious practices.
• It would be nice if Audible altered their exclusivity agreement (which keeps your favourite audiobooks out of libraries, by the way) but I won't hold my breath!

Please tell everyone you know about this scandal. Don't let Audible/Amazon take us producers for granted. In this day and age, it's more important than ever that we get our fair share.

Thanks for reading and supporting this cause!

Zachary Twamley