Spiracle brings audio into bookshops with Audiobook in a Card

Spiracle Audiobooks is launching a new scheme, Audiobook in a Card, designed to integrate the digital audiobook market with bookshops.

This will make audiobooks of titles published by independent publishers available in brick-and-mortar bookshops for £12. The aim is to offer customers the benefit of the recommendations of booksellers, rather than having a purely algorithmic experience.

The card range includes Jeoffry: The Poet’s Cat written and read by Oliver Soden with Stephen Fry (The History Press), All My Precious Madness by Mark Bowles, read by Paul Hilton (Galley Beggar Press), The Pages of the Sea by Anne Hawk, read by Saffron Coomber (Weatherglass Books) and The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier, read by Lydia Leonard, translated by Daniel Levin Becker (Fitzcarraldo Editions).

The audiobooks available through the scheme are those that Spiracle has co-published with indie presses that may not have made audiobooks in the past due to the "bestseller bias" of the marketplace. The co-publishing process means that the publisher brings the audio rights and Spiracle covers the production, finding the voices to read the books.

Independents bookshops taking place in the pilot include Burley Fisher Books and Libreria Bookshop in east London, The Mainstreet Trading Company in Melrose, The Book Hive in Norwich and the recently opened Hewson Books in Brentford. Others include La Biblioteka in Sheffield, Dead Ink Books in Liverpool, Medina Bookshop in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, Mostly Books in Abingdon and the Stoke Newington Bookshop in north London.

"We are delighted and proud to be able to share great literature from small publishers in a new form with the Audiobook in a Card series from Spiracle," said Ross Hoey of Hewson Books. "They are visually striking, appealing to customers with their original aesthetic, and very well made. The range is curated and diverse, so there really is something for everyone."

The income from sales of Audiobook in a Card is divided between the publisher, the bookseller and Spiracle. The card is aimed at customers who want a "meaningful and mailable" gift choice, and can be found in a bookshop’s stationery and non-book ranges. 

Lloyd Sowerbutts of Libreria Bookshop added: "This year we are proud to broaden our offer into audiobooks by partnering with Spiracle, who work with the best indie presses, such as And Other Stories, Fitzcarraldo Editions, Peninsula Press and Prototype, to bring readers a different way to enjoy exceptional and inventive writing."

Kate Bland, founder of Spiracle Audiobooks, commented: "We’re really glad to have found a way for bookshops, the vital community hubs around the UK, to benefit from the burgeoning audiobook business as well as a new way for listeners to discover audiobooks—to find brilliant, diverse writing read by talented narrators, brought to the listeners with genuine curation and care."