On Wednesday at London Book Fair, Spotify director of global publishing partnerships & licensing Duncan Bruce reflected on the first 18 month since the company’s 2023 relaunch of its audiobooks program. Bruce was vague on the topic of author royalties, noting (as they have in the past) that the company has paid “hundreds of millions of dollars” to authors (PL dug into the numbers last month). But he did mention expansion in the catalog from 150,000 to 400,000 English language titles and reported that listening hours are up 35 percent in the US, UK, and Australia, with 60 percent of […]
Audio
ElevenLabs Allows Authors to Create AI Audiobooks for Free
ElevenLabs has launched ElevenReader Publishing, a service for authors to create AI-narrated audiobooks for free, which will be listenable in the ElevenReader app, which they assert has “hundreds of thousands of listeners globally.” Authors with a paid ElevenLabs subscription can export those audio files to use on different platforms, but the company cautions, “please note that many other audiobook platforms like Audible, Apple Books, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble may not accept AI-narrated audiobooks, so check each platform’s terms and conditions before attempting distribution.” (Spotify recently announced that it was accepting titles from ElevenLabs.) Authors can upload text and choose […]
Spotify Adds More AI Audiobooks, As We Look At Their Payment Terms
Spotify started accepting audiobooks created with AI software from ElevenLabs into its library last week, with the software company pitching the initiative to independent authors (though multiple major publishers are working with ElevenLabs as well). Audiobooks generated this way will be “clearly marked in the metadata on Spotify.” Additionally, the book description will begin by stating: “This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.” (In December, Spotify’s Findaway Voices started distributing AI audiobooks from Google Play to “select retail partners.”) Spotify declined to provide a projection of the number of titles this will add to their library. Owen Smith, vp […]
Spotify Adds Titles From Podium Entertainment and Crooked Lane/Alcove Press
Spotify announced has added titles from two new publishers to its Premium catalog: science fiction, fantasy, and romance publisher Podium Entertainment and Crooked Lane/Alcove Press. Some of the Podium titles will feature video clips (described by the streaming service as “an interview snippet, a backstage video from the audio recording session, a video message from the author, or something else”), which Spotify started testing over the summer. Crooked Lane and Alcove titles will hit the platform in March. They have a first look deal with Spotify and recently collaborated on titles including The Darkest Night, I’ve Got My Mind Set on […]
Sourcebooks Audio to Launch In 2025
In January a new Sourcebooks Audio line will release its first titles, initially producing audio versions of mysteries from Poisoned Pen Press and romance novels from Sourcebooks Casablanca, as well as nonfiction from the Callisto imprint. Catherine Bucaria is vp, publisher of Sourcebooks Audio, having previously served as director of audio strategy & acquisitions at Penguin Random House, and Almeda Beynon is director of audio production, after working as executive producer of audio at Harper Collins. The Sourcebook Audio lines will operate as imprints within Penguin Random House Audio. (PRH owns 75 percent of Sourcebooks, though the publisher operates independently.) […]
Bertelsmann Expands Work with AI Voice Company ElevenLabs
AI voice and text-to-speech provider ElevenLabs issued a press release celebrating their expanding relationship with Bertelsmann and its subsidiaries. “So far, 36 Bertelsmann companies are using our technology to improve production and try new approaches. AI dubbing and multi-language audio are just the start. Together, we’re finding ways to share stories across languages and formats, reaching more people in more places.” Storytel invested in ElevenLabs and has been working with them to produce AI-narrated audiobooks since mid-2023. And Harper Collins started working with ElevenLabs earlier this year to create AI audiobooks of select foreign language backlist titles. In June, ElevenLabs […]