> Apparently that floor is being hit every time, i.e. Audible is paying them more than they are actually required by the contract. The author thinks this is a smoking gun that proves how they're being cheated, which is an odd take.
You think it is fair that Amazon sets an arbitrary low price, and then makes the authors take the cost. That's an odder take. If Amazon wants to sell their tokens at price X, have a campaign or whatever, that's a cost they should take. Not just dictate what the price should be and pay royalties based on that.
And why shouldn't Audible set the price? No one signed up as a creator on Audible thinking they'd get let out of the credits system. That system is Audible's business model. It's how they sell so many books.
I've bought many audiobooks for one credit that I never would have bought at list price. Most creators' net revenue from me would be zero if I had to pay the full list price.
If you want to sell your book for $25, then putting it on a site where people get one book per month for $15 is stupid. They are literally agreeing to sell it for less than the list price in order to have access to Audible's customer base--many of whom are there specifically as subscribers to get one book for $15 per month.
You think it is fair that Amazon sets an arbitrary low price, and then makes the authors take the cost. That's an odder take. If Amazon wants to sell their tokens at price X, have a campaign or whatever, that's a cost they should take. Not just dictate what the price should be and pay royalties based on that.