Colin Hauer: From Live Music to the Audiobook Business

In the debut episode of The Naked Publisher, Carlo Carrenho and Rüdiger Wischenbart sit down with Colin Hauer, CEO of Hörbuch Hamburg, for a candid conversation about the transformation of the global audio business. From streaming and AI to discoverability, children’s audio, and the future of publishing, Hauer explains how audiobooks became “everywhere — and invisible.” The episode also reveals the surprising story of how a concert by a band he once produced later found its way into a book by J.K. Rowling, alongside reflections on his own journey into publishing and the mindset behind one of Europe’s leading audio executives.