Digitization also offers authors new opportunities. They have – with good reason – become more demanding and require to be presented in different ways, not only in books and audiobooks, but also on social media channels and in podcasts. A challenge for all publishers.
The podcasts in particular are still “money swallowing machines”. I have dealt intensively with the topic and have come to the conclusion that there are currently no models that can be monetized for a publisher like AUDIOBUCH. The competition is too big and too cheap. The public broadcasters, for example, offer a large number of very well-produced podcasts free of charge and free of advertising. These and other podcasts rob customers of one thing above all: time. As is well known, there are only 24 hours a day. If you listen to a podcast, you don’t listen to an audio book.
But the broadcasters are not the only public service competitors for the listeners’ favor. Online lending by public libraries has also increased so much in the Corona era that completely new contract models should be considered. Billing per download / stream of the library user would be appropriate and fair in my opinion.
With regard to the physical market, the end of CD sales has long been prophesied, which was prevented thanks to committed agents and booksellers. But of course the CD market will shrink in the future, making it a lucrative source of revenue for audio book publishers. So far, AUDIOBUCH has been able to score points with the licensors because the readings (not always, but) were often published on MP3-CD. Steinbach speaking books is to take on this role in the future.
Since the book publishers are now evaluating their audio book rights more often themselves, it has recently become more difficult to acquire interesting licenses. More difficult, but not impossible: it was always possible to unearth treasures from the sea of new publications.
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