Audiobook vs Ebook: Which Earns More Per Sale for Indie Authors?

Once an ebook is selling, the next question is whether audio is worth the effort. The honest answer starts with how much one sale of each format puts in your pocket, and then with how many of each you can expect.

Key numbers: an ebook priced from $2.99 to $9.99 on Amazon pays a 70% royalty, and anything outside that band pays 35%. A $14.99 audiobook pays $7.50 on a Spotify à la carte sale and $6.75 on Apple Books or Kobo before any partner share. So one audiobook sale usually pays more than one ebook sale. Whether audio earns more overall depends on volume, which no public source measures for indie books.

How much does an ebook sale pay?

On Amazon, the royalty depends on your list price. Amazon's KDP pricing help describes two options. The 70% option applies to ebooks priced from $2.99 to $9.99 in the US store, and the 35% option applies to everything else. The 70% option also deducts a small delivery fee based on file size, which is a few cents for a text-only novel.

A $4.99 ebook on the 70% option pays about $3.49 before that fee. A 99-cent ebook on the 35% option pays about 35 cents. Those two numbers explain why most indie authors price ebooks between $2.99 and $9.99.

Check KDP's current page before you plan around these rates, because Amazon updates its terms.

How much does an audiobook sale pay?

It depends on the store, and on whether you or the store sets the price. Audible sets its own price and pays a royalty on what it collects. The other stores pay a share of a list price you set. Here is one sale of a $14.99 novel of about 10 finished hours, from the store payouts on our distribution page:

Store	What you're paid	One sale at $14.99
Spotify (à la carte)	50% of the price you set	$7.50
Google Play Books	52% of list, even when Google discounts	$7.79 before partner share
Apple Books	45% of list	$6.75 before partner share
Kobo	45% of list at $2.99 and up	$6.75 before partner share
Lex Store	100% of the reader's price, less card processing and sales tax	$14.99 less processing and tax
Audible	Audible's publisher royalty; Audible sets the price	Audible sets the price

On the stores reached through a distribution partner, the partner keeps 20% of net. That brings Google Play to about 42% of list and Apple Books and Kobo to about 36%. Lex takes no royalties on any store. Our guide to pricing your audiobook shows how to choose the list price.

Ebook vs audiobook: a side-by-side per sale

Using the figures above, the same book earns this per sale:

Format	List price	Roughly what you receive
Ebook on Amazon, 70% option	$4.99	about $3.49 before the delivery fee
Audiobook on Spotify, à la carte	$14.99	$7.50
Audiobook on Google Play, after the partner share	$14.99	about $6.24
Audiobook on Apple Books or Kobo, after the partner share	$14.99	about $5.40

One audiobook sale pays roughly one and a half to two times one ebook sale in this example. That is arithmetic on list prices, and it says nothing about how many people buy.

Does audio earn more than the ebook?

Not automatically, and nobody can promise it for your book. The sources we can cite describe the whole market, not indie titles. The Audio Publishers Association's sales survey puts US audiobook revenue at $2.43 billion in 2025, up 9%. It also reports over 750,000 active titles, so a new audiobook competes with a lot of others.

What we can say is where the money comes from:

• Audio is a second edition, not a replacement. The manuscript, cover, and reviews already exist. You are adding a format for people who would not read the page.
• Audio often sells to different people. A commuter or a walker may never buy the ebook. The same listener may also buy the next book in a series.
• Some stores pay on listening, not sales. Spotify's Premium plan pays from a monthly pool by share of hours listened, and libraries pay per loan or copy. Those income streams have no ebook equivalent. Our library guide covers them.
• Cost is the swing factor. An ebook costs almost nothing to produce. A human-narrated audiobook costs $2,400 to $5,850 for a 75,000-word novel, so it needs hundreds of sales to pay back.

How many audiobook sales does it take to match an ebook?

Cost decides this. At about $6 net per sale across the wide stores, a $49 Voiceover production breaks even at about 9 sales and a $99 Scored production at about 17. A $3,000 human production needs about 500.

So the same format can be a quick win or a long wait, depending only on what you paid to make it. Run your own numbers in the audiobook cost and earnings calculator, using your own price and your ebook sales as a guide to demand.

If your ebook is not selling, audio is a harder bet. Fix the page edition first, then add audio.

What should you do next?

1. Pull your last six months of ebook sales. Those readers are your first audience.
2. Pick the price you would set for the audiobook, using the length-based ranges in our pricing guide.
3. Choose a production route whose break-even you can reach with a realistic number of sales.
4. Hear it before you spend. Get a free sample of your own first chapter, returned within 24 hours.

Frequently asked questions

Do audiobooks make more money than ebooks?

Per sale, usually yes: a $14.99 audiobook pays $6 to $7.50 on most stores, against about $3.49 for a $4.99 ebook on Amazon's 70% option. In total, it depends on how many copies each format sells, and no public data measures that for indie books.

Is it worth making an audiobook if my ebook sells slowly?

It is a harder bet. Audio adds a format but does not create demand. Fix the page edition's sales first, and keep production cost low enough that a few dozen sales pay it back.

What is the ebook royalty on Amazon?

KDP pays 70% on ebooks priced from $2.99 to $9.99 in the US store and 35% outside that band, with a delivery fee deducted on the 70% option. Check KDP's pricing help for the current terms.

Can I sell the audiobook and ebook together?

Yes. They are separate editions with separate prices. On the Lex Store you set the audiobook price and keep 100% of what the reader pays, less processing and tax. Read more on where to sell.

How much does it cost to make an audiobook?

Human narration runs $200 to $400 per finished hour plus $75 to $150 for editing and mastering. Lex is $49 for Voiceover or $99 for Scored, one time, each covering 10 finished hours. See what audiobook production costs.