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The statistics on that page are interesting. > Younger people are more likely to consume audio format, as 57% of Americans younger than 50 listened to audioboo

The statistics on that page are interesting. > Younger people are more likely to consume audio format, as 57% of Americans younger than 50 listened to audiobooks in 2021. I know I only have anecdata (I'm in that cohort), but that seems off based on my personal experiences and the people I know. Perhaps 2021 was an outlier? > Over 23% of Americans listened to at least one audiobook in 2021, 15% more than in 2020. This also seems off. Almost 1 in 4 Americans listened to an audiobook in 2021? That seems... high. I couldn't find a link to the source data used to generate those statistics. Based on your link, you'd be looking at something in the range of $24,000 for ASOIAF. Even if you double that you're looking at $48,000. If we factor in 50% (WTF?) rev share with Audible, that's ~2400 units to break even. And then they are clearing ~$20/unit after that. Yeah, I know I hand-waved a bunch of minutia, but my point is that the volume of sales needed to start making a profit, even considering a large rev share, isn't _that_ high. I can't stack that against sales numbers, but I'll say this, even if it's a legit price based on costs and volume that it doesn't _feel_ legit to _me_. As a result, I won't buy audiobooks. I don't think I'm totally alone. I can't say much past that.

rickdeckard 3y ago
> Based on your link, you'd be looking at something in the range of $24,000 for ASOIAF. Even if you double that you're looking at $48,000. If we factor in 50% (WTF?) rev share with Audible, that's ~2400 units to break even. That's ONLY production-cost, it doesn't take into account the royalty/license for the actual content-author and the cut the book-publisher takes for "publishing" it. I doubt that the author takes a smaller share just because the book was recorded instead of printed. If you assume that production cost should make up max. 10% of that revenue (like the actual cost to design a cover and print a book), then the break-even shifts ALOT farther away... > Yeah, I know I hand-waved a bunch of minutia, but my point is that the volume of sales needed to start making a profit, even considering a large rev share, isn't _that_ high. Yeah, the scale is indeed hard to estimate, and I can't find ANY statistics on the actual volume-size of the market (actual amount a bestseller Audiobook has sold) But the stat from the same source stating that "Audiobook revenue accounted for around 3.8% of the book publishing" is an indication that despite glorious growth-figures of the Audiobook industry, the actual market-size is still VERY small even in comparison to the book-publishing market. AND at the same time, Audible controls ~50% of that market, and drives consumption with Spotify-like flatrate offers. Making big upfront investments for Audiobook production seems to be a risky call for a publisher then. Unless you have a title like ASOIAF and set the price at 36 USD I guess ;)
troupo 3y ago
> Almost 1 in 4 Americans listened to an audiobook in 2021? That seems... high. Yes. A book. That's one single book. As with anything, the majority will listen to a few popular titles like self-help books and Harry Potter. No idea how you arrived at $24000 for ASOIAF and then decided to randomly double it
- lsaferite 3y ago
  Given the lack of source data I can't tell if they talking X listens across Y population, or are they saying that Z individuals listened to at least one audiobook. Do you have some insight from another data source? If not, I stand by my claim that 1 in 4 Americans listening to an audiobook is hard to believe. From the article in the post I was replying to[1]: Audiobook production is a multi-step process that requires equipment, software, a studio, and a narrator. Depending on the cost and availability of each of these aspects, the price of producing an audiobook can vary. * Generally, around 9,300 words of text equate to one hour of audiobook length. * The average audiobook is around 10 hours long, containing close to 100,000 words. * The average narrator charges around $200 per finished hour, meaning that the expenses on the narrator will amount to $2,000 for recording an audiobook. * On top of that, it is necessary to either rent a studio where the recording will take place or invest in the equipment and sound production yourself. * In either case, producing an audiobook will take between $4,000 and $8,000. * Some companies offer a complete production service for a fixed price, usually at the $6,000 range. They are saying it's something on the order of $8,000 to produce a 10 hour audiobook. I tripled that to get to $24k since ASOIAF is a little over 33 hours, then doubled it just to account for things like more expensive voice actors or more expensive production. Keep in mind this was just napkin math to get a general range for what it would cost and I'd rather inflate it a bit just to be safe. [1] https://wordsrated.com/audiobook-statistics/ https://wordsrated.com/audiobook-statistics/
  - lsaferite 3y ago
    For anyone interested, I think I tracked back to the original study. Edison Research’s Share of Ear is a quarterly survey of Americans who are asked to keep a detailed one-day diary of their audio usage. Share of Ear utilizes a nationally representative sample of those age 13+. The sample for this study was 4,118 https://www.edisonresearch.com/the-spoken-word-audio-report-2022-from-npr-and-edison-research/ https://www.edisonresearch.com/the-spoken-word-audio-report-... or https://www.edisonresearch.com/solutions/the-infinite-dial/ https://www.edisonresearch.com/solutions/the-infinite-dial/ https://publishingperspectives.com/2023/06/apa-report-audio-sales-in-double-digits-for-11th-year/ https://publishingperspectives.com/2023/06/apa-report-audio-... https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/audio-books/article/92444-the-audiobook-market-and-revenue-keeps-growing.html https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/a...

rickdeckard 3y ago

> Based on your link, you'd be looking at something in the range of $24,000 for ASOIAF. Even if you double that you're looking at $48,000. If we factor in 50% (WTF?) rev share with Audible, that's ~2400 units to break even. That's ONLY production-cost, it doesn't take into account the royalty/license for the actual content-author and the cut the book-publisher takes for "publishing" it. I doubt that the author takes a smaller share just because the book was recorded instead of printed. If you assume that production cost should make up max. 10% of that revenue (like the actual cost to design a cover and print a book), then the break-even shifts ALOT farther away... > Yeah, I know I hand-waved a bunch of minutia, but my point is that the volume of sales needed to start making a profit, even considering a large rev share, isn't _that_ high. Yeah, the scale is indeed hard to estimate, and I can't find ANY statistics on the actual volume-size of the market (actual amount a bestseller Audiobook has sold) But the stat from the same source stating that "Audiobook revenue accounted for around 3.8% of the book publishing" is an indication that despite glorious growth-figures of the Audiobook industry, the actual market-size is still VERY small even in comparison to the book-publishing market. AND at the same time, Audible controls ~50% of that market, and drives consumption with Spotify-like flatrate offers. Making big upfront investments for Audiobook production seems to be a risky call for a publisher then. Unless you have a title like ASOIAF and set the price at 36 USD I guess ;)

troupo 3y ago

> Almost 1 in 4 Americans listened to an audiobook in 2021? That seems... high. Yes. A book. That's one single book. As with anything, the majority will listen to a few popular titles like self-help books and Harry Potter. No idea how you arrived at $24000 for ASOIAF and then decided to randomly double it

lsaferite 3y ago
Given the lack of source data I can't tell if they talking X listens across Y population, or are they saying that Z individuals listened to at least one audiobook. Do you have some insight from another data source? If not, I stand by my claim that 1 in 4 Americans listening to an audiobook is hard to believe. From the article in the post I was replying to[1]: Audiobook production is a multi-step process that requires equipment, software, a studio, and a narrator. Depending on the cost and availability of each of these aspects, the price of producing an audiobook can vary. * Generally, around 9,300 words of text equate to one hour of audiobook length. * The average audiobook is around 10 hours long, containing close to 100,000 words. * The average narrator charges around $200 per finished hour, meaning that the expenses on the narrator will amount to $2,000 for recording an audiobook. * On top of that, it is necessary to either rent a studio where the recording will take place or invest in the equipment and sound production yourself. * In either case, producing an audiobook will take between $4,000 and $8,000. * Some companies offer a complete production service for a fixed price, usually at the $6,000 range. They are saying it's something on the order of $8,000 to produce a 10 hour audiobook. I tripled that to get to $24k since ASOIAF is a little over 33 hours, then doubled it just to account for things like more expensive voice actors or more expensive production. Keep in mind this was just napkin math to get a general range for what it would cost and I'd rather inflate it a bit just to be safe. [1] https://wordsrated.com/audiobook-statistics/ https://wordsrated.com/audiobook-statistics/
- lsaferite 3y ago
  For anyone interested, I think I tracked back to the original study. Edison Research’s Share of Ear is a quarterly survey of Americans who are asked to keep a detailed one-day diary of their audio usage. Share of Ear utilizes a nationally representative sample of those age 13+. The sample for this study was 4,118 https://www.edisonresearch.com/the-spoken-word-audio-report-2022-from-npr-and-edison-research/ https://www.edisonresearch.com/the-spoken-word-audio-report-... or https://www.edisonresearch.com/solutions/the-infinite-dial/ https://www.edisonresearch.com/solutions/the-infinite-dial/ https://publishingperspectives.com/2023/06/apa-report-audio-sales-in-double-digits-for-11th-year/ https://publishingperspectives.com/2023/06/apa-report-audio-... https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/audio-books/article/92444-the-audiobook-market-and-revenue-keeps-growing.html https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/a...