2025 Year in Review: Audiobook Creation with ACX
Posted on January 29, 2026 by Allena Wright
Throughout 2025, we continued to reimagine what's possible in the world of audio publishing. We deepened our commitment to listening to our creative community through meaningful conversations with authors, narrators, producers, agents, and publishers. Your feedback didn't just help us identify areas for improvement, it inspired the innovations we brought to life this year. From diversifying discovery opportunities for listeners to testing new monetization structures and experimenting with tools to help you expand your catalog, we focused on building features that propel your creative businesses forward. Here's a look at what has shaped 2025: Improving Discovery: New ways to reach a wider audience
Audible partners with TikTok
If your book is trending on BookTok, Audible is making sure listeners can find it! Our new partnership with TikTok brings those viral #BookTok moments directly into the Audible app—with dedicated collections, trending badges, and homepage features that put your story in front of millions of audiobook fans. With 70M #BookTok posts and 68% of young readers discovering new books through the community, this is your chance to turn social media buzz into real listens.
Audible integrates Goodreads' Want to Read Shelf
The Goodreads Want to Read shelf now syncs directly with Audible, making it easier for listeners to discover and purchase audiobooks they've already marked as interested in.
Call for Merchandising We're opening up merchandising opportunities to all ACX creators. As of, December you can pitch your audiobooks for Audible sales and promotions year-round through a simple form—giving you more chances to get featured and reach new listeners, whenever it makes sense for your business. ACX creators can use this form to submit their ACX titles for feature consideration. Creators interested in promotions for multiple books must submit a separate request for each title.
Better Insights: Empowering creators to make data informed decisions
Listening Overview
New reporting tools provide real-time insights into your audiobook performance. Sales data updates every 48 hours and listening data updates daily, so you can track listeners by marketplace, spot trends, and make smarter promotional decisions—all within ACX.
Flexible, transparent monetization
We invited select creators to get early access to Audible’s New Royalty Model, which is designed to give you more transparency, fairness, and ways to earn. Early results have been promising, with creators already seeing the benefits of this updated approach.
Audible Innovation: Experimenting so you can expand
Separate from the Virtual Voice opportunity on KDP, we've been experimenting with our own Voice Replica beta on ACX. If you're a narrator, this beta enables you to use AI to create a digital version of your voice for audiobook production. We've made the voice quality even better, added more ways for you to get paid (including pay-for-production!), and expanded distribution so your titles can reach listeners around the world. Want to join the beta? Email us at acxbeta@acx.com.
Outside of ACX, we are also leveraging AI to improve the Audible listener search and discovery experience. We recently announced a beta test of an AI-powered search tool, Maven, that allows customers to search our expansive catalog for highly specific titles using everyday, conversational language. We want to make it easier than ever for listeners to discover their next favorite listen - and your titles!
Learn from the Best: Advice from ACX creators to ACX creators We know based on your feedback how important it is to continue to share ACX best practices and tips with each other. Here are some key takeaways to start your year off right:
Use audio clips to amplify your audiobook sales
Work with your narrator to identify the most compelling passages, then share those clips on social media, your website, and newsletters.
Look for gaps in the market. Author Gregory Ashe found great success with mystery-forward stories rather than romance-forward, tapping into readers who crave genre-crossovers.
Tyrrell Harrell, owner of TYDEF Studios, reminded new narrators that voice endurance and breath control are essential for maintaining quality through long sessions. Stay hydrated, take breaks every 35 minutes, and most importantly, rest.
Right tools, at the right times
You don't need to be technical to succeed. Even if you're "right-brained," you can learn the necessary skills and outsource what you can't do.
Use All-You-Can-Listen for discovery
Author L.T. Ryan is treating his audio catalog, not as a static collection, but as an active, adaptable part of his business.
Out and About: Meeting our community IRL, across the globe
In 2025, we showed up where you were! From genre-specific book conventions to large conferences, our team had the pleasure of meeting some of the ACX community in person. We also invested in our own ACX-led events. While we couldn't invite everyone this year, we will continue to offer opportunities to connect—so if you're interested in joining us at a future event, reach out and let us know. We'd love to keep you in mind! As we approach the new year, let's celebrate not just the audiobooks created this year, but the collaborations formed, the challenges overcome, and the dedication shown to your craft. ACX and Audible only exist because of the work that you do, and we truly thank you for that. Here's to great storytelling, and to all of you who bring these stories to life, one chapter at a time. Cheers to what we'll build together in 2026!
Need help with your ACX production? Check out other articles on our blog or contact our Support team for assistance here.