Eagle-eyed members may have noticed that in a first for Calibre, we were able to get  Spare by Prince Harry into the collection on the same day that it was published. We have been able to do this because of the fantastic agreements we now have with several publishers who are donating their audiobooks to us.

In this short interview, we chat with Emma, our Director of Commissioning and Editorial, about what the benefits these publishing deals bring to our members.

Q. Emma, the whole office were thrilled that Editorial and production managed to get Spare by Prince Harry into the collection on its publication date. How hard was it to achieve? 

A. This was incredibly easy as our fantastic agreement with Penguin Random House means that we get notified in advance of books that will be published so we know what is coming and when it will be released.

Q. Did it take some planning? 

A. There was a little bit of planning involved. Once it arrived it was then a case of being highly organised, to make sure we could time it all perfectly. There is some 'editorial admin' to do before we can release a book, which includes cataloging it on our system before sending it to the studio to process. During production, any relevant announcements are added and then the book needs to be made ready for its release in all the different formats. The final step is to load it onto our download and streaming platforms, which needs 24 hours between uploading and it being available to our members. It was certainly a real team effort to get everything in place on time.

Q. Do you have any plans to do the same for any other books this year? 

A. The fact that we now have books being donated from several publishers means that potentially we can achieve this in the future with other titles so that our members can be listening to books on the same day that they are published. Watch this space!

Q. What other benefits does the publishers donating their titles give our members? 

A. It has a very positive impact on our members as it means we can provide a wider range of titles and authors, we can fill gaps in series and the money we would have spent on purchasing these titles can be utilised in buying more books and developing other services for our members. Also, we hope that having these titles available will help attract new members, helping us to grow and reach more people who would benefit from our service. Needless to say, we are very appreciative of all the Publishers who we have agreements with.