April 2025 News Roundup

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.

General News

Most Americans want to read more books, We just don't

The online survey, conducted in late February, heard from a representative sample of more than 2,000 American adults. [Source: npr.org]

UK may include listening to audiobooks in school curriculum

Concerned that children and teenagers are increasingly refusing to read, British education experts suggest turning to the audio format as a potential solution. [Source: azernews.az]

Learning Ally Announces Record Participation and Winners of Eighth Annual Great Reading Games

The Great Reading Games is a fun reading engagement program that uses the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution® to encourage students to learn through listening. [Source: morningstar.com]

I Was a Snob About Audiobooks, Not Anymore

If Jennifer Egan listened to great works of literature, then certainly I could too. [Source: msn.com]

Kids turn to Audiobooks instead of Reading

The National Literary Trust’s study found that roughly 40% of the kids ages 8 to 18 listen to audiobooks in their free time, compared to 33% of the same age group who read for fun. This was the first time since the organization began asking this question in 2020 that audiobooks were more popular than reading. [Source: movieguide.org]

Opinion: The race to read audiobooks is on

Because skimming may lower reading comprehension, educators and others fear that speed reading raises risks due to misapprehension and misconstruction. Research hints that the concern is not well-founded. [Source: bizjournals.com]

The business of audiobooks

London Book Fair: An Audiobook Update From Audible

Audible’s Lee Jarit spoke at London Book Fair, describing the company’s market gains and ACX’s operations. [Source: publishingperspectives.com]

Bologna Book Plus: An Afternoon Forum on Audiobooks

This year’s Bologna Book Plus ‘Audio Forum’ featured some 20 speakers in eight sessions across four hours. [Source: publishingperspectives.com]

Children’s audio: a market with untapped potential

In a year where we saw the lowest levels of reading enjoyment since 2019, findings show that many children and young people continued to enjoy, and were inspired by, listening to audio. [Source: radioinfo.com.au]

FEDERAL CUTS: Will Iowa libraries lose audio books after executive order?

An executive action signed by President Trump on March 14 calls for several government agencies to be "eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law." Included in that order is the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). [Source: 3newsnow.com]

Local libraries’ audiobook service cut after DOGE shuts down federal program

The Columbus-Lowndes, Starkville-Oktibbeha and Tombigbee Regional public library systems announced that access to Hoopla, a streaming service for audiobooks and ebooks, will no longer be available. The service was previously made available through IMLS funding. [Source: cdispatch.com]

Spotify Opens French, Dutch and expands German-Speaking markets

Touting an investment of €1 million, Spotify builds on its French and Benelux audiobook operations to open a new production initiative. As part of a separate effort, Spotify expands the German-speaking market including approximately 60,000 German-language titles alongside English, French, and Italian offerings. [Source: publishingperspectives.com and publishersweekly.com]

FEED YOUR EARPODS

Courtney B. Vance will reintroduce the legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois as narrator of a two-volume biography about the civil rights activist

Simon & Schuster Audio President Chris Lynch said, “To have a narrator as talented and passionate as Courtney B. Vance bring W.E.B. Du Bois’ legacy to life is a true publishing event.” [Source: blackenterprise.com]

Academic audiobook offers new way to experience Indigenous life writing

While primarily presented in English, Deanna Reder incorporates the Cree language throughout her book to convey Indigenous knowledge, develop a literary theory of âcimisowina (life writing), and articulate the unique contributions Cree and Métis intellectuals have made to the autobiographical genre. [Source: sfu.ca]

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Darren Criss, Annaleigh Ashford and More Broadway Stars Unite for Theater Kid Audiobook

The star-studded recording cast is set to narrate the upcoming autobiography of legendary Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller. [Source: people.com]

A.I. News

The Audiobook Business Learns to Embrace AI

Leading audiobook executives from across the publishing industry gathered at the London Book Fair earlier this month for a panel addressing how artificial intelligence is reshaping the audiobook market. [Source: publishersweekly.com]

Bleeped: Making Digital Media More Family-Friendly with AI

Bleeped (Logan, UT), a Utah State University startup, uses AI to censor explicit content in digital media. [Source: techbuzznews.com]

Selvas AI announced that it has applied 'SELVAS deepTTS On-Device', an AI voice synthesis solution, to RIDI.

The newly developed TTS can understand the context of words and express emotions appropriate to the atmosphere and situation, according to the company. [Source: mk.co.kr]

interviews & podcasts

A Dyslexic Comedian Walks Into a Recording Booth

Writing a memoir is no laughing matter for Philip Hanley. [Source: nytimes.com]

INTERVIEW: Voice Artist Jeff Hays

Jeff is like a one-person theater with over 200 audiobooks to his credit; he brilliantly brought characters like Carl and Princess Donut to life with his voice acting. [Source: grimdarkmagazine.com]

Narrating the Dharma

Actor and narrator of audiobooks Edoardo Ballerini speaks with Tricycle’s Philip Ryan. [Source: tricycle.org]

Something outside the booth

It is Not Good to Read (Only) Alone

Reading alone might not seem so earth-shattering or problematic to you, but perhaps it should—specifically if that is the only kind of reading people ever do. [Source: frontporchrepublic.com]

Husband Shares Peek Into “What It’s Like Being Married To A Voice Actress”

Who is that screaming in my closet? [Source: inspiremore.com]