10-20k words of original English language fiction content within the romance, mystery/thriller, or sci-fi/fantasy genres. Each novelette should be a complete, standalone story that comes to life in audio format. Please do not submit erotica or children’s content.

If Spotify makes an offer for your audiobook rights and you accept, Spotify will publish the audiobook. Spotify will pay an advance and royalties, and manage all aspects of the production process. 

Filling out this form in as much detail as possible is the best way to stand out from the crowd. We want to publish great books, but we also want to work with great authors, so make sure we know who you are and how you plan to help make this publication a great success.

Focus on strong dialog and distinct character voices. You are aiming to create dialog that a narrator could bring to life through voice acting even if it didn’t have speech tags (i.e. he said/she said). It’s crucial that readers will enjoy listening to this book, not just reading it on the page.

Next, think about what makes a good novelette. Even though the word count is short, it should feel like a complete story arc with an intriguing beginning and satisfying ending. Focus on plot movement without lingering too long on world building or narrative description to help keep the story moving. Rely on familiar elements such as common settings, folklore, or genre tropes to quickly orient your reader.

You should also take this time to think about what NOT to do. While it can be fun to utilize the narrator's talent through dialog-heavy elements such as interviews, text messages, emails, or social media recordings, make sure that you're not using elements that only work on paper. For example, a reader can skim past the repeated use of a sender's name and timestamp during a text-based conversation, but a listener has to hear that information repeated dozens of times in audio. Think about how you can use the narrator(s)' talent to convey the same information in more concise and creative ways.

Finally, when your draft is complete, have someone else read your work out loud to you. What parts do they emphasize? How does it flow? Where do they stumble? This is the same experience the narrator and your listeners will have. A sentence that works on the page does not always flow out loud, so make sure your writing sounds its best when someone else performs it.

If you’re still feeling uncertain, remember that to be the best, sometimes you have to learn from the best! Seek out other audio-first titles or short story collections in your preferred genre. Listen to them, observe the way those authors took advantage of the audio format, and apply your learnings!

You're welcome to promote, market, and distribute the work in other formats (ebook, paper) and platforms (KDP, Ingram Spark, Kobo, etc.).

While we can't guarantee a response, Spotify Publishing will consider all submissions on a rolling basis.

If Spotify Publishing has not responded to your submission within six months, you can assume we have passed on the title. We encourage any authors with titles that were not picked up for publication to consider self-publishing with Spotify instead.

No, Spotify Audiobooks will distribute your title on Spotify and all major retail platforms.

Please visit our self-publishing page to learn more about how you can upload your audiobooks directly to Spotify.

Feel free to email our team at indieauthor-acquisitions@spotify.com with any specific inquiries not addressed here. Please note, any submission not sent through the portal above will not be read or considered.