skip to Main Content
Kindle Storyteller

Self-Publishing News: 2024 Kindle Storyteller UK Launches and RBMedia Expands Audiobook Offering for Indies

It’s clearly Amazon competition time. Last week (reminder to enter!) they launched the first-ever Vellys, with $62,000 in prizes for US-based serialized fiction authors. Now in the UK, we have the flagship Kindle Storyteller Award. This has a £20,000 first prize and is open to books published through KDP between the start of May and the end of August. Books must be available as an e-book and a paperback, and must be enrolled in KDP Select until the closing date at the end of August.
Read more
Audio Social Network

Self-Publishing News: Spotify is Slowly Building an Audio Social Network to Connect Creators and Listeners

Is Spotify building an Audio Social Network? It’s interesting that Spotify has nudged its way back into the news of late with a couple of moves relevant to writers. First, there was the decoupling of audiobooks from its music streaming by allowing listeners to select between a premium service that included fifteen hours of audiobooks and a dollar-cheaper basic service that didn’t. Now they are supporting comments on podcasts, and TechCrunch has a fascinating article suggesting that may get rolled out across all audio.
Read more
Audiobook Summit

Leading Audiobook Players Gather for a First Global Summit: The Self-Publishing News Podcast with Dan Holloway

On this episode of the Self-Publishing News Podcast, Dan Holloway explores the impact of the recent UK election on indie writers, highlighting the new government's pledges on copyright protection and freelance work. He also covers the administration woes of Australia's largest online bookseller, Booktopia, and the launch of Amazon's new Vella prize. Additionally, Dan discusses the first-ever International Summit of Audio Publishers and its significance for the audiobook market.
Read more
Audiobook Sales

Survey Shows Slowdown in Audiobook Sales Growth, but Listeners Are More Avid: The Self-Publishing News Podcast with Dan Holloway

In this episode of the Self-Publishing News Podcast, Dan Holloway discusses new surveys showing a slowdown in audiobook sales growth but an increase in listener engagement. He highlights the Independent Book Publishers Association's Innovative Voices program, offering support to publishers from marginalized communities. Dan also covers Google's recent challenges with SEO practices and piracy issues.
Read more
Audiobook Revenue

Self-Publishing News: US Audiobook Revenue Climbs Again, But Fewer Creators Use Chatbots

How long has it been since I reported on another year of double-digit growth for audiobooks? Well, I can guarantee you that it’s as long as I have been writing this column because double-digit sales growth for audiobooks in the United States is as old as ALLi! But whereas ALLi is going strong, the rate of expansion of the audio market has finally, it would seem, succumbed to the inevitable. The Audio Publishers Association, in its sales survey, claims audiobook revenue climbed to an eye-watering $2 billion in 2023, which is a rise of 9 percent.
Read more
Spotify Audiobooks

Self-Publishing News: Spotify Expands Audiobook Catalog, Dissecting E-Book Figures, and OverDrive Hits 4 Billion Downloads

We end this week with a round-up of some very interesting news and figures from the world of electronic books (e- and audio-). As we have already been talking about them this week, let’s start with the big news about Spotify. Their audiobook premium subscription now includes titles from the catalog of Bonnier UK. This is the UK division, but Bonnier, of course, is one of the Nordic giants of publishing. Interestingly, they seem to be joined on the Spotify list by Blackstone Publishing.
Read more
Back To Top
×Close search
Search
Loading...