Findaway Voices by Spotify for Authors: How to Publish Your Audiobook
What is Findaway Voices by Spotify and how does it work?
Findaway Voices by Spotify is the world’s largest audiobook distribution network, a platform that distributes audiobooks to roughly three dozen different retailers, library systems, education channels, and subscription services.
Using Findaway Voices by Spotify, authors can reach listeners on Spotify, Audible, Apple Books, Google Play Books, Books-a-Million, ThreeLeaf Group, 24 Symbols, Any Play, Audiobooks Now, audiobooks.com, Baker & Taylor, TuneIn, Beek, Bibliotheca, Bookmate, Chirp, Click Digital, Downpour, Fullet, Hoopla, InstaRead, Kobo, Libro.fm, MLOL, My Audiobook Library, Next Story, Nook, Odilo, OverDrive, Radish, Everand, Spotify, Storytel, UBook, Overscroft, and Wheeler’s Book Club, Ltd.
Findaway offers an 80%/20% revenue split; the author gets 80% of net profits. More on that later.
Roughly 400,000 audiobook titles are available on Spotify to Spotify subscribers in the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.
Spotify has experienced rapid growth since entering the audiobook market in 2022 and is cutting into Audible’s 63.4% market share.
Spotify for Authors
On November 26, 2024, Spotify launched Spotify for Authors, giving traditionally published authors access to improved analytics and promotional capabilities.
As of this writing, Spotify for Authors is not available yet to indie authors—to those self-published/author-published audiobooks. As of March 2024, these authors use Findaway Voices by Spotify to distribute and manage their audiobook titles.
How do you get paid on Findaway Voices by Spotify? What is the threshold for Findaway Voices royalty payments?
How much does it cost to publish an audiobook on Findaway Voices by Spotify?
There is no setup fee or distribution fee. As Findaway Voices by Spotify says, just “open an account, upload your audiobook, and distribute it, all for free—and keep 100% of your royalties on Spotify and 80% everywhere else.”
You’ll also “get paid when Spotify Premium users listen to your audiobook.” (And according to Spotify, one quarter of Spotify Premium subscribers listen to audiobooks.) But how much exactly do you get paid for listens by Spotify Premium subscribers? I can’t figure that out, but authors have told me it’s more than they are making from similar sales on ACX. Spotify now offers authors the opportunity to make their books available to Spotify Premium subscribers. Doing so means they’ll be paid out of a pooled revenue model for listens.
Royalties: How much do you get paid on Findaway Voices by Spotify?
“As the author, you keep 80% of all royalties Findaway Voices receives on all platforms, except Spotify, where you keep all of your royalties as the Findaway Fee is waived.”
There are a number of ways that your books are sold or distributed, and each one has different payment models:
1) A la carte (per copy): “a customer purchases a license to the title in a traditional a-la-carte purchase environment. In the Library Channel, a school or library purchases a license to the title that may be circulated to one (1) patron at a time.”
2) Combined portions: “Combined Portions Model (CPM) pays publishers off of SRP after 5 portions of a title have been consumed by subscription end users. A “portion” equals one-fifth of an Audiobook Title. A unit purchase will be recorded for every 5 portions consumed of an Audiobook title, across any number of Users.”
3) Pool subscription: “Customers pay a flat monthly price to access a subscription service which contributes to a shared revenue pool. Royalties paid based on Publisher’s pro-rata share of total audiobook listening for each monthly period. There is no set “rate” and payouts in this model will likely vary from month-to-month based on the size of the overall pool and the amount of listening attributed to your audiobook(s).”
4) Cost-per-checkout: “For Audiobook sales that permit Library patrons to borrow access to a digital audiobook for a specific period of time. . . . Allows for unlimited circulation of licensed copies with access being limited to one (1) patron per borrowed copy.”
5) Unlimited subscription: “Customers pay a flat monthly price to subscription service for unlimited access to audiobooks. A sale occurs each time a subscriber consumes 15% or more of the audiobook.”
6) Credit-based subscriptions: “Customers pay a flat monthly price to the subscription service for credits allocating them a fixed number of audiobooks per month. A sale occurs each time a customer uses a credit to access an audiobook.”
According to Findaway Voices by Spotify, royalties “are within the following ranges:
A la carte: 40% to 50% of list price
Subscription: 30% to 40% of list price
Revenue Share: 25% to 45% of revenue receipts
“We share a full list of partners, channels, and royalty rates inside your Findaway Voices account, and you’ll review this list prior to publishing with us.”
“You can select and deselect the partners you wish to publish to, and Findaway Voices by Spotify will notify you (and give you links) for each retailer who has your book for sale.
Spotify Royalties: Examples
Let’s look at some specific examples:
Retail a la carte sales
24 Symbols, 3Leaf Group, Apple Books, Baja Libros, Bokus Play, Books-a-Million, Chirp, eStories, Hummingbird, Instaread, Kobo, Libro.FM, My Audibook Library, Radish: 80% of 45%
Audiobooks.com, AudibooksNow, Barnes & Noble, Binge Books, Google Play: 80% of 50%
Spotify: 50% (no revenue share)
Subscription sales
Cliq Digital, Leamos (unlimited subscription): 80% of 32%
24Symbols, Barnes & Noble, eStories, Cliq Digital, Kobo, Libro.FM, My Audiobook Library (credit-based subscription): 80% of 32%
Audiobooks.com (credit-based subscription): 80% of 40%
Bookmate, Nextory (combined portions subscription): 80% of 32%
Revenue share sales
Anyplay, Beek, Kobo, Milkbox, Radish, Scribd, Spotify Premium, Storytel (subscription-based revenue pool): royalties vary from month-to-month.
Authors Direct (transactional revenue share): 80% of 70%
Downpour (a la carte transactional revenue share): 80% of 40%
Downpour (credit sub transactional revenue share): 80% of 32%
Library, School, and Military sales
Library (a la carte)
Axiell, Baker & Taylor, Bibliotheca, Bidi, EBSCO, Follett, Hoopla, MLOL, Odilo, OverDrive, Ulverscroft, Wheelers, 3Leaf Group (a la carte sales): 80% of 45% (remember, library pricing is usually 2–3x normal retail pricing)
Library Cost Per Checkout
Baker & Taylor, Bibliotheca, Bidi, MLOL, Odilo, OverDrive, Ulverscroft (cost per checkout): 80% of 45%
Hoopla (cost per checkout), an app for library users that is especially popular in the American Midwest states, pays based on the total duration of the monetized content. Zero to 90 minutes is 24 cents. On average, authors make about $1 for a Hoopla checkout.
Amazon ACX royalties on Spotify
Amazon, Audible (transactional revenue share): 80% of 25%
For reporting purposes, sales on Audible ACX fall into different categories: “AL” for “Subscription-Credit” sales; “ALOP” for “Subscription-Supplemental Credit” sales, and “ALC” for “Retail” sales.
You get 80% of the 25% audible sends to Spotify.
So for a $28 audiobook sold at retail price, you get $5.60.
Author payments are explained here.
According to Findaway Voices by Spotify, “We process and pay out royalties every month, and each payment includes all royalties received from our payment partners within the past 30 days. Payments are triggered above a $100 threshold, or within 30 days following the end of each calendar year.”
“Most royalties earned on sales in January will be paid to Findaway at the end of February, after which we’ll make sure you’re paid in March. Royalties earned in February would then be paid in April and so on. We support four options: Direct Deposit / ACH, PayPal, Check, and Wire Transfer.” Most US authors opt for direct deposit but all authors are welcome to choose the payout method that works best for them.
“Every month you’ll receive a report that breaks out all of your sales for the month, with details for each partner. This information will be available in your Findaway Voices dashboard, just select ‘My Account’ and click ‘Invoices’ in the navigation bar.”
As a nonfiction author looking to unlock the secrets to publishing success, it helps to have an expert in your corner.
Navigate the publishing process with ease and discover your publishing potential.
How to publish an audiobook with Findaway Voices
You just upload your audiobook and get started.
Here are the steps [I’m quoting Findaway Voices by Spotify’s website]:
Create an account or login at Findaway Voices.
Start your audiobook with the Start New Project button
Enter your audiobook’s title, metadata, cover art, and then review and agree to our distribution terms.
Upload your audio files (make sure they meet our technical requirements)
Tell us where to pay your royalties.
Choose where you want to sell your audiobook from our list of partners.
Approve and Submit for Publishing!
“To avoid any delays, we strongly encourage that you ensure your assets pass our requirements prior to submission.”
“Please note that all of the above steps have to be done by the author, not the narrator. If your book is being produced outside of Findaway Voices, you’ll have to get your audio files from the producer before proceeding.”
When you distribute to Spotify, there are a la carte sales and Spotify Premium subscriptions. You can’t deselect one or the other.
Findaway Voices by Spotify points out that “it can take up to 30 days (sometimes a bit longer) For your title to be live at the partners you’ve chosen.”
In your dashboard in “Retailer Links,” you’ll be able to retrieve the URLs for where your audiobook is sold. You’ll also receive weekly digest emails informing you of the URLs for where your audiobook is live.
Findaway Voices by Spotify pricing
Authors set the prices for their audiobooks that are distributed by Findaway Voices by Spotify. You can also set the price of your book for ACX, something you can’t do when publishing your audiobook through ACX directly.
Author and blogger M.K. Williams offers further guidance on audiobook pricing strategy in this excellent article, “Pricing Your Audiobook.”
M.K. says to consider “prices in your genre”; “placement of a book in a series (if applicable)”; “SRP v. promotional prices”; and “retail vs. lending prices.”
As M.K. notes, “When you upload your book to Findaway Voices and fill in your metadata, there will be a suggested price pop-up that you can click on. This data is pulled from the actual books that are selling through Findaway Voices.”
“If you are working on a series, know that a common and successful practice is to drop the price of book 1 as low as you can,” M.K. says.
Consider setting a sale price upon the launch of the book, the anniversary of the book release or a holiday that ties into the book, or some other special occasion. “When you set a discounted price, it should be intentional and planned out,” advises M.K.
And finally, don’t forget that your library pricing shouldn’t be the same as your SRP (suggested retail price). Libraries expect to pay a higher-fee for a one-time purchase. Or they pay a “per use” rental fee. Either way, you win, and your readers win.
Findaway Voices by Spotify technical requirements
Cover art technical requirements
You can view Findaway Voices cover art technical requirements here. In general, the cover must be square, with no borders or letter boxing. It must be a PNG, JPG, or TIF file that is at least 2400 x 2400 pixels in size. The title and author must be clearly displayed on the cover.
Audio requirements
Audio requirements are similar to what you would find elsewhere, i.e., with ACX. “Findaway Voices requires all audio files be encoded as Constant Bit Rate and not as Variable Bit Rate.”
Findaway Voices narrators
With Findaway Voices by Spotify, it’s 100% DIY. You need to come with everything ready to go—your files, your cover, your metadata.
You’ll need to either do the narration yourself, hire someone to do it, or use the ACX or Author’s Republic marketplaces.
Findaway Voices once had a narrator marketplace but took it down after a dispute with SAG-AFTRA regarding that they were training AI without the narrators’ consent).
The audio specs are similar to what you would expect elsewhere and through ACX.
Do you need an ISBN to publish to Spotify?
No. Findaway Voices by Spotify assigns you an ISBN to use. The publisher name can be your name, your press or imprint (if you have one) or the name of your LLC.
Does Findaway Voices allow AI narration?
Yes—but only some of the retailers and partners it distributes to. I have yet to find a list of who does and doesn’t accept AI-narrated audio files, but the answer is many do.
Findaway Voices accepts AI-narrated audiobooks created with AI software company ElevenLabs and AI-narrated audiobooks created with Google Play Books—but only some of the retailers it distributes to do. I have yet to find a list of the Findaway Voices by Spotify distribution partners who do and don’t accept AI-narrated audio files.
ElevenLabs is fee-based (see pricing options here). Google Play Books’ digital voice-narrated content is free to create.
Either way, authors create their digital voice-narrated audiobook, then “download the file package and upload it to Findaway Voices by Spotify. Following a standard review, the book will go live on Spotify, as well as other retailers that accept digital voice-narrated titles from Findaway Voices.”
“For listeners, all digitally narrated titles will be clearly marked in the metadata on Spotify and across the other retailers where Findaway Voices distributes. The book description will be prepended with the first sentence stating, ‘This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.’”
Findaway Voices by Spotify book marketing and promotion: How to market your audiobook on Spotify
Free Redemption Codes
“Every title published with Findaway Voices receives 100 free redemption codes to use in marketing.”
Redemption Codes, formerly known as Giveaway Codes, can be used as a lead magnet or for giveways. They can be used to generate reviews from fans, reviewers, fellow authors, bloggers, influencers, and podcasters.
Some authors use audiobook codes for Kickstarter campaigns; Findaway Voices by Spotify has also partnered with the crowdfunding site Kickstarter. “Successfully backed Kickstarter projects get free redemption codes to fulfill backer rewards.”
Price promotions
From the “Marketing” tab, you can start a promotion under “Promotional Pricing.”
There are four steps to this process:
First, you name the promotion and choose an eligible title.
Then, you choose your retailer (your options are Spotify, Apple, Chirp, or Barnes & Noble)
Then, you set the discount price of the audiobook. Some retailers allow your price to be free; others require a $0.99 minimum price. (I’m not sure which ones.)
Then you choose the start and end date for the promotion.
It’s kind of a bummer here that the retailer can still override your sale price. On the plus side, you can schedule promotions up to 6 months in advance.
Listen on Spotify buttons
Premade “Listen on Spotify” buttons are available to audiobook authors for download. You can add these to your website, blog, or social media posts.
Promo Cards
The Promo Cards tool allows authors to create customized graphics, choose the aspect ratio (square, landscape, or portrait), and download it to share on social media or email digests.
Share on Social sample copy
Findaway Voices by Spotify suggests that you use the promo codes to generate graphics for social media posts, tag @Spotify in your posts when mentioning your book, and use the following prompts:
Big news! My book [title] is now available to listen on Spotify Premium! [+link]
Listen to [title] directly on Spotify, spoken to perfection. Press play 🎧📚 [+ link]
My book [title] goes wherever you go. Listen to [title] on @Spotify ▶️ [+ link]
Link to your audiobook
“Just navigate to your book on the Spotify Desktop app, click the three dots [...], ‘share’, ‘Embed audiobook’, and copy the code.”
Findaway Voices vs. ACX
Findaway Voices is available to authors worldwide. ACX is only available (directly) to authors from the US, UK, Canada, and Ireland.
Findaway Voices offers distribution to a wider variety of retailers, library partners, and subscription services. ACX offers distribution only to Audible, Amazon, and Apple Books.
ACX offers a narrator marketplace. Findaway Voices by Spotify does not. You must have all your files ready to go in order to publish/distribute using Findaway Voices by Spotify.
Findaway Voices by Spotify offers 100 promo codes. This is much better than ACX, where you get 50—but with restrictions. ACX makes it hard for you to get the promo codes. You get 25 at a time, and 10 of them must be redeemed before you can get the other 25. ACX’s promo codes are only good for the US and UK marketplaces. Spotify’s promo codes are available to listeners in many, many more countries.
➡️For more on publishing an audiobook with ACX, see “ACX Audiobook Royalties: How Much Do You Get Paid?”
Findaway Voices vs. Author’s Republic
Author’s Republic has its own narrator marketplace; Findaway Voices by Spotify does not.
Author’s Republic reaches a dozen more partners than Findaway Voices.
But it also pays 70% of net profits vs. Findaway Voices’ 80% of net profits. It appears they distribute your book through Findaway’s network, plus Audiobook Store, Audioteca, Be Here, BookBeat, Bookwalker, DiviBig, Ebsco Information Services, eStories, Phonoz, Glowbook, Grupo Vida, High Books, Kids Radio, Listener U, Mackin, Permabound, PocketFM, Rava Ramit, Speechify, and UScribe.
Findaway Voices vs. Kobo Writing Life
Kobo Writing Life distributes audiobooks (that’s something the author has to request). Both Findaway Voices and KWL distribute to library partners. But Findaway Voices’ distribution network is more vast.
Is Findaway Voices by Spotify worth it?
Yes, absolutely.
Eligible authors may still want to publish to ACX directly because royalties are admittedly quite low through Findaway Voices by Spotify. There have been past concerns with Findaway Voices by Spotify’s terms of use (and sneaky changes to it).
These concerns aside, Findaway Voices by Spotify remains an excellent optional for audiobook distribution for authors. The vast global distribution, ease of use, and the access to retailer, library, and subscription models, and ability to set (and adjust) your own pricing, as well as the promotional features, puts it heads and shoulders above other audiobook distributors. The dashboard is easy to navigate and full of helpful insights; you can see the countries where your listeners are, your ratings, and the demographics of your audience.
The Alliance of Independent Authors recommends Findaway Voices by Spotify.
Spotify found that 57% of their audiobook listeners are between the ages of 18–34. Putting your audiobooks on Spotify can be an excellent way to reach younger readers—and seems wise if you have a younger audience in particular.