This year’s Audio Publishers Association Conference (APAC) brought together audiobook-industry leaders to explore the evolving landscape of audio consumption. NetGalley was thrilled to sponsor and speak at this event. Across all sessions, attendees and presenters alike celebrated the continued growth of the audio market.
Darcy Piedmonte speaking at APAC 2024, demonstrating how NetGalley members express enthusiasm for audiobooks “out in the wild.”
Paul Abassi (Bookstat) reminded attendees of the huge growth in audiobook sales in recent years, from over $1.7 billion in 2018 to over $3 billion in 2023. Last year proved a substantial increase across both legacy and newer retailers, including publishers of all sizes and multiple genre categories. Kristen McLain (Circana Entertainment Knowledge Group) positioned audio as a thriving market ripe for further innovation and expansion. Kristen pointed out that audio is the only category growing across all age groups, with some titles selling equal in (or more!) shares than other formats. Further, audiobook consumers are willing and ready to invest in their overall experience.
Laura Ivy (Edison Research) shared that audiobook audiences are continuing to skew younger, supported by APAC’s own Sales & Consumer Data Survey conducted last year, which revealed: “The majority of audiobook listeners are young, with 57% being between the ages of 18 and 44, significantly higher than the 49% of the U.S. population that falls within the same age range.” Kristen McLain added, “Future listeners are living with current listeners!”
Darcy Piedmonte, Senior Sales Manager at NetGalley, joined Eric Barnett (Supporting Cast), Lizzie Breyer Bowman (Lemonada), and moderator Amy Metsch (Spiegel & Grau) on a panel titled, “Audiobooks in the Wild”, to discuss how forward-thinking approaches to audiobook and spoken word programming foster audience engagement and community. The conversation underscored the significance of dynamic content strategies in attracting and retaining listeners. Darcy delved into the thriving audiobook community facilitated by NetGalley, sharing case studies featuring an independently published audiobook side-by-side with a celebrity memoir (spoiler alert: both performed extremely well on NetGalley). She also spoke about NetGalley’s role in fostering interactions between audio publishers and enthusiastic listeners, providing updates about the NetGalley community’s growth and engagement. Be on the lookout for more about this!
A highlight of the event was Malcolm Gladwell’s keynote address emphasizing tremendous opportunities for internet-based audio. Gladwell brought attention to our collective chance to democratize production, highlight on-demand, recursive listening, and revolutionize access with few barriers to entry. However, there are significant limitations standing in the way related to fair- versus limited use, where limited use greatly sacrifices transformative experiences that can enhance listeners’ lives. Gladwell illuminated the downsides in the specific, story-driven way only he can. The audience was convinced: the industry is not currently able to exploit the full potential of the audio medium. However, as industry professionals we can band together for a “Fair Use” movement and coalition. Only then will we harness the power of our creative potential and realize the spoken word future we all want to see.
Lastly, we are thrilled to congratulate this year’s Audie Award Winners! We’re honored that so many of these award-winning audiobooks were available on NetGalley.
Conference season is in full swing in a way we haven’t seen since 2019! It’s been rejuvenating to reconnect with so many of our colleagues and partners in the industry over coffee, tea, and/or something a little stronger. Post-show happy hours haven’t gone anywhere, and we’re glad to toast the return of the trade shows.
In March and April, the NetGalley team attended the Audio Publishers Association Conference (APAC), London Book Fair, Festival des Livres Paris (Paris Book Festival), Leipziger Buchmesse (Leipzig Book Fair), and the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) annual meeting. This month (May), we—along with our Firebrand Group colleagues—look forward to the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) Publishing University, Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) Leadership Summit, and Publishers Weekly U.S. Book Show. Scroll to the end of this article to set up a meeting with our teams!
What we learned in April
In general, AI was the hot topic in sessions across the industry. As with the evolution of digital-reading, publishers are viewing AI with eyes wide open to the threats that it could present, while also acknowledging the potential for it to revolutionize our work. Conversations on how to protect authors’ rights, address copyright for works generated by AI, and ensure that human creativity sits at the forefront of book creation are side-by-side with excitement to tap into AI’s potential to reduce tedious work and create more opportunities for that creativity to thrive.
Audio Publishers Association Conference (APAC):
The Audio Publishers Association offers publishers and narrators an amazing opportunity to network, learn from industry experts in the audio space, and share insights and resources. For NetGalley, this event was a welcome chance to hear directly from our clients who are using NetGalley to promote audiobooks.
Publishers told us that they are thrilled to use NetGalley to expand their reach into new communities, and/or offer the audio format to booksellers and librarians who are using audio to more quickly power through their TBR list. Others emphasized they are looking to reach more traditional media contacts. In the “Meetthe Press”session, Tom Beer (Editor-in-Chief, Kirkus Reviews) acknowledged that they have been accepting digital formats for review since 2020, including via widgets from NetGalley.* According to Beer, the audiobook format is relatively new to Kirkus. Each month their audio contributors write a column, centered on a theme, that incorporates three audiobook titles. These columns are less “book review” and more focused on the given topic, and how the audio format augments the story.
All of the panelists (Kirkus, Audiofile Magazine, and Audible) agreed that additional media assets are very welcome from publishers. A photo from the studio, a carefully chosen sound byte, interview with the author (or between the author and the narrator) are all dynamic and interesting assets they may use outside of a review. They’re always looking for content to share, so the more you provide the more likely it is they will share it widely! Audio excerpts in NetGalley are also a great way to generate interest in a title, adding them to either the digital or audio format.
Publishers confirmed audiobook workflows continue to be challenging. Many of the clients we spoke with have small teams who are managing everything from production to marketing. They are driving conversations internally at their companies about how to streamline their efforts to finalize files earlier, test AI voices without threatening narrators, deliver content to the right early audiences, and continue to champion the audiobook format. If you’re having similar internal conversations and would like to talk more about how NetGalley can help you achieve any of these goals, please reach out. We’re happy to provide data or case studies, and share strategies we’ve seen work.
Number of publishers we sat down with during APAC: 11
*The NetGalley widget is an auto-approved link that can be used to invite media and journalists to access a book right away. Here’s more information about the NetGalley widget.
Thank you to the nearly 60 publishers we’ve met with at these conferences! It’s always a pleasure to speak with the passionate members of our client community, and we’ve been inspired by our conversations.
How much Feedback should I expect for my Audiobooks?
Since NetGalley introduced Audiobooks on our platform in 2020, publishers have been interested to know answers to these questions and more. Over the past two years, we’ve been paying close attention to how audio publishers are using NetGalley, and we’re excited to share what we’ve learned so far!*
How early should I upload my Audiobook to NetGalley?
The most frequent comment we get from audiobook publishers is that there is a much smaller pre-pub window for Audiobooks because of the production requirements for this format. Files are not usually available until very close to the pub date.
First, let us emphasize that books can be promoted using NetGalley if they’re already on sale, or even deep backlist. We encourage publishers to add any of their books to NetGalley, regardless of pub date.
Upon analysis, we have seen that most Audiobooks are uploaded to NetGalley within the one-month period before the pub date. However, some are made available much earlier!
Most Audiobooks are uploaded to NetGalley within the one-month period before the pub date.
Books can be promoted using NetGalley if they’re already on sale, or even deep backlist. We encourage publishers to add any of their books to NetGalley, regardless of pub date.
We know from conversations with our clients that some publishers are starting to adjust their pub dates to add some pre-pub buffer time so they can benefit from opportunities to build early buzz, and we’ve also spoken to publishers who are experimenting with AI to create early audio files using realistic synthetic voices. Using early AI files is an effort to quickly get the content in the ears of important early listeners, without having to wait for the final version of the Audiobook. These types of strategies contribute to the number of Audiobooks added to NetGalley much earlier than the pub date.
How long do Audiobooks remain Active on NetGalley?
Regardless of when an Audiobook is uploaded, a little more than half of them have remained Active on NetGalley for six weeks or less.
55% of Audiobooks remain Active on NetGalley for six weeks or less.
Although just over half of the Audiobooks uploaded to NetGalley are active for six weeks or less, it’s still a close split. Nearly 650 titles remained active for longer, resulting in higher Impressions, Requests and Feedback.
Does time on site impact Impressions?
YES. The longer a book remained Active, the more Impressions it received.
The longer a book remains Active on NetGalley, the more Impressions it is likely to receive.
There are many factors that may impact Impressions, in addition to how long the book remains Active. Publishers may have scheduled NetGalley Promotions, or directly invited their own list of Audiobook fans to access the book on NetGalley. There may be strong appeal if it’s read by a popular narrator, or written by a bestselling author. Time on site is just one of many pieces of the puzzle.
Activity on NetGalley is a funnel, which means that the more Impressions a book has, the more overall activity it will receive. Once members submit requests, it’s up to the publisher to approve requests so they can start to listen. Depending on how many requests the publisher approves, a portion of them will result in Feedback.
Generally, the more you fill the funnel with Impressions, the more requests you can choose to approve, and the more Feedback you can expect.
Publisher comparison of activity. Each of these four publishers uploaded over 100 Audiobooks to NetGalley in a 12-month period.
In this chart, and those below, we are comparing four similarly-sized Audiobook publishers. Each of these publishers uploaded over 100 titles to NetGalley between August 1, 2021 – August 10, 2022.
In all cases, you’ll notice the funnel of activity in effect but there’s one interesting exception related to time on the site. Although Publisher 4 kept their titles Active for 77 days on average, their Impressions and overall activity are much lower. This publisher actively limits which types of members can request their titles, which is a very different strategy from the other publishers. Keep this in mind as you view the other comparisons below. You’ll really start to notice that activity is directly impacted by how the NetGalley tools are used.
How much Feedback can I expect for my Audiobooks?
As you saw above, the strategies you employ will directly impact the activity your books receive. This makes it challenging to share specific expected stats for any particular book, but we can glean some insights from digging further into these four publishers’ activity.
Most publishers approve more requests than they decline.
Each publisher has a different strategy for managing requests, as well as how they incorporate other types of approvals like Read Now, Auto-Approving members, and using the Widget. These strategies may differ on a title-by-title basis, too.
As we saw before, Publisher 4 chooses to limit their reach into the community. Here we see that they are also the only publisher who declines more people than they approve, even within their already-limited requests. In the previous chart, we saw that Publisher 2 has fewer requests than 1 and 3, but they approve nearly all of them.
So, how does that impact the Feedback Rate?
Total number of Approvals compared to total amount of Feedback.
Here, we’re looking at the total number of Approvals compared to the total amount of Feedback received. These numbers make perfect sense with the funnel we’ve seen so far—the more Approvals granted, the more Feedback is submitted.
Although Publisher 2 approved nearly all of their requests, they still only had about half the total number of requests as the other publishers. Their books’ average time-on-site was also half as long as Publisher 1.
Publisher 3 has the highest feedback rate: 50% of approved members submitted Feedback, with Publisher 1 close behind. If we look at the strategies used to achieve this: books were active for more than one month and Approval Rate was close to 70%.
Publisher 3 has the highest feedback rate: 50% of approved members submitted Feedback, with Publisher 1 close behind. If we look at the strategies used to achieve this…
– Books were active for more than one month
– Approval Rate was close to 70%
Since Publisher 4 is such an exception, we’ve separated their Feedback Rate from the rest. These numbers are on a very different scale than the other three. For instance, Publisher 4 approved a total of about 650 requests, compared to nearly 45,000 by Pub 1. As a result of their limited use, their Feedback Rate is relatively low as well.
Publisher 4’s strategies have resulted in a lower Feedback Rate.
Keep in mind that their goal may not be entirely related to Feedback! Success on NetGalley can be defined any number of ways. Some publishers may rely on NetGalley as the secure digital fulfillment tool they use to offer a book to a very specific list of existing contacts, whether to drive trade reviews from one particular outlet, or offer an audio format to help booksellers more quickly assess content in their TBR pile. Others are taking advantage of the NetGalley community to fill a need for more widespread reviews for the Audiobook format, and still others are using NetGalley to drive discoverability and awareness of their books across all formats.
What’s next for Audiobooks on NetGalley?
Audiobook Promotions
Audiobooks can be promoted to all types of members in any NetGalley Newsletter! We also offer seasonal Audiobook Newsletters, targeted specifically to members who indicated an interest in audiobooks. Boost your consumer marketing efforts by activating our highly engaged community to generate both reviews and sales. The 2023 Media Kit is available here!
Spanish-language? ¡Sí!
Keep an eye out for a Spanish-language category coming soon. We are excited to introduce an easier way for members to discover and request these books.
DRM for Audio
In 2023 we anticipate adding DRM protection to Audiobooks available on NetGalley. This will add an extra layer of security to our already-secure NetGalley Shelf app. The NetGalley Shelf app is the exclusive way that approved members can access Audiobooks.
We love digging into our data to help answer your important questions, so we’ll continue to update you on how Audiobook publishers are using the NetGalley tools. What other questions can we answer for you?
*Dataset for the charts in this article included 1,452 Audiobooks uploaded to NetGalley between 8/1/2021 – 8/10/2022. Audiobooks that were never added to the Find Titles catalog were removed from this dataset.
Get smarter about your books! The BookSmarts podcast features discussions about publishing data and technologies and interviews with industry experts, deep thinkers, and doers, bringing you insights that will help you sell more books.
Episode 24: Cory Verner on the Growth of Audiobooks
Cory Verner is the CEO of ONE Audiobooks, a publisher of audiobooks and a turnkey audio services provider. Cory has been working in the audiobooks industry for over 20 years, and has seen the changes in technology, the changes in focus, and the growth in sales as the format has taken off in the last 6-7 years. Cory and I talk about some of the reasons for that growth, the demographics of listeners, and some specific differences between the Inspirational Books market that he is closely connected to compared to the general audiobooks market.
We also talk about how the audiobooks industry has changed over time, including technology changes that have driven much of the recent growth, and we discuss the risks publishers take on when they create their own audiobook program.
You can learn more about ONE Audiobooks at oneaudiobooks.com (corporate site) and oneaudiobooks.app (customer engagement tools).
Joshua Tallent is an acclaimed teacher and guide on the role of data in publishing, and a vocal advocate for high quality book metadata. In his spare time, Joshua enjoys playing complex board games, playing Minecraft, and fiddling with his 3D printer.
Ep 18: Robin Whitten on Audiobook Demographics and Quality
In this episode, Robin Whitten, editor & founder of AudioFile Magazine, joins us to discuss audiobook listener demographics and performance quality. Audiobook sales have grown significantly in a short amount of time. With that growth, we have also seen an increase in the number of available audiobooks and a revolution in audiobook production.
Robin expounds on some of the major advances in the audiobook world, how the demographics of audiobook listeners are changing, and the genres that are the most popular. She also talks about how important the sound design and narration are to the success of an audiobook, and explains how AudioFile Magazine does its reviews.
Joshua Tallent is an acclaimed teacher and guide on the role of data in publishing, and a vocal advocate for high quality book metadata. In his spare time, Joshua enjoys playing complex board games, playing Minecraft, and fiddling with his 3D printer.
Let’s examine where professionals from different areas of the audiobook industry see us being in the next 3-5 years. We will ask specialists in the areas of production, consumer sales, independent authors, to forecast the future. Joining us are Kevin Fecu of John Marshall Media, Darren Speers of Authors Republic, and Tarah Theoret of NetGalley.
The ability to consume more, faster, while multi-tasking will continue to help with consumers, but also book reviewing of all formats. We’ve heard anecdotally from reviewers that they specifically request books in the audio format because they know they’ll be able to listen to it faster and sooner, and fit it into their schedule… this quick turnaround helps ensure that the marketplace is already being populated with early enthusiasm for this format specifically, which will boost pre-orders and sales.
– Tarah Theoret, Senior Director, Community Engagement at NetGalley
Visit the Audio Publishers Association at audiopub.org
Formed in 1986, the Audio Publishers Association (APA) is a not-for-profit trade association that advocates the common, collective business interests of audio publishers. The APA consists of audio publishing companies and suppliers, distributors, and retailers of spoken word products and allied fields related to the production, distribution, and sale of audiobooks.
July was a record-breaking month here at NetGalley! With the launch of the NetGalley Shelf app and audiobooks, members have been engaging with content more than ever across the site. This July NetGalley.com saw a 47% increase in the number of sessions over last July, while NetGalley.co.uk saw an increase of over 62%. These sessions resulted in 8.4 million pageviews across both platforms!
NetGalley members are thrilled to be browsing audiobooks from audiobook publishers, and their excitement has spilled over into their reviews. Approved members have submitted over 14,000 Feedback and Reviews for audiobooks in July and August.
And it’s not just audio that’s benefitted! In the first two weeks after launch, we saw over 30,000 downloads of digital review copies in the NetGalley Shelf app. Now, two months in, we’re up to nearly 70,000 DRC downloads! Feedback and Reviews submitted for digital review copies has increased since the launch as well. Activity across the entire NetGalley platform continues to trend upward!
Audiobook publishers whose titles are on NetGalley should be sure to take advantage of our FREE promotion by filling out this form. Approximately 19,000 U.S. members have opted into these newsletters, and the first Audiobook Newsletter had an over 49% Open Rate with 11% CTR! Plus, don’t forget that you can also participate in any NetGalley promotions.
We are closely monitoring members’ experiences with the NetGalley Shelf app and are continuing to release updates to ensure the best reading and listening experience.
Despite this year’s global pandemic, it’s clear that readers continue to turn to books in all formats. It is our privilege to help publishers find the right audiences for their books.
If you would like more information about using NetGalley to promote digital review copies or audiobooks, please contact us here.
