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Romance Authors Audible Class Action Lawsuit Overview
- Who: Two self-published romance authors lodged a class action lawsuit against audiobook company, Audible, Inc.
- Why: The authors accuse Audible of falsifying reports and shorting authors of royalties.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in New York federal court.
Audible is under fire for fudging the numbers presented to authors on its audiobook platform, creating programs that harm authors, and paying out less in royalties, according to a class action lawsuit filed by a pair of self-published romance writers Friday.
The lead plaintiffs are two self-published romance authors who have written hundreds of books, including the “Billionaire’s Obsession” and “Cold Fury” series. They want to represent other authors who they claim were shorted by the audiobook company’s misleading and secretive accounting system.
The romance authors allege that Audible has breached its contracts and “has maintained a secret system of accounting for distribution of the Audiobooks,” one that is different from what it presents to authors. Audible bases its payments to authors on the public numbers, thus paying authors much less than what they are contractually owed, according to court documents.
Audible Schemed to Withhold Royalties From Romance Authors
In 2016, Audible created its “Easy Exchange Policy” or “Great Listen Guarantee,” which allowed customers and subscribers to exchange an audiobook as long as 365 days after obtaining it.
For example, a customer could buy one book at the start of the month, then exchange it for another book halfway through the month without paying anything extra. While this offers customers extreme flexibility, it harms authors since only the author of the second book would receive royalties and sales, say the romance authors.
Further, Audible did not inform its authors of this change, according to the class action lawsuit. The romance authors estimate they were paid 15 to 50 percent less than what they should have received if not for Audible’s actions, while Audible continues to make money.
The class action lawsuit demands recovery of lost royalties, an accounting that shows the discrepancy between what authors were paid and what they should have been paid, the prevention of Audible from deducting exchanges from royalties, and similar relief.
Audible Error Reveals Withholding of Romance Authors’ Royalties
Audible had been presenting a set of numbers to authors, which excluded sales from exchanges and returns, that differed from its official sales reports.
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