If you have an audiobook on Audible through ACX, you need to move it to Audible’s new royalty model before the end of this year, or it comes off Audible. This week, open ACX, list your titles, and enroll the ones you want to keep selling there.

On 26 May 2026, ACX updated a blog post with this line: “Starting today, enrollment in Audible’s new royalty model is available to all ACX creators.” Further down the same ACX post on the new royalty model is the part with a clock on it. By end of year, the legacy royalty model will be discontinued, and by then you must either enroll your titles in the new model or discontinue distribution.

Those are the only two options ACX gives. If you do nothing, you aren’t keeping the old terms. Here’s what changes and how to move your titles calmly, one at a time.

What the new model changes

All of this comes from ACX’s own post (posted 28 April 2026, updated 26 May 2026, checked 9 October 2026).

  • Rates go up. Exclusive distribution pays 50%, up from 40% on the legacy model. Non-exclusive pays 30%, up from 25%.
  • Membership listening is paid differently. ACX calls it Member Value: the listener’s monthly plan price minus taxes and fees, plus the value of any extra credits they use. That total is split among the titles the member engaged with that month, weighted by each title’s a la carte price, and your share is multiplied by your royalty rate.
  • Cash purchases are calculated the same way as before. ACX says the a la carte model doesn’t change, but the higher rate applies.
  • Two new options open up. Enrolled titles can be opted in to Audible’s all-you-can-listen (AYCL) catalog in the Premium plan, and you can suggest a price. Audible still sets the final price and may sell below your suggestion.

The checklist

  1. List every title on your ACX dashboard. Open the My Projects tab and write down each title and whether it’s exclusive or non-exclusive. DIY titles claimed after 26 May 2026 were enrolled automatically, so focus on older ones.
  2. Decide per title: enroll or leave Audible. If you want a title to stay on Audible, it has to be enrolled. If you were already weighing a move for a title, make that call now rather than in late December.
  3. Enroll. On My Projects, select Enroll titles on the blue banner to enroll everything at once. To enroll only some titles, select Clear selection first, pick the titles, then select Enroll titles. Select Confirm to finish.
  4. Save the confirmation. ACX sends a message center note listing which titles were enrolled and the date the new terms start. Screenshot it and put it in your rights folder with the rest of that book’s paperwork.
  5. Then look at the new options. Once a title is enrolled, decide whether to opt it in to AYCL and whether to enter a suggested price.

Put 30 November on your calendar

ACX doesn’t print a cutoff day. It says “by end of year.” It also says enrollment goes into effect on the 1st of the following month. So a title you enroll in November moves to the new terms on 1 December, while one enrolled in late December wouldn’t switch until 1 January.

That’s why we’re working back from 30 November as our own safe date. It isn’t an ACX deadline. It’s just the last day that keeps the switch inside this year, and it leaves December free to fix anything that didn’t go through.

One lesson for this Friday: open ACX, list your titles, and enroll the ones you want to keep on Audible before the month runs out.