Audio

RBmedia is the corporate parent of multiple publishers of audiobooks

One of the most successful audiobook publishers today is likely a company you haven’t heard of: Podium Audio.

The acquisitions of Findaway and Audiobooks.com signal a possible shakeup in the US audiobook market and more competition with Audible.

Earlier this year, the Digital Public Library of America struck a deal with Amazon Publishing to license its ebooks to libraries.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.