Spotify To Invest To Develop French and Dutch Audiobooks
Spotify announced that it will spend €1 million to partner with publishers and authors to increase audiobook production in non-English languages, beginning with French and Dutch. The audiobooks that Spotify “cofunds” will be nonexclusive and available to upload on any platform. Though the company “believes in the power of human narration” and will “continue to work with partners and the narrator community to bring these titles to fans in French and Dutch languages,” they will also offer an option for narration by an AI voice, “to help make audiobook production more cost-effective for those partners who require a lower barrier […]
Whiting Awards
Obituary: Harry Lerner
Lerner Publishing Group founder and chair Harry Lerner, 93, died on April 8. Lerner began his publishing career as a GI in Germany when when he published a guidebook for fellow servicemen. In 1959 he began publishing children’s books and launched the company’s first imprint, Carolrhoda Books, with his first wife, Sharon Lerner, in 1969. He ran the company until 1998, when his son Adam Lerner took over.
More on Tariffs for Book Production Materials and US Exports
The American Booksellers Association published an explainer on how the new tariffs will affect the book world. As previously reported, standard printed books imported into the US are exempt from the new tariffs. However, the cost of producing books—and thus, book prices—could go up, if publishers use ink, pulp, or paper imported from other countries, such as China or the EU. Paper from Canada (and Mexico) that is “wholly grown, produced, or manufactured” within the country is exempt, since it’s subject to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Retaliatory tariffs from other countries will affect books exported by US publishers, however. […]