Spotify Unveils New AI-Powered Audiobook Tool for Self-Publishing Authors

On Thursday, Spotify launched a new AI tool, powered by ElevenLabs, enabling self-publishing of audiobooks through its Spotify for Authors platform. Announced at the Investor Day event, this beta feature will be available starting in June, initially by invitation and for English-language content only.

Authors will retain the freedom to disseminate their AI-generated audiobooks across other platforms, as the tool does not require exclusive rights.

This announcement follows Spotify’s collaboration with ElevenLabs, which previously allowed authors to submit AI-generated audiobooks created on ElevenLabs’ platform to Spotify.

Additionally, Spotify has established a partnership with Google Play Books for digitally narrated content. The aim appears to be providing access to advanced voice models that sound notably more human and engaging, as offered by ElevenLabs. Importantly, ElevenLabs has also launched its self-publishing platform for authors in 2025.

The “Spotify for Authors” platform will also broaden its language support, adding ten new languages such as French, Canadian French, German, Dutch, Latin American Spanish, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Danish, and Norwegian.

Furthermore, Spotify plans to enhance its Audiobook+ subscriptions this year, providing increased listening limits alongside additional plans tailored for families and students (specific pricing details were not available at this time).

Currently, Spotify has surpassed one million Audiobook+ subscriptions and anticipates generating $100 million in annual recurring revenue for this segment.

During the event, it was shared that users would soon be able to use natural language queries for audiobook recommendations. In an exciting development, the feature enabling the creation of prompt-based playlists for podcasts and music will soon include audiobooks.

With a catalog now boasting 700,000 titles, Spotify has intensified its focus on audiobooks in recent years. The company has expanded its program into international markets, made investments in non-English titles, enabled in-app purchases, and launched audiobook charts. Recently, it also initiated a program allowing authors to sell physical books in the U.S. and the U.K.

These various efforts have reportedly led to a 60% increase in listening hours year-on-year, according to the company. Notably, over half of its audiobook listeners started their journey within the last year.