Your Book. Your Voice. Your Money.
Send us your manuscript. We turn it into an audiobook in your voice or a pro narrator voice. You keep 100% of every sale and every customer.
A letter from Myron Golden, Ph.D.
The Audiobook Platform Where You Never Sign A 7-Year Contract, Never Lose Your Customer, And Never Wonder Where Your Royalty Went
Dear Author,
Sell a $20 audiobook 100 times on Audible under the old exclusive deal, and roughly $800 lands in your pocket. The other $1,200 goes to the platform.
Here is the part almost nobody explains before you sign anything. That royalty is not a percentage of what you charge. It is a percentage of a "Net Sales" number Audible calculates internally, and the formula is not published. Split it with a narrator under Royalty Share, and authors land near 20%.
In 2026 Audible raised the headline rate to 50%. Sounds generous. Read the fine print. Membership listening now pays from a pool, so the more your listener plays other authors, the smaller your slice gets.
There is a platform now where that same $20 audiobook, sold 100 times, puts $2,000 in your pocket, minus one flat membership. You send your manuscript. You choose the voice. The platform does the rest.
Keep reading Myron's letter
Why this matters now
The audiobook market is not a maybe anymore. It crossed $2 billion in U.S. revenue, and Grand View Research projects growth near 25% a year through 2030. More than half of U.S. adults have already listened to one. The only real question left is who keeps the money when your book sells.
What nobody mentioned in the pitch
Every audiobook platform before this one was built the same way. You make the product. They own the shelf. They own the customer. And they decide what is left over for you after the "Net Sales" math is done.
A Royalty Share deal ties you and your narrator together for seven years. Getting out early usually means buying out the narrator and pulling the audiobook down, along with every review you earned.
The Owned Platform Model
Owned Audio flips the entire structure. You send the manuscript: Word, PDF, or EPUB. You pick a professional narrator voice, or you send us a recording of your own voice and we build the book around it. We produce the audiobook, host the player, and publish it ready to sell. Your content, your customer relationship, and your money are yours, for a flat membership instead of a shrinking percentage.
No 7-year lock-in, because there is no royalty-share contract to escape from. No "Net Sales" formula to decode, because there is no percentage at all. You set your price. You own the customer. Every dollar goes to you.
My own three audiobooks run on it right now. And you do not have to leave anything. Unless you signed an exclusive, keep your book on Audible, Spotify, or anywhere else. Owned Audio is where your best margin lives.
What you get
$499, one time, produces your book: narration, chapters, and your own streaming player, loaded and ready to sell. Membership is $99 a month, or $999 a year, for up to 10 titles. The first 500 founders lock that rate for life. 100% of the royalties. 100% of the customer data. Every single time you sell.
What waiting costs
Audible has said the old royalty model ends by December 31, 2026. Authors there move into the pool or pull their books. There is no version of staying still that keeps things the way they were.
This is for the author with a finished manuscript who wants an audiobook without a $2,500 narrator quote, a 7-year contract, or a mystery royalty formula. It is for the backlist author whose math never worked. It is for the speaker who sells from the stage and wants every dollar of the audio version to land in the same place.
Send your manuscript. Keep every dollar.
Your book. Your voice. Your money.
Author of B.O.S.S. Moves, From the Trash Man to the Cash Man, and The AI Business Playbook
Start My BookThe Whole Idea In 80 Seconds
Your book. Your voice. Your money. Press play.
- 0% commission
- No 7-year contract
- You own the customer
The Math Big Platforms Hope You Never Do
Sell a $20 audiobook 100 times. Here is what lands in your pocket.
That Audible percentage applies to a "Net Sales" figure Audible calculates, which can sit well below your list price. Most Audible listening runs on memberships, and in 2026 that money moved into a pooled formula. The more your listener plays other authors, the smaller your share.
Owned Audio has no percentage. One flat membership, and the rest is yours.
Run your own numbers
Illustration only. Card processing (about 3%) goes to the card processor, not to us. Your sales depend on your book and your marketing.
What Nobody Mentions In The Pitch
Authors who took the usual road into audio found a list of surprises waiting for them.
A royalty that is smaller than it sounds
The rate is a percentage of "Net Sales," a number the platform works out internally. Split it with a narrator under Royalty Share and authors report landing near 20%.
A 7-year lock
Exclusive distribution and Royalty Share deals run for seven years. Getting out early can mean buying out your narrator and pulling the book, along with every review it earned.
A pooled payout
Under the 2026 "Member Value" model, a listener's monthly payment is divided across every title they play that month. Your slice depends on what they do with other authors' books.
Their customer, their price
The platform keeps the buyer's name and email. It sets the price, and you get to suggest one. You never learn who bought your book, so you can never sell them the next one.
From Manuscript To Selling In Three Steps
No studio. No $2,500 narrator invoice. No six-month wait.
Send your manuscript
Word, PDF, or EPUB. Our system splits your chapters and confirms the count on the spot. No formatting tricks and no tech.
Choose the voice
Pick a professional narrator voice and hear samples first. Or send us a clean recording of your own voice and we build your book around it.
Sell and keep 100%
We produce it and publish it in your own streaming player. You add your checkout link and set your price. Every dollar of every sale goes to you.
| Audible / ACX | Owned Audio | |
|---|---|---|
| Your share of each sale | 50% exclusive, 30% non-exclusive (40% and 25% on the old model) | 100% |
| 100 sales at $20 | $1,000 at best | $2,000 minus $99 membership |
| How membership listening pays | Pooled "Member Value" formula | Every sale pays you directly |
| Customer relationship | Theirs | Yours |
| Who sets the price | They do | You do |
| AI narration | Restricted | Welcome |
| Contract term | 7 years when exclusive | None. Cancel anytime. |
You do not have to leave anywhere. Unless you signed an exclusive deal, you can sell on Audible, Spotify, and Owned Audio at the same time. This is where your best margin lives. See the full ACX breakdown.
Start Your Book Today
Founder pricing for the first 500 authors, locked for life. Every plan covers up to 10 books and keeps 100% of your sales.
- Up to 10 audiobooks
- 100% of every sale
- Sales page and player for each book
- Your voice or a pro narrator voice
- Human review on every book
- Founder rate never increases
- Everything in Founder Monthly
- One payment, twelve months
- Best for authors going all in on audio
Secure card checkout. More books are $499 each. After the first 500 founders, membership is $199/month. Have a production code? Enter it at checkout.
Want proof first? Hear your book.
Upload your manuscript and we narrate your whole first chapter, free. No credit card.
Get My First Chapter FreeMy Own Books Run On It
Three Myron Golden audiobooks are live on Owned Audio today. Same platform you get.
B.O.S.S. Moves
Myron Golden, Ph.D.
From The Trash Man To The Cash Man
Hear a sample:
The AI Business Playbook
Myron Golden and Miguel Carrasco
December 31, 2026
Audible has said its old royalty model ends by the close of 2026. Every author there either moves into the pooled model or pulls their audiobooks. Standing still is off the table.
Audiobooks passed $2 billion in yearly U.S. sales, and more than half of American adults have listened to one. Each month your book is missing from audio, that money goes to somebody else. Each month it sells on a percentage deal, part of your money does too.
Claim A Founder SpotWho This Is For
The author with a finished manuscript
You want an audiobook without a $2,500 narrator quote, a 7-year contract, or a mystery royalty formula.
The backlist author
You have books that never reached audio because the math never worked. Now it does, for up to 10 titles on one membership.
The speaker or business author
You sell your book from the stage and in every email. The audio version should pay you the same way.
Who it is not for
Authors without a finished manuscript, and authors counting on a marketplace to find their buyers. You bring the readers. We make sure you keep them.
Straight Answers
Do you really take 0% of my sales?
Yes. Your membership is the only thing you pay us. Card processing, about 3%, goes to the card processor. Everything else is yours.
Whose voice narrates my book?
Your choice. Pick a professional narrator voice from our roster and hear samples first. Or send us a few minutes of clean audio of your own voice and we produce the book in a voice built from it. Narration is AI voice production, directed and quality-checked by a human on every book, and you approve the result.
What does it cost, all in?
$499 per book for production, one time, plus your membership: $99 a month or $999 a year as a founder. That covers up to 10 books. There are no percentages and no per-sale fees from us.
Do I have to leave Audible?
No. Unless you are enrolled exclusively, you can sell here and everywhere else at the same time.
How long until my book is live?
Submitting takes about five minutes. Production and review usually run a few business days. Most authors go from manuscript to selling inside two weeks.
Can I cancel?
Anytime, by emailing contact@ownedaudio.com. Your founder rate holds for as long as your membership stays active.
Own Your Content. Own The Customer. Own The Money.
Send your manuscript today and keep 100% of every sale from your first listener on.
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