Libro.fm, the Seattle-based online platform that partners with independent bookstores to sell audiobooks, has launched a new annual subscription plan, which gives users 12 audiobook credits for $169.99 per year, along with a limited-time bonus 13th credit.

"We've been asked for an annual plan for years," said Mark Pearson, Libro.fm's cofounder and CEO. "The reason we're doing it now is we feel like we've got the growth momentum and the scale to be able to do it well."

Libro.fm's existing monthly subscription, priced at $14.99, will continue alongside the new annual "Plus" option. The company also maintains an a-la-carte, pay-per-title option.

Amazon's Audible, which dominates the audiobook market, has long offered an annual subscription, alongside its other membership tiers, coming in at $149.50 for 12 credits, with a higher tiered Audible annual plan is a slightly better value, at 24 credits for $229.50.

Libro.fm operates on a profit-sharing model where independent bookstores receive a portion of audiobook sales made by customers who select them as their partner shop. The new plan has two advantages: readers get their credits all at once, rather than having them doled out once each month, as with Libro.fm's monthly membership, while booksellers get paid upfront for the customer's entire yearly subscription.

Pearson positioned the annual Plus membership as a tool for customer acquisition and retention in a market otherwise ruled by Audible. "It's a bigger commitment. But once they make that decision, they're more likely to stick with us," he said.

The new subscription tier comes as the company reported a strong 2025. The top five audiobooks of the year, based on sales from its partner bookstores, were John Green's Everything Is Tuberculosis, Emily Henry's Great Big Beautiful Life, Rebecca Yarros's Onyx Storm, Suzanne Collins's Sunrise on the Reaping, and Taylor Jenkins Reid's Atmosphere.

As of this month, the company works with 4,419 bookshops across 39 countries—double the "over 2,000" partners it touted in recent years—and serves customers in 219 countries. As a consequence of that geographic spread, Libro.fm's book catalog now includes more than 600,000 audiobooks in over 100 languages.

"We've been able to sign up a couple of the biggest publishers in the last year or so that we didn't have before," Pearson said, adding they have also been able to add popular titles from self-published authors, many of whom command a passionate fanbase.

Asked about the company's success, he credits booksellers with helping create curated playlists to promote books, making customers aware of the service, and handselling subscriptions while customers are in store. "We print out special bookmarks that the booksellers, which they can use for marketing, but they do it all from there," he said.

While declining to reveal specific revenue figures or total customer counts, citing Libro.fm's status as a private, employee-owned business, Pearson did say Libro.fm paid its independent bookshop partners 80% more than in 2024.

This July, Libro.fm became a Certified B Corp, and in 2020 was named an SPC [Social Purpose Corporation], meaning the company can now make decisions that benefit its mission even if they may conflict with its financial goals, such as activism. "It is something of which we are very proud and is proof of just how committed we are to supporting independent bookshops," Pearson said.

This article has been updated to correct the pricing of the annual plan.