Audiobooks

We've said it before, and we'll say it again: APA memberships aren't just for publishers. So we’re continuing our series spotlighting different kinds of APA memberships, and this time we’re talking about Retailers.

Retailers play a major role in how listeners discover and access audiobooks, and APA membership offers tools that can help, including complete industry sales and consumer survey data, virtual networking and educational events, discounts on conferences and awards, participation in industry marketing opportunities, and members-only speaking and networking events.

Find out more about the different kinds of APA memberships or join today: https://tinyurl.com/dfdwpbx8

Have you ever started listening to an audiobook while doing something productive, only to realize ten minutes later that you’ve been standing completely still, in the same exact spot, holding the same dish/dumbbell/grocery bag you had to begin with?

Some books are just that good!

We want to know: what books have made you taskstall?

This week in audiobook news: audiobooks continue to flourish.

Spotify shared that Audiobooks+ has reached 1 million subscribers and is on track for $100 million in annualized recurring revenue. At the same time, Audible has officially launched in the Netherlands with local subscriptions, Dutch-language content, and locally produced originals.

Here’s to more listeners, more stories, and more places to hear them!

A heartfelt thank you to our sponsor Brick Shop Audio, a New York City recording studio with 14+ years of experience specializing in audiobook and podcast production. Whether you're a publisher seeking a post-production partner or an independent author looking for full-service support, Brick Shop's team of professional narrators, directors, and editors delivers first-rate quality every time.

Learn more at brickshopaudio.com.

A few months back, we talked about how romance was the fastest-growing genre in audiobooks. Lately, the genre has been giving us even more proof that it is not slowing down.

This month, A Court of Thorns and Roses became Spotify Premium’s most-streamed audiobook of all time. A couple of weeks earlier, Audible announced a new program with Audio in Color to help fund the first self-published audiobooks by eight underrepresented romance writers.

Romance audio is drawing huge audiences while making room for new voices at the same time, and we love to see it!

The book club is getting an audio makeover.

Lately, more readers have been taking the conversation outside. Audiobook walking clubs are on the rise, and just last month, Reese’s Book Club and Apple Books announced a new round of Story Walk events built around listening, movement, and post-walk discussion.

Audiobooks already move with us, and now book club culture is starting to do the same. A walk, a good listen, and a little time to talk about it after. Not a bad update, if you ask us!

Would you join an audiobook walking club?

Is it just us, or does it feel like adaptation season?

Project Hail Mary was a box-office hit, and the audiobook is still topping the Apple Books charts. At the same time, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is out in theaters, bringing one of the most recognizable book-to-movie worlds back to the big screen.

So, what are your thoughts on adaptations? When one of your favorite books gets a movie, are you first in line, cautiously optimistic, or bracing for disappointment?

We’re continuing our History of Audiobooks series with the decade in which audiobooks began expanding into the mainstream publishing industry.

By the mid to late 1980s, audiobooks were gaining more visibility, more industry attention, and a stronger foothold in the places people were already discovering books. This was also the moment when the audiobook world began to look more like an industry in its own right, with growing recognition, wider distribution, and the creation of us, the Audio Publishers Association.

Stay tuned to learn what happened next and become an APA member for the inside scoop on all things audio! https://tinyurl.com/dfdwpbx8

May is Get Caught Reading Month, and yes, getting caught with an audiobook absolutely counts.

We want to know: what is the funniest, weirdest, or most inconvenient time you’ve been caught listening?

Mid gasp in the grocery store? Laughing to yourself on a walk? Fully ignoring the rest of the world while wearing headphones in public?

Tell us when you’ve been caught reading in the comments below