A group of Dutch publishers, bookstores and media company DPG are going to set up a platform together, which will offer audiobooks, e-books and podcasts for 12.99 euros per month. The platform will be called Whisper and should start next month, according to a press release. As an investor, Veronica Ventures is involved in the project, the investment branch of Vereniging Veronica.
This will connect a large network of writers, columnists, journalists, reviewers and booksellers, who will advise readers and listeners in choosing their next book or podcast. “Writers, booksellers, journalists and reviewers will actively act as reading advisors to Whisper, for example with tip lists.”
The network consists of the book publishers Singel Uitgevers, WPG Uitgevers and VBK Uitgevers, the bookstore chains Libris and Blz. bookstores and the large media company DPG, which includes de Volkskrant, AD, nu.nl, Margriet and QMusic.
The announcement comes less than a month after the arrival of Podimo in the Netherlands, a Danish provider of podcasts and audiobooks. Major international platforms such as Spotify and Apple are the main distributors of podcasts and also offer audiobooks.
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“Publishers and bookshops have been discussing the increasing role of foreign subscription platforms on the Dutch market for some time and have decided that it is time to start their own initiative alongside this,” said the authors of the publishers.
The publishers that participate in Whisper also continue to offer podcasts on existing platforms, such as Storytel, Kobo and Podimo e-books, audio books.