Call for Abstracts open until 25 April: https://indico.uni-muenster.de/event/3286/abstracts/

One of the biggest book industry developments of the twenty-first century has been audiobooks’ unexpected transformation from a marginal format to the next mass market. Audiobooks have now overtaken ebooks in terms of market share in most major Anglophone markets, and for more than a decade, have been the biggest growth sector in publishing (Deloitte, 2019). In a European context audiobooks perform particularly well, with at least 50% of Germans listening to audiobooks (Statista/Verbrauchs- und Medienanalyse - VuMA, 2022), and a 35% increase since 2019 in the number of consumers buying multiple audiobook titles per year (Statista/IfD Allensbach, 2023).

Despite their increasing significance, audiobooks have traditionally fallen through the disciplinary cracks between studies of book culture and literature on the one hand and media and communications studies on the other. While research into audiobooks is now starting to grow, a lack of shared disciplinary origin has the potential to lead to gaps or duplications. We invite researchers from any disciplinary backgrounds that engage with audiobooks to participate in an online knowledge-exchange and workshop that we hope will promote cross-disciplinary dialogue, open up possibilities for conversation about comparative locations and sociocultural contexts, and ultimately strengthen the nascent sub-discipline of audiobook studies.

We invite abstracts for 15-minute research papers or workshops. These might take the form of traditional research presentations, or presentations or workshops which explore specific theoretical or methodological approaches and challenges. We are interested in the different ways in which the legacy frameworks of the book industry, the contemporary digital frameworks of globalised cultural production, and the specifics of local storytelling, knowledges, and voices, directly and indirectly shape audiobook culture. We are interested in receiving proposals that engage with these issues, as well as proposals for research that consider audiobooks from other vantage points.

We also intend to follow the event with a graduate student workshop in-person or hybrid at the University of Münster on 18 November 2025, and welcome proposals for poster presentations for this session. Costs for poster printing will be covered by the Chair of Book Studies.

Abstracts of 200-300 words, plus short biographical notes, should be submitted to Millicent Weber or Corinna Norrick-Rühl here (via Indico) by Friday 25 April 2025. We intend to publish a journal special issue based on this event; please indicate if you would be happy for us to include your abstract in the proposal submission for this special issue.