Swedish Company Creeps In On Audible’s Territory

As the tech world takes over most everyday activities, the publishing world is no different.

Forget shopping in brick-and-mortar bookstores for your next read, audio books, or eBooks (the “Spotify for Books”), have become the go-to way to consume literature today.

While Amazon’s Audible may be king of audio books in many respects, news out of Scandinavia reveals that Swedish startup Storytel is looking to move in on its territory. After buying one of the most prized publishing companies in Sweden, Norstedts, last year, Storytel is now valued at $401 million.

Now, Storytel is looking to expand its services into Spain, India, the United Arab Emirates and Russia. At this point in time, the company is servicing Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Poland. With Storytel’s current 6,000 audio book titles, it may take some time to overtake Audible’s 180K+ titles.

Currently, Storytel is looking to obtain the rights of 4,000 Russian book titles as well as starting its production of audio books in the Indian, Arabic and Spanish markets from local authors.