Simon & Schuster has launched its audio imprint Simon Maverick in the UK, following its January 2025 US launch. The imprint is focused on self-published authors. Titles include Lauren Palphreyman’s romantasy Wolf King series, BookTok personality Jaysea Lynn’s For Whom the Belle Tolls, and I.V. Ophelia’s The Poisoner. Alice Twomey has been promoted to audio publisher, audio & Simon Maverick and the company is hiring for a commissioning editor and an assistant editor. The imprint will be acquiring self-published UK authors across “a range of fiction genres, as well as non-fiction.” Twomey, said, “We’re really excited to be expanding this […]
Audio
Judith Curr on Building Atria, Publishing Colleen Hoover, and More
Judith Curr was on the Open Book Podcast, in a wide-ranging conversation about her publishing career. After 17 years working in publishing in Australia (“There was sort of like a ceiling that was there. Any other company at that time would just feel like for me exactly the same thing, but just a different address.”) she moved to the US to become editor in chief of Ballantine. “I went to Simon & Schuster and then Simon & Schuster decided to have a reorganization,” she says, “and they wanted to bring somebody else in to run Pocket Books and bring it […]
More Availability for Digital Audio Sales Data
Earlier this year we started offering Circana Bookscan’s digital audio sales data from PubTrack Digital Audio as an upgrade to the agents, authors and other professionals who get annual data subscriptions through PM. Now we are incorporating that data when available into Dealmakers records, which show complete point-of-sales across all editions for over 80,000 titles. Plus, as of this week, those people who get our ridiculously affordable monthly Bookscan Data Package also have the option to add digital audio when available, when adding new titles to the monthly tracker. (Digital audiobook sales are available only for titles published by Hachette […]
Hello Sunshine and iHeartPodcasts and Launch ‘Bookmarked’ Podcast
Hello Sunshine and iHeartPodcasts are launching a new books podcast called ‘Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club.’ Journalist and TV host Danielle Robay will “bring together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese’s Book Club and beyond.” The first episode debuts on June 24, featuring conversations with Emily Henry and Yulin Kuang. New episodes will come out on Tuesdays after that. The podcast will also feature, “a listener-submitted question and answer segment with submissions taken through a dedicated hotline, giving audiences the chance to engage and participate in the conversation.” “At Reese’s Book Club, we’re always looking for new ways to bring […]
Audible Rolls Out AI Narration Technology for Publishers, Preps for AI Translation
Audible officially announced their initiative to offer services for “fully integrated, end-to-end” AI narration and production for audiobooks, including machine translation. Publishers can choose from more than 100 voices in English, Spanish, French, and Italian, “with multiple accent and dialect options, and will be able to access voice upgrades for their titles as our technology evolves.” “Audible believes that AI represents a momentous opportunity to expand the availability of audiobooks with the vision of offering customers every book in every language, alongside our continued investments in premium original content,” Audible ceo Bob Carrigan. “We’ll be able to bring more stories […]
Pending Spotify Update Will Allow Users To Buy Audiobooks A La Carte And Top Up Hours
Spotify has submitted an app update to Apple that, if approved, will allow users to buy audiobooks a la carte and Premium users to top up hours in-app, which has previously not been allowed by Apple. The update follows a court ruling on Epic Games v. Apple, which granted developers more freedom to show pricing. Previously, Apple charged a 30% commission on user purchases in-app, and prevented Spotify from telling customers the cost of audiobooks or where to buy them. Spotify writes in an announcement that the court ruling “helps level the playing field by allowing developers to offer basic […]