Saga Egmont teams up with Muswell Press and Violet Gaze on audio titles

Saga Egmont has launched new partnerships with indie publishers Muswell Press and Violet Gaze Press with a focus on publishing a range of diverse audiobooks.

The collaborations between the indies and Saga Egmont, a digital publishing house owned by the Nordic media group Egmont, will produce, publish and globally distribute audio formats of more than 50 titles across both backlist and frontlist in the English language. The project features "stories from a wide range of voices and celebrates inclusivity across genre, from diverse and sexy romance to queer classics and representative fiction and non-fiction,” Saga Egmont said.

Violet Gaze Press and Muswell Press are the latest independent publishers to team up with Saga Egmont, following earlier collaboration announcements with digital publishers Hera and Canelo.

“We are incredibly excited to be working with such forward-thinking indie publishers who embrace all types of authors and stories,” said Nikoline Nordfred Eriksen, programme manager for Saga Egmont’s English catalogue. “There is a lot of work to be done in making publishing more inclusive, not least from a content perspective, and we are committed to bringing all stories to life, from multiple points of reference.”

Sarah Beal, publisher at Muswell Press, said: “We are delighted to be working with Saga to bring 18 Muswell titles to a wider audience on audiobook. It is such an exciting venture and we look forward to collaborating on future titles.”

Violet Gaze Press director Brittany Borshell commented: “Violet Gaze Press is thrilled to be working with a pioneering publisher like Saga Egmont to bring our author's inclusive and diverse stories to readers in audio formats for greater accessibility.”

Independent authors are also joining Saga Egmont. R M Virtues has just signed up to produce, publish and distribute audio formats of his fantasy romance Gods of Hunger series, which offers a re-telling of Greek mythology.