Audible.com (which is owned by Amazon) has launched Audible Author Services, a program that establishes a $20 million fund from which audiobook authors will be paid $1 per sale through Audible.com, Audible.co.uk, and iTunes. Don Katz, Audible Founder and CEO, has posted the following letter on Audible.com:
Significantly, audiobook publishers do not receive any of the funds. Katz told The Guardian: “The fact is people buy a Neil Gaiman, not a HarperCollins or a Simon & Schuster, so it is for us to connect with the writers and hopefully wake them up to what they can do. If it works it can become a channel of membership and sales.”
The fund runs through December 31, 2012. Its continuation after that date will depend on how successful the program is.
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