‘Tis the season for book awards! And while we at Libro.fm love following along with bookish prizes, we always can’t help but wonder what booksellers have to say.
It’s no secret that we love independent bookshops at Libro.fm—we share profits with them! And booksellers play an integral role in our curation—instead of being algorithm driven, the recommendations you see across our website and app come from them. You’ll find their favorite reads called out via our Bookseller Picks (reviews) and custom playlists.
So, put that all together, and we came up with the Libro.fm Bookseller Choice Awards!
The Awards highlight the year’s best audiobooks, as chosen by booksellers from around the globe. We invited our bookselling partners at over 3,000 indie bookshops to vote across categories featuring their favorite Bookseller Picks.*
Selected by the Libro.fm team after evaluating trends in Bookseller Pick data, the 2024 categories are:
- Audiobook of the Year
- Best Under-the-Radar Audiobook
- Audiobook to Inspire a Better World
- Read to Make You Fall in Love With Audiobooks
- Best Audiobook for a Long Trip
Without further ado, here are this year’s winners:
Best Audiobook for a Long Trip
Many of us will be traveling for the holidays, and sometimes with kids. Booksellers noted how they couldn’t get enough of this attention-grabbing story!
The Third Gilmore Girl
“From start to finish Kelly Bishop’s voice and story drew me in and had me enthralled.”
—Mandy, Fred & June’s Books
Read to Make You Fall in Love With Audiobooks
Booksellers raved about the narration of this story and the nostalgia it summoned.
Funny Story
“Narrated by Julia Whelan, you don’t want to miss this cute romance…My new favorite Emily Henry book!”
—Claire, Bright Side Bookshop
Audiobook to Inspire a Better World
Books have the power to create change. This nonfiction read left many booksellers feeling inspired and motivated, and we hope that it will do the same for Libro.fm readers.
The Message
“The way he reads his story out loud, it’s so worth to listen to his work.”
—Liz, The Little Bookshop
Best Under-the-Radar Audiobook
Although this audiobook has multiple glowing reviews from booksellers, it isn’t as well known to readers. Let’s spread the word!
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins
“P. Djèlí Clark’s writing is innovative and imaginative…[in this] juggernaut of a novella that weaves together a little something for everyone.”
—Jenni, Mysterious Galaxy Books
Audiobook of the Year
Audiobook of the Year nominations not only received numerous bookseller recommendations across the globe, but reviews praising everything from the author’s writing to the narration to the production of the audiobook. This audiobook is many of our booksellers’ favorite read of the year!
James
“This isn’t a retelling of a classic—this is MUCH better! James is a powerhouse of a novel [and] Dominic Hoffman is such a talented narrator.”
—Nadine, Birchbark Books
Check out the full playlist of winners!
The fine print:
- Bookselling partners voted between November 12 and 22 on audiobooks across five categories. Polls remained open for seven days each.
- Category nominations were pulled from data on Bookseller Picks between November 1, 2023-November 1, 2024 (the eligibility period). Nominations are available on Libro.fm, and can span age ranges, genres, and languages.
- The audiobooks that received the most votes are named winners. In the case of a tie, a re-vote between the final two audiobooks was held.