RBmedia, parent company of Recorded Books, has acquired Booka, a Barcelona-based audiobook publishing company, and its full catalog of Spanish language titles. The company has been in business since 2015 and has recorded and published books in both English and Spanish from a variety of bestselling authors, such as Juan Gómez-Jurado, Fernando Gamboa, Jorge Magano, and Marc Reklau.
In addition to publishing audiobooks, Albert Codina Llorens, the founder of Booka, is also leading audiobook producer in Spain, producing for both Penguin Random House and Planeta, and it is retaining its professional services audio production business.
Troy Juliar, chief content officer for RBmedia, underscored that audiobook sales are increasing across the world, particularly in the Spanish language. “With Booka as a cornerstone, we will build our Spanish-language audio publishing to include premier global properties—both fiction and nonfiction—while also capturing the distinct local and regional authors required to serve all Spanish listeners," he said.
Albert Codina Llorens, founder of Booka, said, “I built Booka’s audio catalog over the years with great care. Putting it in the hands of RBmedia was the right choice for me and for my authors. I can trust that the titles will be widely sold around the Spanish-speaking world under good terms, in all markets, and with all resellers. I know RBmedia has big plans to increase this part of their business.”
According to the most recent report from the e la Federación de Gremios de Editores de España, audiobooks still account for less than 1% of book sales in Spain.
