Frankfurt am Main, March 21, 2023 – Bookwire, the leading global provider of digital services for publishers, and Podium, a digital-first publisher and one of the fastest growing audiobook publishers in North America, announce a new partnership.
The partnership will allow Podium to take full advantage of Bookwire’s market-leading OS distribution platform, which not only enables Podium’s audiobooks to be delivered seamlessly and with high levels of quality, speed and automation to the widest range of global sales partners, but also allows Podium to harness audio tools created by Bookwire including enhanced sales analytics, windowing, metadata optimization, and end to end audiobook production.
Podium CEO Scott Dickey stated, “As our business has evolved and increased in complexity it was critically important to shore up our production and distribution capabilities. After evaluating the landscape of potential partners and resources available to our team it became clear that Bookwire was the most capable and trusted option. Partnering with Bookwire has enabled Podium to accelerate our growth and continue our march as the fastest growing digital publisher in North America.”
“I have long admired Podium’s creativity and ambition in the audio space, and we are thrilled to partner with them to help accelerate their continued growth. Our mission is to provide the number one audiobook service to publishers worldwide, and Podium is simply one of the very best in the business,” said Videl Bar-Kar, Vice President Audio at Bookwire.
“The Bookwire OS platform provides publishers with a powerful tool to optimize their digital distribution strategies in one solution. By leveraging Bookwire’s technology, Podium is gaining efficiencies and the ability to scale their business more easily. We are excited to offer this innovative technology to Podium as part of our partnership,” says Brittyne Lewis, Country Manager of the US at Bookwire.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Podium has become a leader in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Romance, and has been a pioneer in bringing popular sub-genres such as Gamelit, LitRPG, and Progression Fantasy to the fore. Podium first gained international notice for turning author Andy Weir’s The Martian into one of the most successful audiobooks in history. Today, the company is a top-ten audiobook publisher and has expanded into publishing in eBook and print. Podium’s expansive growth has continued internationally through a partnership with European publisher Saga Egmont to translate and produce their top intellectual property in myriad non-English languages.
About Podium
Podium is a leading digital-first publisher whose mission is to change the lives of trendsetting storytellers by discovering, developing, and amplifying their work. Podium leverages proprietary technology to identify these trendsetting storytellers and then brings a creator-economy approach to production, distribution, and monetization of that content. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Podium is the fastest growing digital publisher in North America. With a focus on genre fiction, Podium has become a leader in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Romance, and has been a pioneer in bringing the popular sub-genres of Gamelit, LitRPG, Progression Fantasy, and more to the fore. Podium first gained international notice for turning author Andy Weir’s The Martian into one of the most successful audiobooks in history. Today, the company is a top-ten audiobook publisher and has expanded across all formats of publishing.
About Bookwire & “Bookwire OS – One Solution”
Bookwire GmbH was founded in Frankfurt in 2010 as a service provider for publisher distribution of eBooks and digital content. It has since become one of the leading international businesses in digital publishing technology. Bookwire currently employs 150 people in Germany, the UK, Spain, France, Brazil, Mexico and the USA, who take care of more than 2,500 publishers in the fields of eBooks, audiobooks, podcasts and Print-on-Demand. The pioneering software “Bookwire OS – One Solution”, launched in 2019, has delivered, analyzed and marketed around 800,000 eBooks and 200,000 audiobooks in all relevant distribution channels. In addition to the latest customer analytics and pricing technology, publishing clients of Bookwire GmbH also have access to individual support from account & marketing managers who look after the clients from end to end. In 2019, the audiobook production solution “We Audiobook You” (WAY) bagged the business the first “Digital Publishing Award” in the field of B2B solutions. Bookwire GmbH is managed by its founders Jens Klingelhöfer and John Ruhrmann, and has branches in Barcelona, London, Mexico City, São Paulo, New York and Paris, in addition to the company headquarters in Frankfurt am Main and the “Digital Hub” in Dortmund.