Podium is taking the winner\u2019s stage in the publishing arena these days thanks to an emphasis on contemporary romance titles that are hitting bestseller lists. For the publishing house that was known as one of the largest audiobook publishers in the world, the move into print and e-book publishing has been nothing but a boon.<\/p>\n
Biggest hits to date include K.A. Knight\u2019s Den of Vipers and C.R. Jane\u2019s Pucking Wrong series, beginning with The Pucking Wrong Number. There\u2019s also been healthy demand for Julie C. Dao\u2019s Now Comes the Mist, a Dracula retelling; the MM romantasy A Spell for Heartsickness by Alistair Reeves; and a new C.R. Jane series that launched this spring with The Wrong Quarterback.<\/p>\n
\u201cBookTok, baby!\u201d is a major driver of these titles\u2019 success, according to VP, Editorial Director, Nicole Passage. \u201cThe romance community\u2014both readers and authors\u2014has been incredibly adept at harnessing the power of social media, in particular TikTok, to amplify content in this genre and deliver happily-ever-after upon happily-ever-after to an audience voracious for love stories.\u201d Passage points to the increase in demand for romance literature in general, which bumps up subgenres at which Podium excels, including romantasy, dark romance, sports romance, reverse-harem, and MM, to name just a few.<\/p>\n
Launched in 2012 as an audiobook creator, Podium gained attention with its audiobook adaptation of Andy Weir\u2019s e-book original The Martian, which became a huge bestseller. Now rebranded Podium Entertainment, it has three divisions: Podium Audio, Podium Publishing, and Podium International.<\/p>\n
Podium\u2019s publishing arm also dabbles in thrillers, horror, science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. Fall 2025 titles include At Poupon\u2019s Table, wine distributor Kermit Lynch\u2019s debut; thriller author Joe Hart\u2019s gothic suspense Wyndclyffe; Bryn Greenwood\u2019s thriller Nobody Knows You\u2019re Here; Old Guns, the first in a new military sci-fi series by J.N. Chaney and Nicholas Sansbury Smith; and My Big Goblin Space Program, an isekai LitRPG from Scott Warren.<\/p>\n
The publisher\u2019s expansion beyond audiobooks and digital-only sales has taken its titles into brick-and-mortar stores, and Passage notes the thrill of seeing Podium titles on Barnes & Noble tables and in big-box retailers such as Target and Walmart. The publishing house has also created deluxe print editions of some titles, including Knight\u2019s Den of Vipers, which was originally self-published.<\/p>\n
\u201cSprayed edges, stenciled artwork, and exclusive content such as bonus scenes and a signed letter from the author serve to differentiate the Podium edition from those previously available,\u201d Passage says. Passage also spotlights creative displays by retailers, including alternating spines and sprayed edges facing out, as helping the success of these titles in traditional retail stores.<\/p>\n
\u201cPodium\u2019s core mission is to grow our authors\u2019 readership, so, after conquering the major digital realm, expansion of our line into brick-and-mortar retailers was the logical next step,\u201d says Publisher Victoria Gerken. The publishing house sees only growth in the future. Its expertise in content and performance marketing allows it to engage audiences where they are and drive discovery in unique ways. Releasing physical books and placing them where readers live and shop increases access to authors\u2019 work and \u201cis a true complement to our already strong online sales,\u201d according to Gerken.<\/p>\n
Podium\u2019s mission is amplification across all formats for all its authors. \u201cOur historical success aiding indie authors in scaling their business has proven that our nimble, digital-first approach can likewise help traditionally published authors attain new heights,\u201d Gerken says. \u201cAs we further establish our reputation with traditional retailers and libraries, we look forward to continuing to reach untapped audiences for all of our authors.”<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t A version of this article appeared in the 06\/30\/2025 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline:\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Podium is taking the winner\u2019s stage in the publishing arena these days thanks to an emphasis on contemporary…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":27026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[2431,6229,13978,23552,1022,23555,23553,23554,171,23556,23561,23562,23558,23563,23557,23559,23560,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-27025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-amazon","9":"tag-amazon-com","10":"tag-book","11":"tag-book-publishing","12":"tag-books","13":"tag-digital-books","14":"tag-e-books","15":"tag-ebooks","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-financial-reporting","18":"tag-houghton-mifflin-harcourt","19":"tag-kindle","20":"tag-penguin","21":"tag-publishers-weekly","22":"tag-random-house","23":"tag-simon-schuster","24":"tag-simon-and-schuster","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114772161774924405","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}