The August news might inspire you to speed up your audiobook playback to finish listening to your summertime road trip reads, but not so fast as to miss the rhetoric and brain-boosting powers of the spoken word. This month Amazon restructures its audiobook and podcast divisions, Spotify tests new markets worldwide, Bowker partners with John Marshall Media while Mexico awaits its audiobook boom. Julia Whelan speaks out for narrators, Audible announces a new Harry Potter series with a star-studded full cast, and Paul Giamatti reaches a new audience with Billy Budd, Sailor.

This month celebrate summer, travel, the great outdoors and Pride with The Story Garden project, a collection of works from Croatia, a chronicle of an animals’ crossing of a northern interstate and Gee Smalls’ self-narrated memoir. The listening/reading debate resurfaces in an NPR poll, Greek schools receive audiobook donations, the changing non-fiction market is explored, Woodward wins in court and audiobook pros will tell you that the customer is always right. Caribbean literary and oral traditions are preserved in audio, Romania expands a platform in Latin America and an author-signed petition favors human narrators. Luminaries in the news this month are Stephen King, Maurice Sendak, Therese Plummer and Dolly Parton.

The APA 2025 Sales and Consumer Survey results indicate that audiobook appreciation is on the rise… and not just in June. This month we share a tribute to an audiobook pioneer, announce new audio awards, tips for increasing retention, an exciting partnership for music lovers, the costs of bundling and distribution issues and AI hesitancy at the U.S. Book Show 2025. Google makes advances with its AI voice generator, Eleven Labs is spotlighted in Publishers Weekly, a new AI production tool is released in Korea and the First Lady produces her memoir using AI technology. Kid Cudi shares his enthusiasm of the human narration process with his fans. Brazil reports market growth, while a group of publishers in Poland await government approval for a joint sales platform and Audible takes immersive listening to a new level at OZ Comic-con Melbourne.

May’s Audiobook Club celebrates mothers with a lineup of audiobooks in English and Spanish, DC Comics announces a talent-fueled cast for All-Star Superman and People Magazine resolves an age-old debate. But this month, AI dominates the news. Audible aims to expand it’s catalog with AI produced audiobooks with select publishers. Public libraries are reporting an infiltration of AI-narrated audiobooks through Hoopla and also having to make difficult decisions as federal grants are suspended. Advances in AI technology are delivering more production options. AI is even transforming how we work. But audiobook popularity continues to enjoy momentum. Meet some of the humans involved in the audiobook process from authors to publishers to narrators in the Interviews & Podcasts section below. After you take in the news, slow your roll with a New Yorker poem that will change the way you see yourself in a steamy mirror.

This month we shine the spotlight on the great potential of the children’s market. Kids are listening to audiobooks more than they are reading physical books, schools are embracing audiobooks in their curriculums, and tools are being developed to make audiobooks family friendly. Meanwhile, statistics show that adults are not reading as much as they want to and some turn to speed-listening. Read the debate on whether speed-listening affects comprehension. In other news; Spotify continues to expand its markets, federal cuts to the IMLS are being felt in libraries as they lose access to Hoopla, a record-breaking number of participants engage in this years’ Learning Ally games, and news from the book fairs shows an increased attention to the audiobook market. This month we celebrate a few notable offerings plus interviews with Philip Hanley, Jeff Hays, and Edoardo Ballerini.