Frankfurt a. M., 14. December 2018 – Bookwire GmbH is further expanding its business activity in the sphere of digital services for publishing clients. With “WE AUDIOBOOK YOU” (WAY), Bookwire supports publishers in the production of audiobook content. The new service has been available to all Bookwire publishing clients since Frankfurt Book Fair 2018, and an award-winning psychological thriller has been produced with “WAY” and published already.
Bookwire combines experience and expert knowledge, gained from many years of distributing eBook and audiobook content for more than 1,500 customers into “WE AUDIOBOOK YOU”, along with knowledge about the positive effects of additional audiobook content on the sales figures of a publisher’s individual titles.
Making the most of sales potential: “WAY” transforms eBook bestsellers into audiobook hits
“Our data shows that audiobooks can now count for as much as around 35 percent of a title’s total sales. This is especially true of eBook bestsellers that also include an audiobook edition. It therefore makes perfect sense to help publishers to quickly create an audiobook edition, especially for successful titles that currently do not have one. This can even be done before the eBook is published and is something that makes sense for almost every title”, says John Ruhrmann, Managing Director of Bookwire GmbH.
“WE AUDIOBOOK YOU” is exactly the quick and efficient solution publishing clients need. Audiobook production is done by Bookwire Production Services at a fixed price and within an agreed production time. The audiobook is then delivered to the publishing client with all rights retained by the publisher – it is also immediately added to Bookwire MACS as a new title and delivered from there to all digital audiobook suppliers.
For a publisher the production of audiobooks with WAY is simple – all the publisher has to do is individually select the best reader for their title from a large pool of professional narrators. Thanks to Bookwire’s accompanying audiobook distribution service , “WE AUDIOBOOK YOU” enables publishers to position themselves as a strong partner for their authors, distributing their work across all channels and formats.
Production of an award-winning psychological thriller as a pilot bestseller is already underway
Publisher Picus Verlag has already placed its trust in Bookwire’s comprehensive service. Their bestseller “Die Deutschlehrerin” [“The German Teacher”] by Judith W. Taschler (winner of the Friedrich Glauser Prize) has been produced as an audiobook with “WE AUDIOBOOK YOU”.
“WAY is aimed at all of our clients. Publishers who had reservations or negative experiences about the audiobook market can now develop their own audiobook catalogue, simply and cost effectively. However, our service is also open to publishers who only publish audiobooks. We want to offer publishers a platform for creating content and bringing it to market. That’s what we’ve done with eBooks and Print-on-Demand, and now we’re doing it for audiobooks. Marketed together, eBooks and audiobooks perfectly complement each other for two different groups of customers”, continues Ruhrmann.
Bookwire’s future plans include expanding WAY to other territories including the UK in early 2019, exclusive partnerships with selected provider platforms, as well as marketing of publishing clients’ audiobook content through cooperation with third parties.
