Why audio first?

I’ve had a few enquiries asking what I mean by an audio first publisher, and indeed why I want PF Press to focus on audio. As an author it took me a long time to accept and embrace that my true passion was for the spoken word, oral storytelling and audiobooks. Since embracing it I feel a passionate need to be an advocate for the modern iteration of an ancient tradition of oral storytelling, pre-dating the written word and fundamental to human experience since we learned to grunt. I love being told a story more than anything else on Earth. I inhale audiobooks and simply cannot be without them. But there are a few aspects of the audiobook industry that I don’t like, and want PF Press to address.

PF Press will treat the audiobook not as a bolt on to a print edition, but as the art itself. Equal to the print edition but different. Immersive in a different way. I have an aptitude for matching prose to a voice actor. I’ll never hold auditions, I trawl endlessly through agency websites listening to voice reels until I find the storyteller that matches the story. And I love every minute of it. I’ll only ever collaborate with voice actors, never with celebrities working a side-hustle. Audio is the fastest growing part of our industry but listeners aren’t always being treated with the same respect as readers. PF Press will treat audiobooks with the same deference and respect that a boutique small press treats a beautiful print edition book. Never in pursuit solely of commercial viability and focussed always on telling beautiful stories.

I’ll work with indie authors and those published by a small press, where there’s a print edition but no audiobook. Helping them to reach a new audience. I’ll collaborate with writers and poets to create new audio-only works. I’m currently having some very exciting conversations with writers about projects for 2027 and hope to be able to bring you more news shortly.

In the meantime, my own novella: Darling Sorrow will be released on audio in October, narrated by the wonderful voice actor Kevin Cherry. The first PF Press audiobook! I’m so excited to share it with you and for the future as an audio first publisher.

Steve.