Philip Jones to interview Libro.fm's Mark Pearson at FBF

Editor of The Bookseller Philip Jones will interview former indie publisher turned audiobook pioneer Mark Pearson (pictured) at the Frankfurt Book Fair, ahead of the announcement of the shortlists for this year’s FutureBook Awards.

The event, which takes place on Thursday 17th October at 1pm on the International Stage, Hall 5.1 (A128), will see Jones talk to Pearson about co-founding Seattle-based start-up Libro.fm. The platform’s ethos is that it enables its audiobook customers to select their favourite bricks-and-mortar bookshops with which Libro.fm then split the profits, thus creating, Pearson has said, a “sustainable, community-driven model that’s valuable to listener, author and bookstore alike”. Libro.fm has more than 800 US indies attached to the service, and he is actively looking at a move into the UK.

The interview sets the scene ahead of the FutureBook Live Conference (held in London on 25th November), at which Pearson will also speak. This year's FutureBook Live programme has now been published online, featuring speakers such as: Alex Fane, managing director of Fane Productions; Booker director Gaby Wood; Bluebird publisher Carole Tonkinson; and Jodie Ginsberg c.e.o. of Index on Censorship. Keynotes include Waterstones m.d. James Daunt, the brand strategist behind #Merky Books Akua Agyemfra, AI specialist Chris Duffey, Orion m.d. Katie Espiner, and data analyst Paul Abbassi, a.k.a. Data Guy.
 
To book your tickets visit the conference website, here. To celebrate the announcement of the FutureBook Awards shortlists, The Bookseller has launched a 10% discount off ticket prices, using the code FBSL10, which will run until the end of the Frankfurt Book Fair.