«They were planning to placate me»: Audible Flat Out Lied to Brandon Sanderson When He Demanded Better Pay For Authors (Report)

Did Audible lie to legendary fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson? Read on to learn the details and how the highly acclaimed author fought for royalty.

Brandon Sanderson is one of the most highly acclaimed writers to exist. With his legendary books, including Warbreaker, Wind and Truth, as well as his Mistborn: The Final Empire and the universe around the novel, his fans have always cherished his fantasy world-building.

However, the author is not only someone who can write but also a man who can fight. Reports suggest that Sanderson fought intensely with the Amazon audiobooks app, Audible, for better royalties. While he was promised the needful, a new report points out that the company allegedly lied to the author with their false promises. 

Per Daniel Greene’s report from an August 2025 video, an insider had alleged that Audible came up with a new royalty structure. The app, which once publicly claimed to work on its author’s royalties, went on to do something shocking with what the source alleged. 

The insider alleged, as suggested in the video, Audible Exploited Brandon Sanderson, that Audible knew their new author royalty structure would cut their pay scale. The video creator then mentioned his discussion with Sanderson, in which the author divulged, 

So, this was my worry. That they used something they were planning to placate me. I hoped it wasn’t the case, and felt it important to try to meet them at the table and try their model for a year. But after a year, I am unfortunately not surprised to hear this. Expect more from me in the future.

The creator also mentioned that he had independently verified that Sanderson and his team were not briefed on the breakdown of how these royalty models were working towards the benefit of authors. 

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Brandon Sanderson Fought for All Independent Writers

According to a March 2024 report by Digital Music News, Brandon Sanderson negotiated not only for his own benefit but also for the benefit of every author out there.

With the writer being super vocal about the condition of authors around audiobook royalties, he divulged his frustration on how the industry is taking advantage of the authors,“because of their lack of powerful corporate interests to advocate for them.”

The report also revealed that instead of just getting a better deal for himself, he negotiated terms with Audible that would have a greater impact on the whole industry. For this, Sanderson withheld his writings from Audible. Hoping this would bring a change, the author explained (via Digital Music News), 

I didn’t refuse to put my books on Audible out of retribution or to declare war; I did it because I wanted to shine as powerful a light as I knew how on a system that favored the audio distributors over the authors.

Interestingly, this move worked. Three Audible officers came to meet him and presented a new royalty structure for independent writers and small publications. Their structure, which was called out in Greene’s YouTube video, had somehow given hope to The Stormlight Archives author, Sanderson, back then.  

The Author Finally Has His Epic Work on Audible After Tough Fight

Image Credit: Brandon Sanderson/Youtube image by Nihonjoe, licensed under CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Brandon Sanderson / Credits: Barnes & Noble Podcast Brandon Sanderson in The Tim Ferriss Show / Credits: YouTube Image Credit: Brandon Sanderson/Youtube image by Nihonjoe, licensed under CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Brandon Sanderson / Credits: Barnes & Noble Podcast Brandon Sanderson in The Tim Ferriss Show / Credits: YouTube

After he received newly updated plans for authors, Sanderson went on to release his work on Audible. To know which books by Sanderson are available on the Amazon audiobooks platform, refer to the table below. 

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