The Spoken World

As demand for high-quality audio content grows, Publishers Weekly’s Ed Nawotka asks a US Book Show panel how audiobook publishers are adapting strategies to keep up. Featuring Audible, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, and more.

Which public institution has more branches than McDonald’s restaurants or Starbucks coffee shops? Your local library. At Parix Audio Day in Madrid, Johanna Briton with Overdrive tells Arantza Larrauri of De Marque how libraries spur growth for audiobooks because they expand awareness and opportunities for discovery.

Children’s content is an important and growing segment of global audio publishing. In Madrid at Parix Audio Day 2025, Juliana Ruedo spoke with Kiyeun Baek from Yoto, and Stephanie Simonin of Bayard Audio, about their approaches to innovative audiobook production and content development for kids and teens.

A  Multilingual World Tour of Audiobooks is a panel discussion moderated by Nathan Hull, Beat Technology, with guests Videl Bar-kar, Bookwire (Germany); Carlo Carrenho (Nordic countries); Liza Faja, Editis (France); and Raúl Pérez, Grupo Planeta (Spain). Recorded in Madrid at Parix Audio Day, 2025.

RBmedia International managing director Miles Stevens-Hoare tells Mariana Féged, Bookwire general manager, why a push into non-English markets, such as Spanish and French, has played well with audiences around the world in a conversation recorded in Madrid at Parix Audio Day, 2025.

Among monthly audiobook consumers in the US, 60% listened to a podcast in the last week. At the 2025 London Book Fair, Audible’s Lisa Higginson and BBC Audio’s Nicola Holloway told The Spoken World’s Christopher Kenneally why authors and publishers should look closely into working with both formats.

Audiobooks are on front stage at the London Book Fair this week. The fastest growing segment of trade book publishing deserves the attention, says Nathan Hull, CSO at Beat Technology, creators of audiobook and ebook subscription apps across Europe. He tells The Spoken World’s Chris Kenneally that all the London programs reflect the soaring state of audiobooks in 2025.

Luis González, General Director of Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez / PARIX School, led the Parix Audio Day 2025 in Madrid with 250 professionals and 40 speakers from ten countries. González told Christopher Kenneally, host of The Spoken World podcast, why a conference on audiobooks supports efforts to promote reading and the book industry.