Simon & Schuster spokesperson Adam Rothberg provided a response to Audible’s new initiative that shows listeners a computer-generated transcription of the text of an audiobook as they listen: “We have informed Audible that we consider its Captions program to be an unauthorized and brazen infringement of the rights of authors and publishers, and a clear violation of our terms of sale. We have therefore insisted that Audible not include in Captions any titles for which Simon & Schuster holds audio or text rights.” Separately, AAP president and ceo Maria Pallante issued a statement in which she called the new Audible […]
Audio
Publishers Respond to Audible’s Planned Infringement
The publishing community is responding with appropriate alarm to the preview of Audible Captions, a forthcoming feature that will show listeners a computer-generated transcription of the text of an audiobook as they listen. A USA Today piece mentioned just three particular in-copyright titles set to be captioned (though it says the feature “will be available on hundreds of thousands of audiobooks at launch”). Two of those are Penguin Random House titles: Michelle Obama’s BECOMING and the late Chester Himes’s A RAGE IN HARLEM (the latter is sold in audio as an Audible Studios production narrated by Samuel L. Jackson). A […]
Audible Plans to Show Text Alongside Audio
Audible is sharing details about a forthcoming initiative called Audible Captions, a new feature coming in September that will show listeners the text of a book as they listen. Calling it “captions” is rather misleading, perhaps intentionally, since they intend to “caption” the entire work. In other words, they will scroll a full ebook alongside the audiobook. But have no fear, this isn’t the actual text licensed from publishers and authors. They have gone to trouble of computer-generating a “transcription” from the audio file, “harnessing Amazon Web Services’ cloud computing infrastructure and artificial intelligence.” Audible subscribers and students will be […]
People, Etc.
Digital director and publisher at Bloomsbury Publishing Stephanie Duncan leaves the company this week: “I’ve loved working at Bloomsbury, it’s been challenging, fun and great to work with such brilliant colleagues, authors and books. After over twenty years here, it’s time for me to do something new, somewhere new.” She oversaw the first official Harry Potter website, Bloomsbury’s global ebook operations and the digital-first imprint Bloomsbury Reader. She can be reached at stephanie@duncan.uk.com Arcadia Publishing has hired Shane Hennigan as sales specialist; and Ashley Hill and Hayley Behal as production editors for History Press. Katelyn Jenkins returns to Arcadia as acquisitions […]
Briefs: Realignments, Initiatives, and More
Realigning Two UK publishers announced internal realignments. Ebury is adding “self” and “lifestyle/BBC” publishing “hubs” to the smart and entertainment hubs they created earlier this year — and now publicity and marketing are being brought closer together. It seems publicity is now called “campaigns,” with Joanna Bennett promoted to head of campaigns for the Smart hub, Tessa Henderson is head of campaigns for Entertainment; Stephanie Naulls has that position for Lifestyle/BBC; and they are recruiting someone for self. Separately, marketing becomes a Marketing, Insight & Digital centre (not a hub, or even a spoke), and will “share new digital resources […]
In Sweden, Bonnier and Storytel’s Standoff Over Audio Compensation
Swedish publisher Bonnier and the leading digital audiobook service in Scandinavia Storytel have been in a dispute since April — when Bonnier started withholding their new release audiobooks from Storytel, most prominently with the release of Camilla Lackberg’s latest novel. In a posted FAQ, Bonnier said they were retaliating after Storytel started “hid[ing] all the books from the Bonnier publishers in their book tips and category lists” in March. “When Storytel prevents its listeners from finding our books for authors, we need to make sure that the game board changes. We regret that this affects the listeners and hopes for […]