Spotify has launched audiobooks in Norway. Premium users get 12 hours of listening a month included, but free users can also buy access.
Your walking playlist has some competition. From 15 October, Norwegian Spotify users have been able to choose from more than 350,000 audiobooks, with both Norwegian and international titles in the library.
Publishers on board include Vigmostad & Bjørke, including Bladkompaniet, Bonnier Norsk Forlag, Kagge and Saga Egmont. That means books now have a place in the same app many already use for music and podcasts.
What’s included
If you have Spotify Premium, you get 12 hours of audiobook listening per month as part of your subscription. If you want to listen to more, you can buy an additional 20 hours for NOK 99.
Users of the free version can also buy 20 hours at the same price. The audiobook offer is therefore available to both groups, but free users get no listening hours included. For anyone keen to try audiobooks, the Premium hours could be a good way to get started. If you devour books, the hour limit is worth noting.Aiming to reach those who don’t already listen
Spotify wants to shorten the path from podcast to book. The idea is that recommendations in the app will help users find stories and authors they otherwise wouldn’t have discovered.
Alexander Even Henriksen, CEO of Bonnier Norsk Forlag, believes the placement can open the door to new readers.
– Literature belongs where people are, he says in the press release.
He says Bonnier has seen Spotify introduce books to new audiences in countries including the UK, Germany, Sweden and Finland.
Kagge’s publishing director Tuva Ørbeck Sørheim also welcomes the new player.
– We look forward to having yet another player in the Norwegian book market, so we can spread more books to more people, she says.
At the same time, she stresses that the publisher’s authors will get the same terms as on other streaming services.
From page to earbuds
The launch also includes the Page Match feature. According to Spotify, it lets you switch from a physical book to the audiobook and pick up where you left off.
That could suit you if you prefer reading in bed but would like to carry on with the story on your way to work. Now the challenge might be choosing between the next chapter and the next podcast episode.