‘True to the Game’ writer Teri Woods claims Amazon is ‘cannibalizing’ royalties

She wants a happier ending for her bank account.

Author Teri Woods claims that Amazon, Audible, and other audiobook streaming companies scammed her out of $2 million in royalties by offering her volumes for free to their subscribers.

Woods, who helped her start selling her first big hit “True to the Game” from the trunk of her car, received a measly $8,059.63 in royalties while digital versions of her books sold millions, she accuses in the lawsuit. Brooklyn Federal Court.

Audiobooks typically sell for between $15 and $25, but “few readers were willing to pay $15 or more for a single audiobook when [companies] essentially giving them away for free to members of their streaming services,” the court documents say.

Woods sold 11,058,073 books in the first half of 2021, of which 11,051,733 were digital, she noted in a legal document.

Paras Griffin

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Nathan Stirk

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“At the same time, all of Teri Woods Publishing’s other revenue channels dried up,” she said in the lawsuit.

Loyalty to the Game, which spawned two sequels, became a 2018 film starring Vivica Fox.