Spotify has unveiled a new publishing initiative specifically targeting self-published authors, inviting submissions of short-form stories for potential audiobook production and distribution through its in-house publishing imprint.

"Spotify Audiobooks is thrilled to be opening submissions for short-form content written by independent authors who are as passionate about audiobooks as we are," said Leah Kleynhans, Spotify audiobooks producer, in a statement. "We know Spotify users will love exploring these intense, bite-sized listens, and expanding our audiobooks catalog in this way gives fans even more choice in the content they love to consume on our platform."

The program focuses specifically on "novelettes" ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 words within three primary genres: romance, mystery/thriller, and sci-fi/fantasy. Cross-genre submissions are encouraged, though erotica and children's content are excluded from consideration.

For selected works, Spotify will manage all aspects of audiobook production, pay an advance and royalties to authors, and distribute the finished products to major audiobook retailers. The program is open globally to any author with English-language short-form stories who controls their own audio rights.

As part of its commitment to "lowering the barrier to entry," Spotify is also encouraging self-published authors to upload existing short-form audiobooks via Findaway Voices, creating multiple pathways for content to reach listeners.

Spotify's new initiative adds to its competition with digital audiobook leader Audible. The Amazon company released the first titles under Audible's Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX) program in 2011. ACX serves as a market place to match authors with voice actors and studios to created digital audiobooks and over its history has worked with authors published by major houses and self-published authors. The goal of ACX, like the new Spotify program, is to increase the number of digital audiobooks that are available to consumers.

Audiobooks program continues to grow

At the London Book Fair last week, Duncan Bruce, director of partnerships and licensing at Spotify, shared insights into the streaming platform's audiobook business performance since launching its premium audiobook offering in fall 2023.

Bruce told PW that Spotify has nearly tripled its English-language audiobook catalog since launch, growing from 150,000 to more than 400,000 titles. This expansion includes new deals with companies like Podium and Bloomsbury, alongside additional French and Dutch catalogs following launches in those European markets.

The platform has seen a 30% year-on-year increase in users across its initial launch markets and a 35% growth in listening hours. Bruce cited the platform's user-friendly approach as key to developing new audiobook listeners. "A big thing for us is doing that not just by attracting existing audiobook enthusiasts," he said. "We want to find new listeners to this medium. He noted that in the U.K. market, "almost a quarter of all users who've consumed an audiobook in 2024 did so for the first time in the last six months." Another point Bruce underscored was that the company has been able to attract younger listeners, with nearly 60% of its audiobook audience falling within the 18-35 age range.

Bruce emphasized Spotify's discovery-based approach to audiobooks, which unlike traditional credit-based audiobook platforms offers 15 free listening hours each month for premium subscribers, making exploration across authors and genres risk-free. Furthermore, he said, the company is using algorithmic personalization with human curation to guide listeners toward suitable titles.

According to Spotify, this approach has been effective in revitalizing backlist titles. Seven of the top 10 audiobooks listened to on Spotify in 2024 in the U.K. were backlist titles, with five of them being more than five years old.

Spotify now pays "hundreds of millions of dollars to rights holders each year" from audiobook consumption, "contributing to the Association of American Publishers' reported 23% year-on-year growth in audiobook revenues and 6.5% overall revenue increase for the book industry," Bruce said.