13Jun 26
News Summary: US Audiobook Sales Grow 9% to $2.43 Billion; Active Titles Up 43% as Revenue per Title Falls
I wrote recently about the 60 percent growth in audiobook listening reported by Spotify in 2025. This week we have figures on the whole of the audiobook market (in the US at least), which help to contextualize that growth. The figures come as the Audio Publishers Association announces the findings of its two annual surveys: hard data on sales from Toluna, and a comprehensive survey on listening habits from Edison Research.
12Jun 26
News Podcast: Social Reading Partnerships Expand; Indie Bookstores Hit 1990s High; Oxford Gets a Romantasy Bookstore That Welcomes Indies
On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway reports on a week dominated by good news for readers and indie authors alike. He covers new social reading partnerships — Kobo with StoryGraph, and Everand with Fable — that let readers track, share, and experience books together. He reports on the American Booksellers Association's announcement that indie bookstore membership has hit its highest level since the 1990s, driven largely by single-genre stores focused on romance, fantasy, and romantasy. And he ends with a personal highlight: a new romantasy bookstore called Bad Girl Books is opening in Oxford — in the former Albion Beatnik space — with a specific welcome for self-published authors.
11Jun 26
News Summary: Libraries Challenge Big Five on E-book Pricing; Independent Bookstores Hit Highest Level since 1990s
How much should e-books cost? It's one of the most divisive questions of the past fifteen years or so (in our small corner of the world at least), right up there with perennials like pineapple on pizza. The sub-question of this wider question that caused so much angst just before Covid is how much libraries should pay for e-books. You will remember, I dare say, there was much talk for a while of metered usage, and anger at the limited licensing time covered by the purchase of an e-book.
10Jun 26
How to Write, Publish, and Promote Nonfiction That Sells, with Anna Featherstone and Howard Lovy
In this member-first Q&A on the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, ALLi nonfiction adviser Anna Featherstone walks authors through how to write, publish, and promote nonfiction that sells—covering how to test market demand, what makes a book stand out, and the most common pricing and production mistakes. She shares practical, low-cost marketing tactics, from direct outreach and library events to writing ready-made stories that overstretched newsrooms welcome.
09Jun 26
News Summary: UK Competition Authority Imposes New Publisher Controls over Google's AI Search Summaries
I tend not to cover national legislation stories, but this week's opener is a bit of a milestone. It will be of direct relevance to many and sets a fascinating legal precedent that everyone will want to track. In a landmark move, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has imposed the Publisher Conduct Requirement (CR), specifically aimed at Google and its use of AI summaries.
08Jun 26
Best Social Media Platforms for Authors in 2026: A Practical Guide
Based on insights from ALLi's member magazine, The Indie Author. You can't be everywhere. And in 2026, spreading yourself too thin across platforms is one of the quickest ways to…
07Jun 26
Inspirational Indie Author Interview: Michael Maloof Turned Global Adventure and Tech Experience Into Award-Winning Thrillers
My ALLi author guest this episode is Michael Maloof, author of award-winning thrillers about a former CIA analyst drawn into conspiracies that stretch across continents. Michael brings to his fiction a background in technology, entrepreneurship, global travel, and real-world tactical training. His books combine action, technology, emotional stakes, and a strong female lead who refuses to back down.
06Jun 26
News Summary: Kobo Partners with Storygraph; Everand and Fable Launch Combined Subscription
It amazes me how often news items come in pairs. And this week sees one of those prima facie unlikely pairs, either of which would be interesting and unusual. The theme? E-book platforms announcing partnerships with social reading apps.
05Jun 26
News Podcast: Spotify Reports 60% Audiobook Growth; ElevenLabs Expands; AI Copyright Cases Narrow the Class
On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway reports on Spotify's investor day, where the company credited its Page Match feature for a 60 percent rise in audiobook listening hours, notes ElevenLabs' quiet expansion as a listening platform in its own right, and examines a troubling trend in AI copyright class actions — where increasingly narrow eligibility requirements around ISBN registration and Copyright Office filings are leaving many indie and overseas authors out of the picture.
04Jun 26
News Summary: ElevenLabs Adds 200,000 Human-Narrated Titles; Readers Can Swap Narrators for AI Voices
This week's second story is less legally dense and full of plot twists than our first. But no less important. At the center of it is ElevenLabs, the AI-generated voice giant. You will recall that ElevenLabs was in the news last week because of its audiobook partnership with Spotify. This week, a reminder that ElevenLabs is, itself, an audiobook platform thanks to its Eleven Reader app.
03Jun 26
Does Social Media Still Sell Books? With Orna Ross
Orna Ross explores what social media can — and can't — do for indie authors in a landscape that has changed beyond recognition. Listen for tips on how to audit what social media truly costs you in time, money, and creative energy; a comparison of the top ten platforms for authors in 2026; and questions that point you to the right platform for you — or help you decide whether social media is worth your time at all.
02Jun 26
News Summary: Writer Beware Warns Indie Authors May Be Excluded from AI Copyright Class Actions
Thanks to Jane Friedman for pointing toward the Writer Beware piece that forms the basis for this week's first story. Class action lawsuits taken out by rights holders against tech companies for alleged violations related to copyright law committed in pursuit of the development of large generative AI models. That's a general description of what we've seen a lot in the news. And we will be seeing it a lot more.
