The new frontier of audiobooks - an interview with Spiracle
“People who listen to audiobooks in some ways are hidden in plain sight; there are people who don't go around with a New Yorker bag on their shoulder, they're more likely to be on a train or walking the dog. Because you're doing it while doing something else, the determination to do it is more a decision that you take privately”.
Kate Bland is a co-founder who, alongside friend Leigh Wilson, is forging a new frontier in literature-based listening experiences. Spiracle is a curated audiobook service that provides listeners access to stories usually overlooked by the audiobook world. It is costly to create an audio version of the written word, and most independent publishing houses are unable to put resources into the cause. Those same publishing houses are producing some of the most exciting work, often from voices historically silenced in mainstream publishing. So Spiracle stepped in to bridge that gap, bringing high quality, thought-out audio productions as co-publications of independent books to our ears. Kate explains where the idea was born: “We thought, we need to make an audio book platform that somehow sort of is more of the experience that you have in an independent bookshop, where you can browse without thinking too much”.
They collaborate with independent houses to publish two titles each month, part of their editions offering, but with hundreds of brilliant titles coming from the likes of Fitzcarraldo and Tilted Axis Press, how do they select which ones to take on? Kate explains it is more of an instinct than a set of rules, “we have got a bit of a literary bent; we are looking at books that are really well written, really wonderful stories. We shy away from the best sellers. We are looking for those things in books that you're going to remember after you've heard them, those stories that have something strong, something admirable about them”.
Through the monthly subscription service, listeners receive two pre-selected audiobooks for £12, which comparatively is better value for money than Audible, the audiobook giants (owned by Amazon), which for their standard package give users one book credit for £9.99. Although Audible offers near infinite choices, Spiracle is doing something far more interesting. By tailoring the reads to more independent corners of the publishing world, unexpected stories arise. Granted not everyone will enjoy everything, but somehow there is relief in not being asked to choose. My own bookcases are overflowing - I have hundreds of books I hope to read before I die and yet I am regularly paralysed by the choice in front of me. By relinquishing the choice to someone else, in this case, a collective of zealous professional readers with eyes all over books I haven’t even heard of yet, I can feel satisfied in knowing I might discover a new favourite, with very little work on my side.
Alongside the monthly released titles, Spiracle also holds a library of titles, referred to as The Collection. These range in genre and style, often there are books that had a flash in the pan literary moment but not everyone had the chance to listen to, like the true crime historical thriller, His Bloody Project, or some of the much talked about International Booker Prize nominees from years past; When We Cease to Understand the World and Celestial Bodies. Their catalogue is varied, but still surprising, Bland assures me they are not trying to compete directly with the libraries like Audible - they want to do something new: “We believe so deeply in the possibility that books hold. But we don't go around saying we know everything about everything in terms of the literary canon.”
Spiracle work closely with Fitzcarraldo, one of my personal favourite indie houses in the UK. Spiracle also recently produced one of my top Fitzcarraldo titles in audio form: Polly Barton’s Fifty Sounds. Bland agrees that their work continues to prove themselves as something special: “They've absolutely forged this kind of defiance, saying good quality literature is not something that should be compromised, and they've brought a lot of people with them.” It would also be remiss not to mention Fitzcarraldo’s most recent success, their author Annie Ernaux taking home the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Although hope is enough to get through many difficult circumstances, some may say launching a somewhat specific and tailored audiobook service centring other small businesses, during a time of economic uncertainty is a mistake. Over in the US, court cases rage on with hostile takeovers seeking to increase the monopoly conglomerates have in the publishing industry, and the UK counterparts do not seem far behind. Bland nods profusely, agreeing. It is indeed terrifying, but another path must be carved: “We want to hold hands with our independent publishers to say, this is why we're here. This is what we believe in, we want to remain independent. There is great writing that's coming out of these publishers, and we want to make sure they are benefiting from this part of the marketplace, because audiobooks are a growing part of publishing.”
Spiracle stands next to independent bookshops and small publishers in that sense, all groups fiercely hoping (and fighting) for enough people to keep caring about others, more about excellent books and less about instant gratification of next day delivery to keep the doors open, and continue to entice readers into consuming something surprising and noteworthy - something that might just change their life.
