Spotify Expanding Audiobooks Plans in Most Confusing Way Possible

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Spotify Expanding Audiobooks Plans in Most Confusing Way Possible

Look, getting 15 hours of audiobook listening as part of a regular Spotify subscription has been great. I use it every month, mostly to experiment with stuff that I then go borrow or buy elsewhere. It’s not quite as simple as "1 audiobook" per month, but manageable. How Spotify is expanding beyond this base offering is a little bananas, though. In some countries (not the US for now), Spotify is adding a couple of tiers Audiobooks+ and Audiobooks+ for Plan Members. Here is how they explain what these plans are:

Audiobooks+: Available to Premium Individual subscribers as well as Family and Duo plan managers, this add-on unlocks an additional 15 hours of listening each month for the existing base plan—a great option for booklovers seeking more audiobook time, including fans of longer titles.

Audiobooks+ for Plan Members: For the first time, additional members on Premium Family and Duo can access 15 hours of monthly audiobook listening through this recurring add-on. Plan members just need to request audiobook access from their plan manager, who can purchase the add-on on their behalf. They can also purchase a one-time 10-hour top-up if they run out of hours before their monthly billing cycle refreshes.

First one makes sense. 15 more hours for some (unstated amount of money).

The second one? I think if you have the phrase "Plan members just need to request audiobook access from their plan manager, who can purchase the add-on on their behalf " in your product description. You can’t just say "just." It actually has to be the thing.

Publishers Weekly Releases Fall 2025 Adult Book Preview

There are a few internet gifts I get to unwrap during the year, and one of them is the Fall Books Preview from PW . Across multiple genres and publisher sizes, it is simply the most efficient way to get a sense of what publishing’s biggest season has to offer. New books from Patricia Lockwood, Salman Rushdie, Dan Brown, Zadie Smith and other heavy hitters, plus titles I wouldn’t notice on my own, even as someone with an Edelweiss workflow.

The New York Public Library’s Summer Reading For Adults

In the starter pack for today’s bookish adults is a fondness for pizza-related summer reading challenges for kids. Of late, some organizations have also rolled out pretty involved summer reading challenges for adults. I haven’t seen anything quite as lucrative as what the NYPL (partnered with The National Book Award) is offering to one winner who submits a completed challange card:

Complete all the activities to enter the drawing for the grand prize: airfare, hotel, and two tickets to the 76th National Book Awards Ceremony in NYC on Wednesday, November 19, 2025! Winners will be notified in September. For any prize-related questions, visit the National Book Foundation website.

That’s the equivalent of quite a few personal pan pizzas.

Mid-Year Check-in Time. PLUS: Rodney Freeman on ARE YOU A LIBRARIAN

Today on The Book Riot Podcast, Jeff and Rebecca talk about a bunch of mid-year lists: best-ofs, best-selllers, and more. Then Erica Ezeifedi talks to Rodney Freeman, former librarian and producer of the documentary Are You a Librarian , about the rich & overlooked history of Black librarianship in the US.