Michael > Status Update

Is there any difference between the version I already own and this new one on Audible?

Yes and no. From a "content" perspective they are exactly the same. In other words there were no "words changed." But the book was re-recorded so there might be some chapters that were read a little faster or slower than the original.

Why the change? It's pretty complicated but it comes down to this. Unlike print and ebook rights (which are signed for life-of-copyright (which means 70 years after my death) audio rights are on a "term" which can be 5, 7, or 10 years. Each time a contract expires it is re-negotiated. The story is copywritten to me - but the "recording" is copywritten to the company that produced the recording, and they usually re-license that to the new company (if it changes hands). But Recorded Books (the original company) did not want to re-license the works so we had Tim re-record it. Which was nice as he got paid twice for the same story. But that's why there is the change.

Now, The Death of Duglath is due to expire at the end of this year, and we have purchased the rights to the recordings from Audible Studios (who originally recorded them). So we'll be moving that from AS to us - and it will be the same exact recordings. The only difffernce is we'll be making much more money as the royalty rates are higher when there is only us and Audible.com in the picture.

That's a long answer to a short question - but I thought it would be best to give the "full skinny" for people who are interested in such things.

Snagged it!

Blake wrote: "Snagged it!"

Great! Happy listening!

Wow, thank you for the explanation! My wife and I were wondering but Audible changes things willy-nilly without informing us. The number of recordings that suddenly disappear from my account...

We really appreciate the information!

[Name Redacted] wrote: "Wow, thank you for the explanation! My wife and I were wondering but Audible changes things willy-nilly without informing us. The number of recordings that suddenly disappear from my account...

You are welcome. As for recordings suddenly disappearing . . . that can happen for one of three reasons that I know of (there may be more).

The first is because the title posted is illegal - someone who posted a title through ACX for a book they don't have rights to.

The second is because a contract expired and wasn't renewed.

The third (and likely most common), is you downloaded a book that was in the Audible Plus program (which is kinda like kindle unlimited for ebooks), but then it was taken out o the program.

I know a number of my books published by Recorded Books have been (and still are) in that program but they are coming out on July 1 and they will disappear for anyone who got them for "free" while they were in the plus program.