Writers’ Union Of Iceland Encourages Authors Boycotting Storytel

The board of the Writers’ Union of Iceland (Rithöfundasamband Íslands) is encouraging its members to not submit their literature to the streaming service Storytel. The company, which offers audiobook and e-book streaming to their clients, is said to pay “hilariously” low royalties to writers, the board said in a letter.

The encouragement comes after the board reviewed the recent results of a survey conducted in the summer of 2024. Two surveys were sent to writers which measured wages and their attitude towards Storytel. They found that 84% of writers receive between 0-5% of their total wages from Storytel. Only 3% of writers received more than 20% of their total wages from the company. 88% of respondents claimed to be dissatisfied with the outcome.

Interestingly, the survey results pointed to an overwhelming majority — 96% of respondents — in favour of physical books being published over the production of audiobooks.