If you’ve been looking into ways to make money online, chances are you’ve come across the Mikkelsen Twins.
Their bold claims about passive income through audiobook publishing have grabbed a lot of attention, but do they really deliver on what they promise?
In this review, I’m going to take an honest look at their background, their business model, and whether their course is actually worth your time and money.
Before we dive in..
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Key Takeaways (If you’re in a hurry!)
- Christian and Rasmus Mikkelsen are entrepreneurs known for their self-publishing business and their course, Audiobook Income Academy (AIA), which teaches people how to make money selling audiobooks on Amazon.
- They began self-publishing eBooks and later audiobooks, outsourcing the writing and narration to create a passive income stream.
- Their publishing accounts were banned from Amazon in 2018 due to low-quality translations.
- While they claim to have made money from self-publishing, their primary income now comes from selling courses about self-publishing rather than from publishing itself.
- VERDICT: The Mikkelsen Twins are not scammers, but they are expert marketers. Their business model is real but much harder and riskier than they make it seem.
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Who are The Mikklesen Twins?
The Mikkelsen Twins—Christian and Rasmus—are entrepreneurs who have built their brand around making money through self-publishing. If you’ve come across their ads, they paint a compelling picture: financial freedom, flexibility, and the ability to make money while you sleep.
But does their system actually work, and more importantly, will it work for you?
Their claim to fame is Audiobook Income Academy (AIA), a course they created to teach you how to publish audiobooks on Amazon and Audible.
The idea is you find a niche, hire ghostwriters to create content, get a narrator to bring it to life, and publish the audiobook under your name.
In theory, this creates a steady stream of passive income. But I like to be skeptical about such opportunities, and to my mind, I know that there’s a gap between what’s possible and what’s probable.
Now, where did the Mikkelsens come from?
Back in high school, they were shy, disengaged, and didn’t particularly stand out. After graduating, they moved to Denmark, bouncing between odd jobs without much direction. It wasn’t until 2015, after returning to New Jersey to live with their parents, that they started taking life a little more seriously.
They enrolled in community college, aced their classes, and for the first time, felt like they were capable of something bigger.
Then came the turning point. While working as Chinese food delivery drivers, they spent hours listening to audiobooks and self-improvement podcasts. The idea of making money online intrigued them, and they decided to ditch college to pursue something more lucrative.
Their first venture? Publishing e-books on Amazon. Christian kicked things off with a short book on how to get a 4.0 in college, while Rasmus put out a cross-training guide. Both did surprisingly well, proving to them that there was money to be made in digital publishing.
Fast forward a few years, and they’ve turned that early success into a full-fledged business empire, based not on their publishing career, but as course sellers.
They’ve even acquired the domain name Publishing.com and have been positioning themselves as the go-to experts in audiobook publishing.
The way I see it, the Mikkelsen Twins are undeniably savvy marketers. They’ve built a name for themselves by selling the dream of financial freedom. So, let’s have a look at what they are all about:
Self Publishing
The Mikkelsen Twins experimented with different online business models before landing on something that actually worked. Rasmus gave dropshipping a shot, while Christian dabbled in Kindle self-publishing.
But when Christian started pulling in more money from self-publishing than Rasmus was making with dropshipping, it became pretty clear where the real opportunity was. Rasmus jumped on board, and from that point on, self-publishing became their main focus.
Now, their approach wasn’t exactly revolutionary. They weren’t writing passion projects or pouring their hearts into literary masterpieces. Instead, they were treating self-publishing like a business.
They’d analyze market trends, spot profitable niches that weren’t too competitive, and then churn out books to capitalize on demand.
If they had expertise in a topic? Great. If not? No problem—they’d just hire a ghostwriter to do the heavy lifting. For them, it was all about efficiency.
Write (or hire someone to write), format, publish, repeat. They started with eBooks on Amazon’s Kindle platform, but soon expanded into audiobooks, hiring narrators to turn their content into listenable assets they could sell on Audible.
And the strategy worked. In January 2017, Christian made his first $1,000 in a single month from self-publishing. By the end of that year, he was raking in $10,000 a month.
The Mikkelsens weren’t just publishing a book here and there—they were building a portfolio, covering everything from keto diets and CrossFit to Python programming and BBQ recipes. They didn’t need to be experts in these topics; they just needed to know there was demand. And as long as people were buying, they kept producing.
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Banned From Selling Books on Amazon
But then, in April 2018, the whole thing came crashing down. Amazon shut down Christian’s main publishing account due to policy violations, and Rasmus’s account was caught in the crossfire.
The reason? Low-quality translations. As they were scaling their publishing, they had started translating their books into multiple languages to reach international markets.
But instead of investing in proper translations, they took a shortcut—relying on Google Translate. As you can probably guess, the results were a mess.
Readers complained, Amazon took notice, and the strikes started piling up. Eventually, Amazon decided enough was enough and pulled the plug on their accounts.
With their main income source gone, they pivoted. They went down the tried-and-tested path: they decided to teach how to publish on Amazon.
That’s when they launched their coaching programs, including Audiobook Income Academy and Publishing Life, positioning themselves as mentors for aspiring self-publishers.
I am not a big fan of people who start an online course that way, but I cannot begrudge them: they know how to spot a money-making opportunity and run with it.
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YouTube Channel
Their YouTube channel, PublishingDotCom, has tens of thousands of subscribers and it is all about self-publishing. Specifically, their take on it, where you don’t even have to write the books yourself.
One of their standout videos, “Make $1,000/month by publishing ONE book on Amazon (without writing the book yourself),” lays out their core philosophy.
The idea is simple: hire a ghostwriter, publish the book on Amazon, and collect royalties. No writing, no prior experience needed—just a streamlined system that, according to them, can turn into a reliable passive income stream.
But their business doesn’t stop at YouTube. They’re also very active on Instagram, where they mix motivational content, glimpses of their lifestyle, and strategies for making money on Amazon.
Of course, a lot of their content also points back to their paid courses, which is where they make the bulk of their money.
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AI Publishing Academy (AIA)
This brings us to their flagship course, AI Publishing Academy, formerly known as Audiobook Income Academy and, before that, Audio Income Academy (they’ve changed the name a couple of times, but the core idea has remained the same). The course is all about self-publishing, but with a strong emphasis on audiobooks.
They push the idea that audiobooks are the future and that Amazon’s Audible platform is where the real money is.
According to Rasmus Mikkelsen, hiring a narrator to read your book costs less than $180, and once that’s done, your audiobook can generate sales indefinitely.
The pitch is that this is one of the fastest ways to build passive income, and they say it’s accessible to anyone—no writing skills or prior business experience required.
And to be fair, they’ve built a massive following with this model. Their initial course launch reportedly made $48,000 overnight, and over 20,000 students have gone through their program.
But as with anything that promises financial freedom, there’s some skepticism. Critics argue that while their system might work, it’s not as easy as it sounds. Some claim the method leads to low-quality books flooding Amazon, while others question whether their success stories represent the norm or just the outliers.
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If you take the course, you’re learning a very specific business model—not necessarily a surefire way to get rich. And like any business, there’s risk involved. Not every book sells, competition exists, and Amazon’s rules can change at any time.
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The Freedom Shortcut – Their Book
If you’re not ready to shell out for a full course, the Mikkelsen Twins also wrote a book called The Freedom Shortcut that lays out their philosophy on financial independence. The book is essentially their story—how they quit traditional jobs, found an online business, and landed on self-publishing as their golden ticket.
Their book walks you through the steps of building a passive income business using self-publishing. They cover choosing a niche, outsourcing work, launching your book, and eventually scaling up to increase your earnings. It’s written in a way that makes it sound simple—almost too simple. While the book gives you the blueprint, actually making it work in real life still requires trial, error, and effort.
One bold claim they make is that this book could be the equivalent of a college degree—which, let’s be honest, is a bit of a stretch. Sure, it offers insights into online business, but it’s not going to give you the same depth of knowledge as a formal education.
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Are the Mikkelsen Twins Legit?
That’s probably the big question on your mind, and honestly, I get it. Anytime you see a course promising passive income, especially one with a hefty price tag, the skepticism kicks in. So let’s break it down.
The Mikkelsen Twins run Audiobook Income Academy (AIA), a course that teaches you how to create and sell audiobooks on platforms like Amazon Audible. The idea is that you don’t write the books yourself—you outsource the writing, narration, and editing, then collect royalties. In theory, it sounds like a dream: set up a system, let it run, and watch the money roll in. But in practice? That’s where things get murky.
One of the biggest red flags is market saturation. The audiobook publishing space isn’t what it was a few years ago. There’s more competition, and because so many people are outsourcing content, the quality isn’t always great. Readers and listeners aren’t stupid—they can tell when something is low effort, and if your book doesn’t stand out, it’s going to get buried.
Then there’s the cost of the course itself. We’re talking several thousand dollars, which is no small chunk of change. The twins claim you’ll make that money back through audiobook royalties, but let’s be real—there are no guarantees. Making money in self-publishing (or any business) takes work, and the idea that you can just throw some cash at a course and start raking in passive income is, at best, overly optimistic.
Now, I will say this—the Mikkelsen Twins are brilliant marketers. They know how to sell a dream. Their success story, their lifestyle, the testimonials they use—it all paints a picture of financial freedom that’s hard to ignore. But here’s the kicker: a big chunk of their wealth doesn’t come from audiobooks. It comes from selling courses about audiobooks. That’s not to say the business model they teach is a total scam, but it does mean you need to take their pitch with a grain of salt.
That being said, are there people who have made money using their methods? Yes. There are real success stories from people who have followed their system and built profitable audiobook businesses. But—and this is a big but—those stories are the exception, not the rule. Most people don’t see that level of success, and many find the process harder and more expensive than they expected.
So where does that leave you? If you’re someone who’s willing to put in the work, manage outsourcing, navigate Amazon’s ever-changing rules, and compete in a crowded marketplace, then maybe this is worth looking into. But if you’re hoping for a simple, low-effort way to make passive income, you might be disappointed.
At the end of the day, the Mikkelsen Twins aren’t outright scammers. Their system is based on a real business model, and it has worked for some people. But the way they market it can make it seem easier and more profitable than it actually is. If you’re considering AIA, just go in with your eyes open, knowing that success will take time, effort, and a bit of luck. And if you’re not comfortable with the risks, you might want to explore other options.
Before You Go…
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