Sound Off: What’s New in the Audio Market
Audiobooks continue to be a major bright spot for the industry. According to Audio Publishers Association, in 2022 alone, publishers’ audiobook revenue grew a whopping 10% to $1.8 billion. Here, PW takes a look at the publishers, platforms, and production companies bringing you the best in audiobooks this season. (Sponsored) more...and more.
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Survey Finds Spotify Audiobooks Popular, but Compensation Questions Remain
As part of its efforts to force Spotify to be more transparent about how it pays authors, the Coalition of Concerned Creators commissioned a survey to discover how audiobook listeners felt about the service. It found mixed results.
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U.S. Audiobook Sales Hit $2 Billion in 2024
The audiobook market in the United States is steadily growing, the Audio Publishers Association reports, with revenue increasing by 9% to $2 billion in 2023 and 38% of American adults having listened to an audiobook in the last year.
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Dreamscape's Audiobook Program Expands Its Ambit
A shift of focus on libraries to retail channels and an aggressive acquisition of new titles—including, recently, works by John LeCarré and Jon Fosse—led to nearly $30 million in revenue in 2023, a 39% jump for the Ohio-based audiobook publisher.
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Disney Veteran Michael Paull Named RBmedia CEO
RBmedia has appointed Michael Paull, former president of Disney's direct-to-consumer business, as its new chief executive officer, following what the company called “another year of record-breaking growth” in 2023.
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Brandon Sanderson Says Deal with Audible Is in the Works
After calling Amazon's Audible "very bad for authors" last year and opting not to sell his self-published books on the platform, Brandon Sanderson said this week that he has negotiated more favorable terms, potentially setting a precedent for authors going forward.
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Bono's 'Surrender' Wins Audiobook of the Year at 2024 Audie Awards
At the 29th annual Audies, presented by the Audio Publishers Association and held in Los Angeles on March 4, winners across 27 categories were announced. The night's biggest honor, Audiobook of the Year, went to 'Surrender,' written and narrated by Bono.
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Spotify Reports ‘Exponential’ Audiobook Growth
Spotify teases the early results of its new audiobook streaming service.
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'AudioFile' Magazine's Best Audiobooks of 2023
The bimonthly magazine, which covers and reviews audiobooks, has named its Best Audiobooks of 2023.
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Apple Books Names 2023 Bestsellers, Launches 'Year in Review' Feature
A new feature on Apple Books gives users Spotify Wrapped–style insights into their reading habits in 2023—a year in which Jack Carr, Prince Harry, Britney Spears, and Rebecca Yarros topped the Apple Books charts.
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Kindle Direct Publishing Will Beta Test Virtual Voice–Narrated Audiobooks
Amazon's self-publishing arm has begun a beta test on technology allowing KDP authors to produce audiobook versions of their e-books using virtual voice narration. The audiobooks will be available wherever Audible titles are sold.
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