THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE SEE MY DISCLOSURES. FOR MORE INFORMATION.
Do you want to make some extra money but don’t feel like leaving the comfort of your own home? Look no further than Audible.
The audiobook platform is one of the best ways to make a few bucks on the side, not just for authors!
If you’ve got a passion for the spoken word, there are many creative ways to use Audible to earn money and do what you love.
In this article, we’ll explore how to maximize your earnings with Audible, from launching an audiobook series to joining voiceover networks.
Whether it’s a hobby or a full-time career venture that interests you, get ready to learn how to make money on Audible.
Table of Contents
How To Make Money On Audible | 15 Ideas To Get Started
What Is Audible?
Audible, the world’s largest audiobook producer, is a platform by Amazon with a huge podcast and audiobook market.
It allows creators to skip a traditional book publisher and self-publish their books.
While there is a good amount of work upfront to create a high-quality audiobook, creators can earn a passive income once their podcast or audiobook is complete.
The platform has become increasingly popular with its incredible features and a wide range of successful books ranging from classics to fresh releases.
Audible offers two royalties tiers, depending on whether you give the site exclusive distribution rights.
If you choose the exclusive distribution of the book, Audible gives you a 40% commission on royalties and allows you to only sell the book through iTunes, Amazon, and Audible.
If you retain the rights, the non-exclusive royalty share is 25%.
It is important to note that when you create your own account, you will do so on ACX.com.
Some people think this is a different site, but Audible runs it.
Now that you know more about Audible, here are the many ways to begin making the most money.
#1. Create Your Own Audiobook
Most people nowadays prefer listening to book audio rather than reading because you can do it while going about your business.
That is why there is a massive market for audiobooks in the US and worldwide.
Audible allows you to create and publish audiobooks and make money from that.
Audiobook Creation Exchange is an Audible self-publishing platform on Amazon that creators can use to create audiobooks.
However, there are many factors to consider when creating an audiobook.
Some of them are the startup costs, equipment needed, and whether you will collaborate with anyone.
Creating audiobooks is one of Audible’s most straightforward ways of earning money.
It is also how most people make money on the site.
The platform guides you through the promotions and uploading of your book.
Once you have created and uploaded your audiobook, you will make money through downloads.
Your work will be to promote the book and share the download link with potential buyers.
#2. Sell Audible Products
The good thing about Audible is that you can make money without necessarily being a content creator.
They have an Amazon Associates Program where you can sign up and start selling Audible products and services.
It works more like an affiliate program.
The only difference is that this one has multiple ways of making money.
You can earn passive income for every sale or signup from your promotional links.
For example, if someone pays for Audible premium using your link, you get $10.
You also get $0.50 for every book purchase from someone without a membership.
#3. Earn Passive Income In The Audible Affiliate Program
The Audible affiliate program is another way of making money without creating content.
Through the Audible Creator Program, you can earn $15 and a free ebook for every signup through your affiliate link.
You can use your website or blog to promote the links or social media.
The other great way to get people to sign up using your link is to share it with family and friends.
If you have a podcast or any other promotional platform, you could share the link with your listeners, and anyone interested will join and earn you a commission.
Affiliate marketing is best for a content creator with audiobooks on the platform.
The money you get from the referrals will help boost your book sales and the royalties’ income.
However, you need to have a platform with a massive audience for a chance to make good money with referrals.
#4. Become An Audiobook Narrator
People have different talents; while some can write outstanding books, others have a great voice.
If you are one of the people with a good voice, you can earn money on Audible through narration.
Working with other audiobook creators to voice their books could earn you extra cash on the platform.
There are different ways to get paid for audiobook narrations, and a popular one is per finished hour.
This is a charge based on the total runtime of the book.
For example, if you charge $100 with this option, an audiobook narration for seven hours will cost $700.
There is also the royalty share, where you get to share royalties for the book with the book owner.
The last payment method for book narrations is called royalty share plus.
It is a combination of per finished hour and royalty share.
As the narrator, you get a percentage of the royalties and a per finished hour.
Most narrators make between $500 and $5,000 per month.
#5. Create Podcasts
Podcasts have become very popular nowadays because of audio quality, their availability on multiple devices, and ease of listening when doing other things.
You can create a podcast on any topic of interest and form a community of people who like listening to your topics.
The podcast could be about entertainment, relationships, history, politics, lifestyle, and other exciting topics.
On Audible, making money with podcasts works the same as selling audiobooks.
Listeners can purchase access to your own podcast, and in turn, you earn royalties, or you can earn money for each download.
Having a podcast with a significant following on Audible is advantageous because you can use the platform to promote your Audible book.
For example, you can ask the listeners to purchase your audiobooks or share your affiliate links on the podcast.
That will boost your total monthly subscription income on Audible.
#6. Create An Audio Program
Having a show about something you are passionate about could pull a huge crowd that will help you make money on Audible.
You can create a series of short stories and even make an audiobook for your show.
Selling these audios on the platform will be easy with loyal followers.
Your show could attract more listeners and help you grow an audience on the platform.
A large audience is always good for marketing, and you could make a lot of money with your shows and referrals.
#7. Create Artwork For Cover Images
It is not always that you will want to create audiobooks or narrate.
Sometimes you only want to design a creative cover for various books on the platform.
Designers also have a way of earning money on Audible using their skills.
Talk to audiobook creators with new book launches and offer to create the cover artwork for them.
You should have a sample of your work to help them trust you with their business.
Now that writers consistently publish new books, you will always have work on the platform.
The amount you charge will depend on your agreement with the book owner.
You could also use other factors to charge, like the design’s complexity and whether you have done business with that author before.
#8. Sell Book Ideas To Other Creators
You do not always have to follow mainstream earning methods on Audible.
You can use creativity to make as much money as possible on the platform.
Another way to make money on Audible is to sell book ideas to other creators.
Sometimes the creators have a mind block or don’t want to spend too much time thinking of a topic that will sell.
In other cases, they want an idea from an expert on book ideas to help them create a successful audiobook.
If you are good at developing top-seller book ideas, you could use that skill to make money.
You do not have to create your own audiobook from scratch.
The same way you hire an audiobook narrator is the same way you can hire a book idea writer and get multiple book ideas that could help you write a best-seller.
#9. Write And Sell Books To Narrators
Besides selling your own audiobooks, you could also write and sell the manuscript to a narrator.
The narrators will then upload the book and associated audio files as their own to make money on the platform.
While that may not be very practical, book writers sometimes do that for the right price.
It is more like selling an idea to someone that will actualize it.
In this case, however, the book is complete, and the only thing remaining is the narration and uploading.
That is why we said it has to be for the right price.
A piece of land will not cost the same as a piece of land with a complete house.
Evaluate the value of selling the unnarrated book and hiring a narrator to see which one makes more sense.
You two could also work out other payment arrangements, like royalties for the book, depending on what you agree.
- Related: See how to get paid to text
#10. Market Other Creators Work For A Commission
The same way you can promote Audible products and services is how you can help sell other people’s audiobooks.
This works best if your website, blog, or social media accounts have a huge following.
The creators will pay you through commission for every download from your audience.
It is a form of affiliate marketing, only that this time you get paid by the creators of the audiobooks you promote.
Even though this is an excellent way to make extra cash, it might not be enough to survive.
You can combine this earning method with the others we have listed above to get considerable money at the end of the month.
The good thing about promoting other people’s work is that you do not have to do any hard work.
You share links to the finished product and make a buck every time someone downloads using that link.
It is an excellent way to earn passive income as there is no limit to how many people or times the book gets downloaded.
#11. Sell Recording Software To Creators
Another lucrative way to make money on Audible is to sell recording equipment to creators on the platform.
Every creator should have good recording equipment to record their content.
Therefore, you can create a business model that sells high-quality recording equipment to creators.
The standards required on Audible make it mandatory to have the best equipment in the market.
You can take advantage of that and source these items to sell to any creator who wants to improve the quality of their content.
Make the creators aware of your products through your platform on Audible, and they can reach out to you for the products.
You could also have them on Amazon and share the link to the products on Audible and other related platforms.
That can be a very good way to make a lot of money because recording equipment is costly, especially when it is high quality.
Invest in the best microphones, recording software, and other podcast and audiobook recording tools.
Now that Audible has millions of users, you will have a large audience and can sell your products to many potential customers.
#12. Offer Spoken Word Entertainment
Besides podcasts and audiobooks, Audible gives you a platform to sell other audio files that people would be interested in.
That includes entertainment audio files like spoken word, poetry, and comedy shows.
If you have an artistic mind, there is nothing you cannot sell on the Audible platform.
Create audio content you think would attract listeners and post it on your page for downloads.
However, you also need to promote your page by sharing the links to your work on other platforms.
Make sure your friends, family, and followers know that you are a spoken word artist and that you sell your work on Audible.
That way, they can refer their friends or buy the work themselves.
If you master the art of promotion and creating high-quality content, you will make as much money as possible on Audible.
Maximize your speaking gift by creating many audio versions of your work on Audible and selling them to people who enjoy listening to you.
#13. Non-exclusive Distribution Of Your Audiobook
You can promote your audiobooks, podcasts, and other audio files on Audible differently.
One of them is the exclusive distribution method that we discussed above.
For that one, you can only advertise your work on Audible and other related platforms like iTunes and Amazon.
In return, Audible gives you 40% of royalties from your own books.
The second one is the non-exclusive distribution.
That one allows you to market your work on any other platform you would like and get 25% of royalties.
The non-exclusive distribution method does not limit you in any way, and you could make more sales on other platforms in addition to Audible if you know how to market your work.
However, you should weigh the options carefully before settling on one to ensure you get the best deal possible.
#14. Become An Editorial Coach For Other Creators
Writing books has steps that must be perfect for ranking highly.
One of these steps is editing.
You must have a professional edit your book before it gets published.
If you are one of the best book editors in the market, you can approach creators to offer your editing services before they publish their audiobooks.
That will give you extra money off of every book you edit.
And since there are multiple new releases daily on Audible, you will always have work on the platform.
The downside to this option is there is no passive income involved.
The more books you edit, the more money you make.
It is time-consuming, but there is plenty of work if you love to edit.
#15. Collaborate With Other Creators
You can work with other creators in the book publishing process to split royalties once the book is published.
That could be in writing, editing, narrating, or even uploading.
How you split royalties will depend on what everyone’s role was in the making of the audiobook.
The book’s owner will likely get the more significant share, but collaborating on multiple books could also help you make good money.
Look for good content creators on the platform and collaborate on shows, podcasts, or audiobooks to have a share of the royalties and make money on Audible.
Wrapping Up
Audible has given artistic minds a platform to create exciting content and earn money.
You can sell audiobooks on the platform or even focus on narrating audiobooks and still make good money.
Working with other audiobook distributors could also help you expand your reach and improve your earnings on Audible.
Join the audio publishers association and other groups on Audible to get access to all the different ways of making money online with the platform.
Affiliate marketing also helps you sell audio versions from different authors or the Audible platform.
You can also give a podcast listener a free audiobook to promote your own audio content and earn money through referrals.