Glynn Stewart

Science Fiction & Fantasy Author

Audiobooks not showing up in Audible

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Thanks to everyone who gave us a heads up on Facebook or sent an email to let us know that, even for the readers who have already purchased them, the first five Starship’s Mage audiobooks are not showing up in Audible search!

Here’s what’s happening: Glynn Stewart’s audiobook publisher is doing a big update and re-recording of some of the Starship’s Mage books. I’ll get into the nitty gritty of how the licenses work later in the blog post, but first I want to lay out which audiobooks are affected.

I’d also like to assure you that you still have access to the audiobooks that you’ve already purchased, but the Audible app/website has made it difficult to access them.

Books currently affected by license updates on September 1, 2024:

  • Starship’s Mage Book 1
    • Also known as the Starship’s Mage Omnibus, a collection of the first five novellas (“Episodes”), which were published individually between December 2013 and December 2014. This collection includes ALL of Damien’s adventures on the Blue Jay, which are:
      • Episode 1 (Sherwood)
      • Episode 2 (Corinthian)
      • Episode 3 (Legatus & Chrysanthemum)
      • Episode 4 (Amber & The Graveyard)
      • Episode 5 (Darkport)
  • Hand of Mars (Book 2)
  • Voice of Mars (Book 3)
  • Alien Arcana (Book 4)
  • Judgment of Mars (Book 5)

These books are not currently available to purchase. If you haven’t already bought the older editions in the past, you won’t be able to at the time this blog post is being published. However, as of this Fall/Winter season, you’ll be able to get a brand new re-recording!

The new editions, re-recorded by Podium Entertainment and featuring fan-favorite narrator Jeffrey Kafer, will start coming out in October. Keep an eye out for the 10th Anniversary Edition of the first book coming out on October 8, 2024. Starship’s Mage Book 1 will have a new ebook, paperback, and audiobook edition available on that date.

How to fix missing Audible purchases

If you have already purchased Starship’s Mage Book 1 (the Blue Jay stories), Hand of Mars, Voice of Mars, Alien Arcana, or Judgment of Mars and you’ve had trouble accessing them, you’re not alone. Based on our research and what we’ve seen from other authors who have had similar issues, it looks like sometime in the last year (or earlier), Audible changed the way its search function works on the app/website.

How the technical problem is causing audiobooks to not show up in Audible search:

  • Audible’s search function (even in the Library section) now only shows titles that are currently for sale in the Audible store. Because the books above can’t be sold to new customers, the system will not recognize the title, and it won’t appear in your search results.
    • Note: Even when the new editions are released, they will have a different identifying number (ASIN) attached to them. The search will not work to find the old editions.
  • This is the case even if you’ve already bought the title and listened to it in the past. When you search for your old purchases, you might see the new edition that you don’t have access to yet. The search function very often will not show you your books.

How to resolve it by adding your Starship’s Mage first edition audiobooks to a collection:

If you’d like to keep your access to the older version AND support the author, then you’ll need to start by tracking down your audiobook manually in your library.

Step 1: Go to the Audible homepage using a desktop browser (i.e., audible.com, audible.ca, etc.)

Step 2: At the top left corner of the screen, you’ll see the Audible logo with a menu underneath. Click “Library”, which is the first option on the left.
A screenshot of the top left hand corner of the screen on the Audible website. The Audible logo includes "An Amazon Company" underneath. The menu options are "Library", "Wish List", "Browse" with a down arrow to open a submenu, and "Plus Catalogue"

Step 3: Scroll through your library (purchase history) until you find the book that you’re looking for. By default, you will see 20 books per page.

Alt text description: A screenshot of the Audible library displays the Audible logo at the top. The user, Jack, has 0 credits available, with options to contact support and select the language (English). The library section shows a search bar, categories like All Audiobooks, Podcasts, Wish List, and Collections. The user is viewing two books in the library: System Collapse (Dramatized Adaptation) by Martha Wells, Book 7 of the Murderbot Diaries series, narrated by a full cast. It is 5 hours long and has interactive rating stars, with options to listen now, add to favorites, or mark as finished. Fugitive Telemetry (Dramatized Adaptation) by Martha Wells, Book 6 of the Murderbot Diaries series, also narrated by a full cast, lasting 3 hours 11 minutes, with similar options to listen now, add to favorites, and mark as finished.

Tip: Scroll down to the bottom of the page and apply 40 books per page.

A screenshot of a webpage displaying a drop-down menu at the top left that allows users to choose how many items to display per page, with options of 20, 30, or 40. Below, the page title reads, "Because you listened to This Is How You Lose the Time War," followed by a row of recommended audiobooks with their covers visible. At the bottom right, pagination controls are visible, allowing navigation between pages 1 and 2.

Tip: Use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+F (or CMD+F on Mac) to open the finder tool on your browser. Type in the title that you’re looking for. If it’s not on the first page, keep on going

A screenshot of a web browser's "Find" function, showing the search box where a user has typed "starship's mage" into the search field. The counter displays "0/0," indicating that there are no matching results on the current page. To the right of the search field are buttons for navigating up or down through search results, as well as an "X" to close the search box. The purpose of the image is to show how you can use the "Ctrl+F" function to search for a specific title on a webpage.

Step 4: When you find the book you want to add to the collection, look for the row underneath the description and click the “Add to…” button.

A screenshot from the Audible library, showing a specific audiobook from the Murderbot Diaries series (Book 4). Below the audiobook details, there are several options: a heart icon labeled "Add to favourites," a folder icon labeled "Add to" (indicating it can be added to a collection), a checkmark icon labeled "Mark as Finished," and a download icon labeled "Download." The purpose of the image is to highlight the location of the "Add to" button, allowing users to add the audiobook to a collection in their Audible library.

Step 5: Click the button “New Collection”.

A screenshot showing the "Add to Collection" pop-up in Audible after selecting the "Add to" button. The pop-up displays one title (Exit Strategy by Martha Wells) listed under "1 Title" and an option below to create a "New Collection" with a folder icon. The purpose of the image is to illustrate how to add an audiobook to an existing collection or create a new one within the Audible library.

Step 6: Enter the title and optional description of your new collection.

A screenshot showing the "New Collection" pop-up in Audible, where the user is creating a new collection. The "Collection name" field is filled in with Starship's Mage First Editions. The "Description" field includes the text: "A collection for Starship's Mage Omnibus (Episodes i-v), Hand of Mars, Voice of Mars, Alien Arc..." The options at the bottom allow the user to either Cancel or Create the collection, with the "Create" button highlighted in orange. The purpose of this image is to show how to enter information when creating a new collection in Audible.

Step 7: Repeat the steps above to add the remaining books to the collection.

Step 8: Find your new collection at any time through the Collections tab in your library!

A screenshot from the Audible library displaying the "Collections" tab. The screen shows one collection titled Starship's Mage First Editions, which includes a description: "A collection for Starship's Mage Omnibus (Episodes i-v), Hand of Mars, Voice of Mars, Alien Arcana." Below the collection's title, there is an option to "Delete collection." The collection includes one audiobook cover visible (Exit Strategy by Martha Wells). At the top of the screen, there are library navigation options, including tabs for All, Audiobooks, Podcasts, Wish List, and Authors. The user can also create a new collection or sort by "Recent activity." The purpose of the image is to show how to locate the "Collections" tab in the Audible library and view or manage a collection.

Alternate resolution

If you’re unable to access your purchases, you can also contact Audible support for a refund. Keep in mind that if Audible gives you a credit to apply to the new version, that is processed as a refund, and the publisher of the old version will subtract the sale from Glynn’s royalties.

The new editions and why the old versions were removed

The new edition involves quite a few edits that Glynn hopes will make it easier for new readers to get into the series. For example, the updated version of Starship’s Mage Book 1 is a single book, instead of a collection of five novellas. We wanted to re-record the new version as an audiobook so that audio readers would have access to the same content as the ebook and paperback readers.

The first edition audiobook was recorded by Tantor Media. The 10th Anniversary Edition audiobooks were recorded by Glynn’s audiobook publisher, Podium Entertainment, which records most of his current series. To give Podium the opportunity to release updated versions, there had to be a transition period where the old versions were no longer available in the store.

We know it’s frustrating to have a gap like this, especially for the first books in the series, and especially for readers that happen to be reading the first five books for the very first time right now. Unfortunately, to be able to bring readers the new improvements, from story flow to sound quality, we needed to have the books down for a short period.

The good news is that all five books will be back soon. The 10th Anniversary Edition of Starship’s Mage Book 1 comes out on October 8, 2024, with more books to follow in the coming months!

Questions

Do you have any questions about the first edition audiobooks or the upcoming Anniversary Edition? Let us know in the comments, or use the contact form to send us an email.

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