Podium forecasts 3,000 audiobook releases in 2025. What’s been the company’s trajectory?
Podium’s first fiction audiobook, Andy Weir’s The Martian, forged the model. When I was brought in, in 2016, we had 242 audio titles. Now we’ve passed 10,000.
How has Podium evolved its model?
Good books by independent creators can be adapted into amazing audiobooks. That thesis hasn’t changed, and the creator economy has only strengthened.
What’s Podium’s stance on AI?
The audience for virtual voice is there, but our authors expect top-quality entertainment that’s going to transport a listener. AI is not capable of that kind of performance.
What’s your biggest growth category?
Romantasy is so hot. The biggest launch of the fall is going to be Callie Hart’s Brimstone, which Forever is doing in print. Romance is on the upswing in audio. When it took off about three years ago, we had a lot ready to discover.
What are Podium’s goals for this year?
We’ve announced Dorit Kemsley’s memoir Unburdened, and we just published Swindled Never After, by the two women featured in The Tinder Swindler Netflix documentary. Topical nonfiction has lasting, evergreen searchability.
Is Podium’s nascent print program here to stay?
Outside Amazon, our authors were able to hit the direct market, but there’s a lot of retail out there. We’ve sold into Target, Walmart, and Barnes & Noble. Introducing authors to those markets has a knock-on effect for audio. And we’re going to do north of 3,500 audiobooks in 2026.
