Distributing Your Audiobook: Spotify for Authors, ACX, and Voices by INaudio

What to do

Understand your main options for getting a finished audiobook out to listeners, with a closer look at Spotify for Authors and how ACX and Voices by INaudio compare to it.

Why it matters

Once your audio files are recorded, edited, mastered, and proofed (the previous topic), you still need somewhere to actually publish them. The three names that come up most often are Spotify for Authors, ACX, and Voices by INaudio, each works a little differently, and picking one (or more than one) is worth doing deliberately rather than by default.

Step-by-step

• Spotify for Authors is Spotify's own self-service platform for independent authors and small publishers to upload audiobooks directly to Spotify, the same app many listeners already use for music and podcasts. As of this writing, distributing an audiobook through Spotify for Authors is free, there's no listing fee or percentage cut taken by Spotify beyond what applies to any streaming/pay-per-listen model it uses, though you should always check Spotify's own current terms since platform terms do change over time.
• To get your finished audio onto Spotify for Authors: create a free account at Spotify's dedicated authors site, add your book's title, description, and cover art (the same kind of metadata you already entered for KDP, IngramSpark, or Draft2Digital), then upload your finished, per-chapter MP3 files in the order they should play. Spotify runs its own automated check on the files (similar in spirit to the file-validity and format checks KDP and D2D run on print and ebook files), and once approved, your audiobook becomes available to Spotify's listener base directly inside the Spotify app.
• Royalties on Spotify work on a listening-based model rather than a flat per-copy sale: broadly speaking, you earn based on how much of your audiobook people actually listen to (this is different from a straightforward per-unit royalty the way KDP or IngramSpark pay for a print or ebook sale), and the exact rate and payout structure is set by Spotify and can change, check Spotify for Authors' own current payout documentation rather than relying on a number from any outside source, including this app.
• ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange) is Amazon's audiobook platform and the main way to get an audiobook onto Audible, the dominant audiobook retailer. ACX also runs its own narrator marketplace (mentioned in the previous topic) if you haven't already hired someone elsewhere. The key tradeoff on ACX is exclusivity: ACX offers a higher royalty rate if you distribute exclusively through Audible/Amazon/iTunes via ACX, or a lower rate if you choose non-exclusive distribution and are free to also sell the same audiobook elsewhere. This exclusive-vs-non-exclusive choice is the single biggest decision ACX asks you to make, and it's worth reading ACX's own current terms closely before choosing, since it directly affects whether you can also use Voices by INaudio or distribute the same audio through Spotify for Authors.
• Voices by INaudio is a wide-distribution aggregator for audiobooks, conceptually similar to what Draft2Digital does for ebooks: one upload, and Findaway pushes your finished audiobook out to a long list of retailers and library platforms at once (including outlets audiobook-focused libraries use, such as OverDrive and Hoopla, plus many international retailers) rather than you managing separate accounts with each one. Voices by INaudio was itself acquired by Spotify, which is part of why the two are worth knowing about together, though Findaway's own wide-retailer/library distribution role and Spotify for Authors' direct-to-Spotify-app role remain two different things.
• As a simple frame for comparing the three: Spotify for Authors gets you specifically onto Spotify, free, with a listening-based royalty. ACX gets you specifically onto Audible (and Amazon/iTunes), with an exclusivity tradeoff that affects the royalty rate. Voices by INaudio gets you onto a wide range of other retailers and libraries at once from a single upload, the way Draft2Digital does for ebooks. Many audiobook-only authors use Voices by INaudio for broad reach and either skip ACX exclusivity or add it separately depending on how much they specifically want to be on Audible under its higher exclusive rate.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Assuming any one of these three platforms alone gets your audiobook everywhere, each covers a different slice of the market: Spotify for Authors is Spotify itself, ACX is mainly Audible/Amazon, and Voices by INaudio is the wide-retailer/library aggregator.
• Choosing ACX's exclusive option without reading the terms carefully, then being unable to also distribute the same audiobook through Voices by INaudio or Spotify for Authors during the exclusivity period.
• Assuming audiobook royalties work the same way as ebook or print royalties. Spotify's model in particular is listening-based, not a flat per-copy sale, which is a meaningfully different way to think about expected income.
• Treating this topic as a full step-by-step account walkthrough for ACX or Voices by INaudio, it isn't; it's a comparison to help you decide where to start. Each platform's own current site has the full walkthrough for its own signup and upload process.

Completion checklist

0 of 2 checked

• I understand what Spotify for Authors, ACX, and Voices by INaudio each do, and how they differ.
• I decided which audiobook distribution platform(s), if any, I want to use, and understand the ACX exclusivity tradeoff if considering it.

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