Earlier, Spotify announced that it was in the process of working with select publishers to allow listeners to purchase books on the platform, and it looks like the new feature is finally going live. More specifically, Spotify has now launched its partnership with Bookshop.org in the U.S. and U.K., essentially giving users a platform to shop for books, all within the Spotify app. Owen Smith, Spotify’s Global Head of Audiobooks comments:
These updates demonstrate our continued ambition to make reading fit into modern life… Whether it’s discovering a book the same way you’d find a song or podcast on Spotify, picking up the audiobook on your commute, using Page Match to switch to a physical copy at home, or jumping back in with a Recap, we’re making it easier for people to engage with books while supporting growth for authors and publishers along the way.
Additionally, Spotify announced several additional updates for users in different regions—for one, the Page Match feature is adding support for more than 30 additional languages. For those unfamiliar, Page Match lets users sync their reading progress between physical copies of their books along with their electronic copies.
For Android users, audiobook recaps will now be available, and will provide users with short audio summaries based on their most recent listening point to keep them up to date on their reading progress; Spotify’s Audiobook Charts feature is also arriving for users in Germany, and comes with rankings for top Audiobooks.
Finally, the platform will bring a dedicated chart for kids and family titles in the United States and United Kingdom.
