Audit every retailer listing
Audit audiobook retailer listings
When the audiobook releases, check its listing on each audio retailer for correct narrator, running time, cover, description, and a link to the print and ebook editions.
Why it matters
Audio listeners choose by narrator and running time as much as by author, and a listing with the narrator missing or the sample broken loses them. Audio also releases on its own schedule, so nobody doing the print launch audit is looking at these pages. This is the only check that covers them.
Your part
- What you do
- Do it. You normally do this yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Publisher and Author. Audio publisher or distributor controls the data; author audits
- When
- At the audiobook release, which may differ from the print publication date (Audit every retailer listing: three months before publication, in launch week, and at each later audit)Checked September 14, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Your part changes with your publishing route.
How to do it
The full walkthrough
Audiobooks are sold through their own set of retailers: Audible and Amazon, Apple Books, Google Play Books, Kobo, Libro.fm (which shares revenue with independent bookstores), Spotify, Chirp, and others, plus the library platforms that have their own item. Each builds its listing from the audio publisher's or distributor's feed, and audio listings carry fields that print listings do not: narrator, running time, abridged or unabridged, and the audio ISBN.
The audit is a check of each retailer's page for the audio-specific fields as well as the usual ones (title, subtitle, author, cover, description, release date, price). Pay attention to the narrator credit, which is often missing or misspelled, and to whether the audiobook is linked to the print and ebook editions on retailers that sell all three. A sample clip should exist and should start with the book, not with a minute of silence.
Audio often travels a different route than print, so find out who produced and distributes the audiobook before you report anything: your print publisher, a separate audio publisher, or the platform or producer you used yourself. Corrections go back through that route, and an exclusivity choice at one retailer removes the book from the others by design.
Check at release, which may be a different date from the print publication.
Common mistakes
- Auditing only Audible and forgetting Apple, Google, Kobo, and Libro.fm.
- A missing narrator credit that nobody reports because the narrator is not checking.
- Assuming the print publicist is watching the audio pages when a separate audio publisher holds the rights.
- Not noticing that the audio release date differs from print and auditing on the wrong day.
What done looks like
- Each audio retailer's listing checked for narrator, running time, cover, description, release date, and price.
- Audio linked to the print and ebook editions where the retailer sells all three.
- A sample clip that plays and starts with the book.
- The audio publisher or distributor identified for corrections.
- Audio links included in your canonical buy links.
Ask your publisher
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Sources and last checked
- Official source
- Official source (opens in a new tab)
- Last checked
- September 14, 2026
- How confident we are
- Partially verified
Rules and deadlines change. We last checked this information on September 14, 2026. If you see something that needs updating, please tell us.