SELL AUDIOBOOKS TO LISTEN TO WHILE GAMING

[HulaGirl86]

I know this is a gaming platform and all but Amazon being the only seller of Audiobooks is kinda evil and they take 60% of author revenue.

I know lots of people enjoy listening to audiobooks and podcasts while gaming and Steams flat 30% model with massive steam sales would be a welcome addition.
It would give people who play grindy games something to listen to while grinding, and given Chat GPTs ability to read text and emulate voices, maybe offer authors a cheap alternative for selling their works to an audience with out recording, voice acting and production cost.

Or, ya know.... don't do it. I'm not your mother. I can't tell you guys what to do.

[Duel Sundown]

Good idea. +1

[AmsterdamHeavy]

I own well over 300 audiobooks. I game while listening to audiobooks every single day. I do not want audiobooks on Steam. I wont buy them and I am the target market.

[Bee🐝]

While it’s a good idea in theory, unfortunately, the audiobook market is an absolutely nightmare situation.

Read up on Audible’s author’s policies - it’s seriously screwed up in sooooo many ways

(This is coming from someone who’s dependent on screen readers and audiobooks.)

[Gwarsbane]

Opprinnelig skrevet av HulaGirl86:

I know this is a gaming platform and all but Amazon being the only seller of Audiobooks is kinda evil and they take 60% of author revenue.

I know lots of people enjoy listening to audiobooks and podcasts while gaming and Steams flat 30% model with massive steam sales would be a welcome addition.
It would give people who play grindy games something to listen to while grinding, and given Chat GPTs ability to read text and emulate voices, maybe offer authors a cheap alternative for selling their works to an audience with out recording, voice acting and production cost.

Or, ya know.... don't do it. I'm not your mother. I can't tell you guys what to do.

From March of this year...
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/10/3820780544813878010/

Opprinnelig skrevet av Gwarsbane:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Stitchez:

I would kill a man to get a digital Barnes and Nobles on Steam. They could make it look like an actual store have everything in sections and a digital customer service area. They could make rooms where you could host private book clubs. Have it to where you have your own study where all your books are on display it would up their revenue and get them in the digital age as well as lowering some cost for employees except for digital customer service. They could even integrate the Barnes and Noble membership and give exclusive cosmetic items and still give you discounts.

Valve tried selling/renting movies on Steam which have FAR more people interested in them.... and now they don't because they could not sell enough, I think mainly due to the prices being so high and the fact you needed to have Steam running to watch them and the quality of the video wasn't great for the prices you were paying.

Selling books and audiobooks would have far less interest in them. Its a dead subject on steam already.

Go buy digital books or audio books at the places that are dedicated to them and have far better prices.


It sounds like you want a "metaverse" kind of thing, with VR to go in rooms... go do that on facebook. You can already have "rooms" (groups) on steam and have book chat rooms and you can even make them private.

And no this would not cause Valves "revenue" to go up, if anything it would cost them money, just like when they tried to sell movies.


I personally would never buy movies or music or books from Steam. I would not go into chat rooms to talk about books I have read, with others and stuff like that. Steam is for game related stuff which when it comes to books is VERY limited.

If I want to buy digital books (which I don't as reading them a monitor is annoying, and the thought of reading them on a super tiny screen such as the Steam Deck would be even more annoying) I will go to Amazon or the actual Barnes and Noble and buy them there. But I actually prefer physical books that I can pick up and read. I have a whole book case filled with books.

If was going to get into digital books, I'd get a tablet which I could sit back and relax with on the couch or somewhere to read it.

And there are a lot more places to buy audio books
https://www.google.ca/search?q=places+to+buy+audiobooks

[The Presence]

If I want to buy an audiobook, there's countless places I can do so from.

I don't think Steam needs to step into that market.

[Start_Running]

I would not be against this but I don't see Steam selling them. But perhaps partnering up with such sellers to allow for a widget of somesort within steam

[Sleepy Yoshi]

I wouldn't mind it, but I would say this would not be likely to change anything with Audible. Audible has absolutely garbage splits, but their audience is only one of the reasons authors go with them. There's the production as well, tie in's to Kindle Unlimited, etc. Unless you're a big established author it's very difficult to get away from Amazon. It'll take more than just a marketplace for audiobooks to change things on that front.

[HulaGirl86]

Opprinnelig skrevet av AmsterdamHeavy:

I own well over 300 audiobooks. I game while listening to audiobooks every single day. I do not want audiobooks on Steam. I wont buy them and I am the target market.

Fair enough. Most people either buy em on amazon which I personally am not a fan of or Torrent/Stream them which is free. My thoughts were Authors and even indie authors being able to get their works sold at a reasonable percentage and taking advantage of being able to undercut what has been proven to be a price rigging cartel (Apple, Amazon, Google).
There are issues though and Steam overlays trying to handle double duty of audio and game DRM could be an issue. The DRM of the Audiobooks themselves could be an issue.
People will most likely just do DRM free 3rd party mp3 bundles and publishers/readers will take on the benefits of using AI to make quality audiobooks at fractions of a price of paying voice actors.

Opprinnelig skrevet av Gwarsbane:

Opprinnelig skrevet av HulaGirl86:

I know this is a gaming platform and all but Amazon being the only seller of Audiobooks is kinda evil and they take 60% of author revenue.

I know lots of people enjoy listening to audiobooks and podcasts while gaming and Steams flat 30% model with massive steam sales would be a welcome addition.
It would give people who play grindy games something to listen to while grinding, and given Chat GPTs ability to read text and emulate voices, maybe offer authors a cheap alternative for selling their works to an audience with out recording, voice acting and production cost.

Or, ya know.... don't do it. I'm not your mother. I can't tell you guys what to do.

From March of this year...
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/10/3820780544813878010/

Opprinnelig skrevet av Gwarsbane:

Valve tried selling/renting movies on Steam which have FAR more people interested in them.... and now they don't because they could not sell enough, I think mainly due to the prices being so high and the fact you needed to have Steam running to watch them and the quality of the video wasn't great for the prices you were paying.

Selling books and audiobooks would have far less interest in them. Its a dead subject on steam already.

Go buy digital books or audio books at the places that are dedicated to them and have far better prices.


It sounds like you want a "metaverse" kind of thing, with VR to go in rooms... go do that on facebook. You can already have "rooms" (groups) on steam and have book chat rooms and you can even make them private.

And no this would not cause Valves "revenue" to go up, if anything it would cost them money, just like when they tried to sell movies.


I personally would never buy movies or music or books from Steam. I would not go into chat rooms to talk about books I have read, with others and stuff like that. Steam is for game related stuff which when it comes to books is VERY limited.

If I want to buy digital books (which I don't as reading them a monitor is annoying, and the thought of reading them on a super tiny screen such as the Steam Deck would be even more annoying) I will go to Amazon or the actual Barnes and Noble and buy them there. But I actually prefer physical books that I can pick up and read. I have a whole book case filled with books.

If was going to get into digital books, I'd get a tablet which I could sit back and relax with on the couch or somewhere to read it.

And there are a lot more places to buy audio books
https://www.google.ca/search?q=places+to+buy+audiobooks

Informative.
I remember the movie roll out, and it was a disaster. I see part of the issue as movies require one to stop playing games and pay attention as opposed to and audiobook where you can just listen while playing a non story intensive game.

I'm aware of multiple markets for audiobook but selection and cybersecurity can be lacking. My hope was the large base and security of Steam + synergy with gaming = market that benefits all involved.
But then there is the downsides... Poor rollout, potential for the service to crash steam while gaming (a struggle steam has in general on peoples machines).

Opprinnelig skrevet av Bee🐝:

While it’s a good idea in theory, unfortunately, the audiobook market is an absolutely nightmare situation.

Read up on Audible’s author’s policies - it’s seriously screwed up in sooooo many ways

(This is coming from someone who’s dependent on screen readers and audiobooks.)

I'm very familiar hence why I'd think Steam throwing their hat in the ring would be a success. However there would be setbacks in many regards and I don't think steam would impliment as well as I imagine in my head upon further reflection

[Brian9824]

Don't really see WHY steam would want to. I mean selling random items that already have massive players and competition in it isn't a very smart idea.

Far smarter to focus on their core business model and keep their position of being on top then to try to random things and lose sight of who they are.

[Start_Running]

Yup. That makes sense. I mean. They could but an integration widget would be more likely. I can seem amazon, and such not minding getting some of that juicy account data. But even then. Why?

I already listen to audiobooks while gaming without a hitcgh of hassle.

[Brian9824]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Start_Running:

Yup. That makes sense. I mean. They could but an integration widget would be more likely. I can seem amazon, and such not minding getting some of that juicy account data. But even then. Why?

I already listen to audiobooks while gaming without a hitcgh of hassle.

Yeah same problem with Movies and other stuff. I watch TV and movies while gaming, didn't need it on Steam and no real value in steam adding it.

[DiamondMX]

This is a good idea from the perspective of the customers, because Amazon/Audible is monopolizing this space with awful creator pay share (not 60% as suggested above, it's often as much as 90%, with some really nasty terms in the contract about payment clawbacks) - and because they're the monopoly, they're charging a lot for the books and pushing customers into subscriptions.

On the other hand, I don't know if there's as much incentive for Steam to get into this space and pick a fight with Amazon.
It would be good for more players in the audiobook space (Spotify and Speechify are trying to find a way in, but it's very early for both of them) though.

[Start_Running]

Opprinnelig skrevet av DiamondMX:

This is a good idea from the perspective of the customers, because Amazon/Audible is monopolizing this space with awful creator pay share (not 60% as suggested above, it's often as much as 90%, with some really nasty terms in the contract about payment clawbacks) - and because they're the monopoly, they're charging a lot for the books and pushing customers into subscriptions.

The subscriptions are pretty good deals. I mean $14 and you get their originals plus a free book every month? Yeah as someone whio is an on afgain of agains ubscriber I am not seeing anything wrong with being pushed into a subscription like that. As for monopolizing. They aren't the only one in town they are just the most popular among the consumer base. See their subscription policy.

Opprinnelig skrevet av DiamondMX:

On the other hand, I don't know if there's as much incentive for Steam to get into this space and pick a fight with Amazon.

It wouldn't even be picking a fight. I mean the digital space isn't the wild west partisan thing that people like sweeney desperately try to protray it as.

Opprinnelig skrevet av DiamondMX:

It would be good for more players in the audiobook space (Spotify and Speechify are trying to find a way in, but it's very early for both of them) though.

Reason its hard is because they're having hard time getting content and therefore customers.
Simple as. IPeople will gravitate towards the service that gives them the best Value for their money and convenience.

Audible has many conveniences so its very popular.

[Sleepy Yoshi]

The best path for any mid to small market author is frankly to use ACX for their audiobooks, sign exclusive with Audible and have their e-book be exclusive with Amazon. They leverage their market position, which is dominant, to such a degree that it will be incredibly difficult for any service to compete at a significant level. Offering better value and convenience sounds great on paper, but the reality of doing that....lol good luck.

They're actually the antithesis of Steam. Granted different markets, but imagine if Steam had set up their business on a similar model. That's at least one thing I will always appreciate about Valve.