10069393Sounds from the NorthClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKBibliophiles would love to buy digital audiobooks from their local independent or high street bookshop. Independent bookshops in turn would be delighted to meet this demand given the rapid growth in the audiobook market. Independent bookshops used to sell audiobooks on tapes and CDs, but audiobooks are now increasingly sold as digital MP3 downloads or streamed. The dominant online audiobooks platforms as operated by Audible, Amazon, and Spotify are proprietary walled gardens. Thus, there is currently no platform that allows bookshops in the UK to sell audiobooks in non-physical format. The project 'Sounds from the North' by Augmented Reading Technologies (ART) Ltd in Newcastle creates an original and innovative approach for independent bookshops to sell audiobooks to their customers. Participating bookshops can sell hardbacks at the recommended retail price (RRP). The purchase price for the hardback -- typically between £20 and £40 - will include free access to the corresponding audiobook for twelve months. In selected cases these "indie exclusives" may also include custom end papers and sprayed edges exclusive to indie bookshops. The bundle of hardback + audiobook is dynamically created by Augmented Reading Technologies (ART) Ltd at check-out. The proposition is loosely modelled on how vinyl records, a premium product for music lovers and aficionados, are sold bundled with MP3 downloads at a premium price. What makes the project innovative is not only the cloud platform for audiobooks to be streamed and accessed entirely in the browser on any connected device through a one-click approach, but the point-of sale platform that allows for the audiobook bundle to be created dynamically and in real-time. This approach avoids the production and supply-chain hurdles for creating such a bundle by existing means because print production and distribution is so different from audiobook production and distribution. The service will help broaden consumer access to audiobooks and is an alternative means for publishers to create "indie exclusives" that support a vibrant and diverse retail market place for books.