Wattpad Audiobook Partnership to Launch Summer 2017
Hachette Audiobooks: Powered by Wattpad will deliver popular Wattpad stories to a fast-growing audience of digital audio listeners
In a new partnership, we’ve teamed up with Hachette Book Group to bring Wattpad stories to life as audiobooks. Over the next year, Hachette Audio will produce 50 audiobooks based on Wattpad stories written by people from all over the world. Hachette Audiobooks: Powered by Wattpad will be available beginning summer 2017.
With the launch of Wattpad Studios last year, we’ve been working with entertainment and publishing partners to co-produce stories for other formats including film, tv, digital, and print. As recently reported by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, downloadable audiobooks represent the fastest growing format in the publishing industry, and this is the first time popular Wattpad stories will be adapted as audiobooks within an ambitious program and proactive publishing partnership.
“We love seeing the worlds and characters Wattpad storytellers create come to life in different ways. The Hachette Audiobooks: Powered by Wattpad partnership gives the Stars of the Wattpad community a unique chance to have their stories narrated by skilled actors and distributed to people beyond the Wattpad platform,” said Head of Partnerships for Wattpad Studios Ashleigh Gardner. “Wattpad stories have been successfully produced as books, television shows, and movies. Now, people will not only be able to read and watch Wattpad stories, but also listen to them. Storytelling has never sounded so good!”
Audiobook titles in this initial launch will span all genres and will be sold digitally through major online retailers, including Bandcamp, iTunes, Audible, Barnes & Noble, Downpour, eStories, Audibooks.com, Libro.fm, and others. Physical audiobooks on CD will be made available to libraries and on-demand.
“Content development is an important initiative for Hachette, so this partnership comes at a perfect time. We can’t wait to bring together the ideal team of producer, director, and narrator for these amazing Wattpad stories. We are equally excited to be working with Wattpad to amplify the audience and broaden the channels of discovery for their unique brand of storytelling via audiobook editions,” said Anthony Goff, SVP of Content Development and Audio Publisher at Hachette Book Group.
Wattpad is constantly experimenting with new storytelling formats. We recently launched Tap by Wattpad, a new app for short, chat-style stories. Moving forward, we will continue to distribute popular Wattpad stories across all formats and on multiple platforms. This latest partnership with Hachette will build on our existing work with leading publishers and entertainment companies to take the best stories on the Internet and bring them to more people around the globe. While the majority of Hachette Audiobooks: Powered by Wattpad titles will be standard audiobooks, the partnership hopes to experiment with other audio formats in the future.