My Oxford Year author Julia Whelan reveals how she wants to change the audiobook industry. The romance novel was Whelan’s debut work, focusing on the story of a young woman named Anna who sets out to attend England’s Oxford University. There, she meets a man who will change both of their lives.

This year, My Oxford Year was released as a movie of the same name, directed by Iain Morris and debuting on Netflix on Aug. 1. My Oxford Year stars Sofia Carson and Corey Mylchreest in the lead roles, with a supporting cast that includes Dougray Scott, Catherine McCormack, Harry Trevaldwyn, and Poppy Gilbert.

Meanwhile, via The Rolling Stone, Whelan explained how she wishes to change the audiobook industry through the romance genre. This stemmed from her own work providing the voice of Amy in the audiobook for Gone Girl, for which she was only paid $2,500. The author noted that audiobooks are “a multibillion-dollar industry.”

Despite this, Whelan argues that audiobook narrators are not being fairly compensated. So, she is taking matters into her own hands and trying to change the industry through her creation of Audiobrary. Check out the comments from Whelan below:

[About Gone Girl] I always joke that that’s my villain origin story. […]

When you’re dealing with books about emotional connection, about relationships, audiobooks are unmatched. But narrators are not part of the system of success. We’re so far beyond it’s not fair. It’s actually unethical. […]

[Audiobooks are] a multibillion-dollar industry with double-digit growth year over year for the last decade, [but] the audiobook narrator’s rates have not followed that kind of growth. It was getting to the point where I was so resentful of that, I was having a hard time getting in the booth and doing my job. So I had to feel like I was doing something. Audiobrary is just literally coming out of righteous rage.

What This Means For Julia Whelan

Whelan came at authorship from an interesting angle because she actually got her start as an audiobook narrator. This includes her reading for Gone Girl, as well as the hit Tara Westover memoir Educated. Her experience has earned her several Audie Awards nominations and wins, and the тιтle of the “Adele of audiobooks” from The New Yorker.

In 2024, before the release of My Oxford Year on Netflix, Whelan launched a service called Audiobrary, which she mentioned in her quote. More akin to a model that would be found on streaming, Audiobrary pays voice artists royalties based on their books’ performances. She has used the romance genre to catapult this service, which also includes other genres.

Now, Whelan will likely have an even more elevated voice because of My Oxford Year. While the film is getting mixed reviews from critics, it is finding a significant viewership base. It was the No. 3 movie worldwide for the week of July 28 to Aug. 3, despite only being on Netflix for half of the data period.

Our Take On Julia Whelan’s Audiobook Plan

Whelan is responding to the needs of an industry that is not deeply understood by many. Due to the creation of readily available sources like Audible and Spotify, audiobooks are becoming a more popular method of consuming literature. The romance genre is also increasingly popular, so the My Oxford Year author has chosen the right avenue to help improve the medium.