Spotify has announced the launch of a new audiobook feature during the London Book Fair. Owen Smith, Head of Audiobooks Product and Tech, said that the music streaming company would be rolling out Countdown Pages in mid-April. 

What is Countdown Pages by Spotify?

The feature enables listeners to ‘pre-save’ audiobooks prior to a book’s release date, and authors and publishers can promote their upcoming titles ahead of launch. 

In a statement seen by How To Be Books, it said: “Users can search for titles on Spotify as soon as they’re announced. Once they visit the page, they will see a “Pre-save” CTA. They can also view the ‘More like this’ tab to see similar released books that they can start listening to straight away.”

The statement mentioned that the tool was vital for authors and publishers in order for them to “build hype” around new works from the first day of its release. 

“We’ve seen the success and momentum this can build for musical artists, and are excited to introduce this feature to authors and publishers as well,” the statement added.

Read: Spotify audiobooks ‘reshape market’ with huge growth

Since its launch last autumn, Spotify reported significant user engagement, with approximately 150,000 titles accessed out of a library of over 200,000 books.

Spotify unveiled its audiobook streaming service in October 2023, initially launching in the UK and Australia before expanding to the US in November. The service, available to Spotify premium subscribers, offers 15 hours of audiobook access per month. 

In the US, it recently introduced the new Audiobooks Access Tier, catering to book enthusiasts seeking more audiobook-specific content. Priced at $9.99 a month, the plan aims to attract a wider audience by providing access to over 200,000 titles from its audiobooks catalogue.

Countdown Pages from Spotify was originally launched with music in mind on March 8, as “a new destination for fans to pre-save your upcoming albums, watch video Clips, see the timer count down to your release, and more.”