If you love reading books but don’t have the time, and spend a large part of your day traveling, Amazon-backed Audible has the perfect solution for you.

The audiobook service will be bringing 200,000 pieces of content to India, including 400 exclusive titles by leading Indian authors. What’s even better news is that the service will be much cheaper than it is in the America, at Rs 199 per month as opposed to $14.95 per month in the US.

Audible will offer a one-month free trial for all potential customers with Amazon Prime members getting two extra free months. Customers will have access to a free book every month, with extra books available at a-la-carte prices. The company plans to tie up with local content creators to produce content in regional languages soon, but will start off as an English-only service.

Founder and chief executive officer, Don Katz, who started the company in 1995, is clear that India is a big market for the service, and has been on the horizon for some time.

"We’ve had tens of thousands of Indian customers for a long time who go to the British Audible service or the US Audible service and pay much more than they probably should because of the exchange rates – I’m excited about the millions of people in India who will be able to experience the service," Katz said.

While a beta version of Audible has been available to select customers in India for over 6 months, this launch will be a litmus test for the company before it begins to invest significantly to create Indian content in regional languages.

For now, Audible India will have a few local employees, mostly engaged in spreading the word and finding creative partnerships. Katz is hoping to get Bollywood actors and directors excited about the platform to facilitate collaborations in the future – and actors Radhika Apte, Kalki Koechlin and Rajkummar Rao will be part of the launch event.

Globally, Audible subscribers spend an average of two hours a day listening to audiobooks, often while travelling to and from work. The strategy to have a low price point in India is in the hopes of emulating similar patterns, and is in synergy with the pricing of other Amazon subscription-based offerings.

Amazon Prime, for example, is priced at Rs 999 a year for Indian subscribers as opposed to nearly Rs 9,000 a year in the United States. Katz will be hoping that Audible’s first-mover advantage coupled with aggressive pricing and the promise of regional content will make its India story a successful one.

First Published:Nov 13, 2018 9:16 PM IST