Audio

Best-streaming audiobooks, by contrast, are shorter, more straightforwardly written, and appear to highlight plot and dialogue.

Audio-first publisher Podium has announced a new partnership initiative for its voice talent.

The biggest US book wholesaler and distributor, Ingram, has established a marketing partnership with the UK’s DeepZen, which provides publishers with AI-generated text-to-speech audiobooks.

Founded by wealthy book influencer and podcaster Zibby Owens, Zibby Books will publish one book per month,

Audiobook retailer Libro.fm now works with businesses to offer curated collections of digital audiobooks to employees

The Rights Factory, a literary agency, has just launched a new agency-wide podcast, Agent Provocateur, “to intrigue, entertain, and yes, provoke you.”

We need a multi-prong attack to not only recover our stolen funds but also stop the continuation of Audible’s monopolistic abuse of authors, narrators, and readers.”

Agents are urging publishers to offer a greater share of audiobook royalties beyond the standard 25 percent net (the same as ebooks).

As exponential growth in audio inevitably slows, publishers will have to vie for market share with other content providers and services

Podcasters distributing through Apple Podcasts will be able to make some or all of their content available through paid subscription only.

The audiobook distributor and production service hopes to help authors improve profits without remaining exclusive to Audible.

Sesamy claims to liberate you from the tyranny of subscriptions through an à la carte sales model.

Scribd, which entered the Mexican market in 2019, has now announced it will publish and distribute 100 Spanish-language audiobooks this year

As promised, ACX/Audible has started showing audiobook returns for authors who use ACX as a distributor.

Tallent, a well-known expert in ebook development and digital publishing, just launched BookSmart.

The value-priced offerings—175 bundles in all—can be listened to through Costco’s own audiobooks app.

For years, Penguin Random House has been using its own in-house developed platform, Ahab, to find and hire voice actors for its audiobooks.

US-based digital book subscription service Scribd has established its own audiobook imprint, with 40 titles available so far.

The club that started on Instagram and makes monthly book recommendations has expanded to include a dedicated app and website.

Spotify, which last year signaled its intent to launch into audiobook content, is releasing nine classics (all public domain works).

ACX has also introduced more lenient terms and will let authors out of exclusivity agreements.

Joy Fowlkes has joined The Gernert Company’s Los Angeles office as a podcast agent, representing authors and their work in the podcast space

Putting COVID aside for a moment, here are the companies and issues we expect to play a significant role in book publishing in 2021.

Bo Sacks, a magazine industry expert, says the first half of 2021 will look like the end of 2020—eventually we’ll see The Roaring Twenties.

Launching this month, LiveWriters will provide news and resources about podcasting for the book community, a forum for industry discussion.