Aurelie de Troyer, Head of Content, International at Audible.
By Carlo Carrenho, Contributing Editor
Three percent. That is the figure cited for years in U.S. publishing discussions for the remarkably small share of books published in translation. But “for years” is doing a lot of work here. That figure comes from a Bowker press release from 2005, which reported that 375,000 new books were published in English worldwide in 2004 and 14,440 were translations—just over 3%.Another measure is no more encouraging. A 2025 analysis by Jed Kudrick and Sean DiLeonardi published by Public Books found that translations accounted for just 2.4% of fiction bestsellers appearing on The New York Times bestseller lists between 1931 and 2020.
Neither figure offers anything close to a current market snapshot in 2026. But both point to a reality international publishers and agents know well: getting a book translated into English, particularly in the U.S., remains one of the toughest propositions in international rights selling. It is a familiar complaint in the halls of international book fairs—and not one you have to work very hard to overhear.
Against that backdrop, an Audible U.K. announcement this week is especially notable. In a September 8 release, the company said it has quadrupled its output of Audible Originals translated from European languages into English in 2026, a 300% year-over-year increase. And by the end of the year, Audible officials say such translations will account for nearly a quarter of its U.K. English Originals slate, more than double their share in 2025.
Audible does not disclose how many translated titles sit behind those percentages. But Lisa Higginson, Senior Director of U.K. Content, offered a useful benchmark in a March 20, 2025 episode of The Spoken World podcast, hosted by Christopher Kenneally: her team commissioned around 60 U.K. titles per year then, although that figure covered Audible’s broader original-content slate, including podcasts as well as audiobooks.
‘Great Storytelling Transcends Borders’
Audible’s current translation push centers on Germany, France, Spain and Italy, with crime, thriller, mystery, and romantasy making up most of the slate, alongside some wellness titles.
The current geographic focus makes sense: these are the four non-English European markets where Audible operates dedicated marketplaces, enabling the company to look at its own consumption and audience data before deciding which local ‘Originals’ to translate into English.
The Three Musketeers, released September 3, is Audible’s first French-to-English Original translation.
“The success of these titles has reinforced our belief that great storytelling transcends language and borders,” Aurelie de Troyer, Head of Audible Content, International, said in the announcement. She added that a more global audio market gives Audible an opportunity to introduce English-language listeners to writers and creators from other markets.
For now, German language Originals are leading the push. Titles highlighted by Audible include Anthony Khaseria’s The Ratcatcher 2, following the success of The Ratcatcher; Cat Lady by Tuuli Kanervankallio and Katherine Rosow Chrisman, voiced in English by Richard E. Grant and Jessie Buckley; and Elli J. Morrigan’s romantasy sequel Forged By Fire. Its predecessor, Bound By Fire, is Audible’s most-listened-to English Original book translation to date.
Other German-language titles include Yves Eugene Hensel’s Loch Dorcha, narrated by Daisy Ridley; Sebastian Fitzek and Annika Strauss’s REM, narrated by Katie Stevens; and Natalie Tielcke’s YA thriller Pretty Dead Girl.
But the slate is also widening beyond Germany. The Three Musketeers, released September 3, is Audible’s first French-to-English Original translation, with a full cast including Christopher Eccleston, Camille Cottin and Christopher Patrick Chung. Italy contributes Amalfi Mysteries, due October 22 and spun off from the Prime Video series Hotel Costiera. Spain’s rural thriller Los lobos de Urrun arrives in English as The Hunting Season on October 15.
The casting choices are revealing as well. Among the productions highlighted by Audible with publicly disclosed casts, REM stands out as the only clearly American-led production. The others are British or Irish-led, or predominantly use U.K.-based talent.
That makes sense when set against the U.K. market: according to NielsenIQ BookData research for the Booker Prize Foundation, translated-fiction sales (excluding graphic novels, comics and manga) rose from 2.9 million copies and £23.2 million in 2016 to 3.8 million copies and £40.7 million in 2025—an increase of 31% in volume and 75% in value.
Against the overall 2025 U.K. market for print fiction of roughly 64.6 million copies and £581.9 million, as reported by The Bookseller, traditional translated fiction alone (again, excluding graphic novels, comics, and manga) amounted then to approximately 5.9% of all fiction copies and 7% of spending. Those shares are calculations based on the two Nielsen datasets, not figures published directly by Nielsen. But they point in the same direction: translated fiction is becoming a more meaningful part of U.K. reading and spending.
Meanwhile, there is another important feature of Audible’s approach. All the titles highlighted in the announcement were already Audible Originals in their original-language markets, suggesting Audible is building its English translation slate from productions developed for local markets. That makes this as much a strategy for moving Audible’s commissioned content across markets as it is a translation strategy.
For now, the move suggests the translation ship is crossing the Channel, bringing European content into the U.K. with British listeners firmly in mind. The next question is whether it can also cross the pond, and perhaps help move the rusty needle on that decades-old 3% figure in the United States.