Storytel, the Swedish audiobook streaming service provider has announced the start of its operation in Israel. That should mean the availability of more audiobooks in the Hebrew language, other than English and Russian language books. The company had earlier acquired the local Israel-based audiobook company iCast last September for about NIS 20 million.Prior to its … [Read more...] about Audiobook platform Storytel starts operation in Israel
Audiobook News
Scribd Audio is producing original audiobooks for the Spanish Market
Scribd is producing their own audiobook content with a new system called Scribd Audio. It launched in the US last month and has 40 titles available to listen to in English. They are pushing hard into Spanish audio and right now they have only 30 titles, but they are doubling down on new content and working with major publishers to dominate Mexico.Scribd is producing Spanish … [Read more...] about Scribd Audio is producing original audiobooks for the Spanish Market
The new IKEA Audio Catalog is now an audiobook
IKEA has hit upon a new idea to reach out to potential buyers - audiobooks. This makes for a bold new initiative with almost zero precedences in the industry, more so when it comes at the cost of the traditional print catalog. So, what buyers will have at their disposal when out to buy stuff from the world's largest furniture store is to listen to the company's audiobook to … [Read more...] about The new IKEA Audio Catalog is now an audiobook
Costco launches new Audiobook Store and iOS App
Costco is one of the largest big box retailers in the world and they are getting into the audiobook business. The company has just launched an audiobook store on their website and a free app where you can listen to the purchases for iOS and Android. They primarily sell audiobook bundles, with a number of titles for a very low price and are curated by Costco staff. There are … [Read more...] about Costco launches new Audiobook Store and iOS App
Penguin Random House Ahab is a marketplace for audiobook creation
Penguin Random House has just unveiled Ahab, which is a new content creator platform. Agents, narrators, authors, engineers and producers have access to the global marketplace. This system used to be internal, for the publishers own audiobook division, but decided on a public release, due to the dirth in competition. The only relevant platform aside from Ahab, is the Audible … [Read more...] about Penguin Random House Ahab is a marketplace for audiobook creation
Waze can now stream Audible Audiobooks when driving
Waze is a very popular mapping app for Android and iOS. You can easily get driving directions and when you need to make turns. The company has just announced Audible integration, so drivers can listen to audiobooks and podcasts. Members can access to over 600,000 Audible Originals and a ton of other content.Audible members can listen on Waze by simply opening the Waze app … [Read more...] about Waze can now stream Audible Audiobooks when driving
New interactive audiobooks are the latest innovation
Audiobooks are all about listening to someone else reading aloud the book for you. That is nice and offers an immersive feel to comprehending a book. Things seem set for a change though, what with publishers finding newer ways to engage with their readers via audiobooks that also serve as sort of a guide as well.Take for instance the audiobook 'Seeds from Scratch' where the … [Read more...] about New interactive audiobooks are the latest innovation
Spotify now has audiobooks on their platform
Spotify is going beyond music and experimenting with hosting digital audiobooks. The new section is available now and is called Audiobooks: Hear the Classics. All of the content are apart of the public domain and include titles such as David Dobrik narrating Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; Forest Whitaker reading Frederick Douglass’ memoir Narrative of the Life of Frederick … [Read more...] about Spotify now has audiobooks on their platform
ebook sales were up 5.1% in November 2020
Ebook revenues were up 5.1% in November 2020 as compared to November of 2019 and the format generated $87.9 million. On a year-to-date basis, ebooks were up 15.2%, coming in at $1.0 billion for the first eleven months of 2020. Digital audiobooks broke the long-standing trend of seeing continuous growth every month since 2012, with a decline of 1.6% for the November, coming in … [Read more...] about ebook sales were up 5.1% in November 2020
Tencent Music consolidates its audio entertainment business with Lazy Audio acquisition
Tencent Music, a division of the China-based internet giant Tencent announced it has acquired Lazy Audio in a deal worth 2.7 billion yuan or $416 million. For the uninitiated, Lazy Audio is another Chinese entity that specializes in audio entertainment in the form of podcasts, audiobooks, and radio shows.The deal with help Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) further … [Read more...] about Tencent Music consolidates its audio entertainment business with Lazy Audio acquisition
Audible changes their terms for audiobook returns and royalties
Audible used to have a very liberal return policy, you could start a return and get a refund up to 365 days after the purchase. This created a huge problem for audiobook producers, authors or publishing companies. They would get the commission taking away from them, sometimes a year after a sale. This created a firestorm last year when the Authors Guild and Society of Authors … [Read more...] about Audible changes their terms for audiobook returns and royalties
