In the last few years, audiobooks have seen a rise in popularity. In 2018, Pew Research found that nearly one in five people in the United States now listened to audiobooks. But perhaps one of its most interesting findings is that at the time Pew reached out to survey respondents, 20 percent of Latinos said they had listened to an audiobook in the last 12 months – two percentage points more than both blacks and whites. So then it makes sense that Audible would want to cater to this audience. Today, the company launched Audible Latino – which offers a selection of Spanish-Language books (both by Latino/Latin American authors and those from other parts of the world) as well as books that are culturally significant to us.
“With the launch of Audible Latino, Hispanic customers now have access to a dedicated home comprised of the largest selection of Spanish-language audiobooks in the US,” said Manny Miravete, director of original content, Spanish language at Audible, in a press release. “We are thrilled to provide this important audience with this customized listening experience.”
Aside from categorizing books by genre, it also has a section for curated titles in Spanish and in English, which includes Latino culture, language learning, and Latinx authors. While the latter section, which is “a collection of top titles from today’s leading Latinx voices,” is still a bit thin, it does offer audiobooks of some of the most exciting Latinx authors of today, including Gabby Rivera, Daniel José Older, and Erika L. Sánchez. Audible Latino will also be the first to have the Harry Potter series in Spanish-language audio, narrated by Carlos Ponce. (Only Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal is available now, but the rest of the titles will come later this year.)
Check out Audible Latino here.