After Bella Mackie’s first novel How to Kill Your Family was published in 2021, she got in touch with readers to tell her how much she enjoyed it. “But I want people to say, “I’m sorry, I listened to the audiobook” – as if not enough, says the author. “This is a warning now,” he adds. “Something is switched.”
Audiobooks are not new: the American Foundation for the Blind printed vinyl record books in 1932. Later, books became popular on tapes and then CDs. But the trigger has given the firm a new lease of life, and data from the Publishers Association (PA) shows it. UK audiobook downloads increased by 17% in the year between 2012 and 2013
Official statistics for 2024 won’t be released until spring, but it’s already clear that “2024 was another record year for audiobooks, with more audiences across all genres,” says Jon Watt, chair of PA’s Audio Publishers Group.
In particular, the boost came from Spotify, which “brought new audiences to the market,” Watt says. Its latest audiobooks platform will launch in the UK in October 2023, including up to 15 hours of audio content every month on its £11.99 music and podcast subscription. Spotify says it offers more 350,000 audiobook titles up to its 252 million subscribers – a large potential audience of authors. According to the platform, its three most popular audiobooks in the UK in 2024 were The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien, Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken and Politics on the Edge by Rory Stewart.
For Mackie, Spotify’s bump is high. Her editor confirmed that listening to the audiobook for the new Which Way to Go, published in September, was double How to Kill Your Family in a week-by-week comparison.
Audible has long been synonymous with audio books, an Amazon subsidiary that offers titles individually or through subscription. It’s not the only such service – British platform Spiraculum collaborates with independent publishers to produce exclusive audio books, while Yoto is a free screen audio player for children – but Audible was the market leader for a long time, before Spotify became a huge disruptor to Amazon’s dominance,” says George Mahood, self-published author of humor and travel books.
Mahood says his audiobook sales have increased. “I’m making more money now from Spotify than from Audible,” he says. But not because it pays more: “Spotify’s royalty rate is actually much lower.”
A pro-like comparison of audiobook media is difficult because “information around book sales is opaque,” says Kim Scott, author of Radical Candor and a member of the SOCIETY Care Creatorsa collective call for transparency from Spotify about the format of its copyright. Spotify’s licensing agreements with publishers include details that authors only acquire if the user finishes the book. Scott thinks that “on average, people only read 50% of the book, and thus cut the author’s pay by 50%”. In so far as an artist the payment structure of Spotify was criticized for reducing the music“The system makes it easier to measure value for what it is,” says Scott. Spotify did not provide comment.
It is promised that you will not sing already cash-strapped authors. But Amazon is already getting its fair share criticism from the book of loversAnd yes, Mahood thinks Spotify’s mass listening has been “the healthiest thing for the market.” Amazon and Audible have been far too dominant to have a serious competitor like Spotify really shake up the industry.”
Audiobooks can now be developed; new audio editions of all seven Harry Potter books!should cast more than 100 actors in 2025, with actors Ambika Mod, Thandiwe Newton and Mackenzie Crook in line. a new reading of Alburn Housethe latest in an all-star series of Dickens audiobooks produced by Sam Mendes.
Post Newsletter promotion
Scott describes himself as a “huge consumer of audiobooks,” getting through two or three a week. He uses Audible, and has agreed with his publisher not to have his books appear on Spotify. It is a form of prudence that appeals: “I can do the dishes and listen. I can go out into the garden and weed and listen. I can take a walk and listen. It allows me to get through more books.”
Audiobooks are also important for accessibility reasons, says book lover Robin Barayuga, 28, from Manchester. Barayuga, who is blind, says that screen-reading technology, while audio books are no longer essential, “dips into” form, especially when traveling.
The publishing world can be snobbish about whether listening to audio books really “counts” as reading. But Barayuga predicts that the format will only become more accepted, especially as neurodiversity becomes less known and more people “admit” to listening to audiobooks because they find the traditional way of reading difficult. “I think it’s going to impress the idea that audiobooks aren’t meant to be read.”
Barayuga also predicts the increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) for reading books, although he is uncertain how quickly it will follow. “I think one of the reasons that people love audiobooks is that you have someone actually reading to you, and you have tonal inflections. AI, that doesn’t really catch on [yet].
Mohammed is excited by the possibilities AI offers for translating books into different languages, “opening up whole new readers in other countries.” Spotify, which has used AI and machine learning to revolutionize how users listen to music, is well positioned to take the lead.