KEEPING UP WITH CHANGES IN THE AUDIOBOOK INDUSTRY

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In 2023, I wrote a post called “Findaway Marketplace is Winding Down”. That post still gets a lot of traffic, but a lot of things have changed in the audiobook industry since the takeover of Findaway by Spotify. I thought I’d write about those changes and how to stay on top of them in the future.

Spotify is changing the game

Spotify made a big splash when they entered the audiobook industry, and publishers like Harper Collins (US), Lagardère (France), and Bloomsbury (UK) have cited Spotify as a key contributor, according to an article released in June of 2025.https://newsroom.spotify.com/2025-06-10/spotify-delivers-growth-for-the-publishing-industry-audiobooks-sales-continue-to-grow/

Listenership is growing

Audiobook listenership has increased, with new listeners emerging. Music and podcast listeners now have the addition of audiobooks on an app they are already using to consume audio content. Some publishers who previously distributed only to Audible and Itunes are now going “wide” to reach these new listeners.

In the meantime, Author’s Republic has created their own “Narrator Marketplace”, filling the niche for an alternative to ACX (Audible’s author/narrator matchmaking service). https://www.authorsrepublic.com/create-audiobooks

For indie authors down under, another place to find prospective performers is at Narratorlist.com While it’s not one of the big players, authors can browse narrator profiles or post an audition for their project.

More changes are happening soon. Spotify is sending the distribution for the non-Spotify retailers to InAudio come August 1st. How much change there will be is hard to say. According to the InAudio website, they are “building the INaudio platform with the original Findaway spirit.”

AI Services are popping up everywhere

One big change we can’t ignore is the prevalence of AI Audiobooks. It seems like every distribution company now has their own robot voice option. Many companies want to capitalize on selling the AI service to indie authors, but the laws regarding copywriting AI materials as well as each company’s policy on distributing AI content is even harder to keep up with than the audiobook industry as a whole.

How to keep up with the changes

I have found Google Alerts to be a great way to stay informed. I signed up for a Google alert on “Audiobooks” about a year ago and set it up to email me every day with the latest news posts. It takes a bit of sorting through to weed out ads, as well as newsletters from small, local libraries, but I take the most important three or four headlines each week and post the links to “Audiobook News”. I also get news straight from the horses mouths by being on the mailing lists for ACX, Spotify for Authors, and Author’s Republic. Many other key players, like audiobook production companies, have great blogs. I’m careful to note the dates of any articles or videos I find on the audiobook industry. The landscape is completely different than it was only a few years ago.

Here are some links you might find useful:

AUDIOBOOK NEWS: https://becksvoice.com/audiobook-news

Audiobook publisher and production company blogs:

PODIUM ENTERTAINMENT NEWS: https://podiumentertainment.com/news/industry-news

JOHN MARSHALL MEDIA BLOG: https://www.johnmarshallmedia.com/blog

LUCENT AUDIO BLOG: https://www.lucentaudio.com/blog

PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO NEWS: https://penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/press-center/

TWIN FLAMES STUDIOS BLOG: https://twinflamesstudios.com/blog/

Here’s a useful link on the latest audiobook sales ad consumer data:

https://www.audiopub.org/surveys

Thanks for reading!

Rebecca H. Lee