Reflections on the state of the audio book industry
I’ve been a bit reflective as of late, and with Matt taking over the update process I find myself with even more time to look at the big picture. More dissertations like this might be forthcoming. Heck, I should podcast this stuff.
I’ve been accused of being a rebel and of harboring an open hostility towards established protocols of one form or another. Guilty as charged. And you can add Podiobooks.com to that list of disruptive things I’ve done and will probably continue to do.
You see, I never meant to get into the audio book business. No, I’m serious. I’m a huge fan of books and am always reading. I always have two or three dead-tree versions waiting for my attention and I keep an e-book on my Treo so that I can snatch moments of consumption when I’m… indisposed, on the road. Until a couple of years ago, I had never even listened to an audio book. Scott Card’s Ender’s Game changed that for me on a family vacation, and I loved the experience.
But fast-forward to the present, and the total number of traditional audio books consumed personally by me is a number I can count on one hand. And I’m not alone. Audio books remain a small part of the overall book publishing industry. And all the while the audio book “purists” continue to fight against innovation in the industry.
Each year, nearly three quarter of a million books are published. It’s my understanding that only a small percentage of those are made into audio books. I don’t have the actual number, but I do know that the largest audio book retailer has access to only 35,000 titles.
The problems plaguing this industry are many. From distribution and delivery to creation and consumption — things are not as they should be to cause breakout success for audio versions of books. And I’m not saying that our methods at Podiobooks.com solve the problems. I’m an arrogant ass sometimes, but not that arrogant and assy.
But I do aim to change things a bit and bring some additional choices to the listening public — even if the industry kicks and screams the whole time. That’s OK. As I said, I never meant to get in the audio book business in the first place.
So here’s my challenge to the audio book publishers and authors out there who see some sense in what I’m saying — drop me a line. I’ve got a few ideas on how we can buck the trend of the biz and do some things differently, all while keeping the “purists” happy and not messing with models that are working. No need to throw the baby out with the bath water. I just wanna build the kid a swingset so he can have some fun.
December 22nd, 2006 at 4:27 pm
“…audio book “purists” continue to fight against innovation in the industry.”
Evo, can you expand on this? Who are these purists? What do they WANT? Other than their product being the only thing on the market?
December 23rd, 2006 at 1:23 am
I think Evo’s talking about the old school audiobook fanatic. The people who believe that an unabridged narration in a single voice, with no extras like music, sound or voice effects is the only true way to make an audiobook. These are the hardcore audiobook listeners, not the causal folks. These people get their audiobooks from places like Books On Tape, Blackstone Audiobooks and Recorded Books, they like the hard stuff, and likely they don’t even shop at a local bookshop. I’m speaking in generalities of course but I think this is a big percentage of the old-school audiobook population.
I’m half in that camp myself. I’d take a blind-bought old fashioned single voiced narratied and unabridged audiobook over an abridged or “enhanced” audiobook 19 times out of 20. There’s almost nothing better than just the text and a fine performer reading it.
That said, there are some audiobooks like those from Full Cast Audio that do multivoiced with light music here and there and do it extremely well.
Sound effects in a novel are just about the most repulsive thing to a hardcore audiobook enthusiast. At least in my experience.
December 23rd, 2006 at 4:39 pm
I say there is plenty of room for both. A well read story without sound effects and music can be great. I also love the highly produced stuff with music and sound effects. Obviously with the stuff that I produce, I like the music and sound effects. Not everyone is going to like that, and that is OK. Not everyone is going to like our stories no matter how they are produced. I produce what I like. If it sells, then so much the better.
January 15th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
This is really relevant. Even in trad book publishing 20 years ago it was very wine and cheese anglo snobbery.
Things have changed though through the work of folk like yourself and fab people like the crew at Byron Bay Writers Festival – very all inclusive of everyone with humour intelligence and appreciation of diversity.
Hopefully the industry will benefit from more indie production as well as trad titles with good audio acting.
bec
http://www.audiobookgiftshop.com
February 13th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Well, I say that there are certainly not enough books that make it to audio to start with, but that will be changing. The younger generation hardly picks up a book anymore, but look how many you see walking, eating, even chatting with others and they still have their earplugs in….
Provided they are not all going to be hearing-impaired by the time they start to slow down a bit and take time for literature, they are certainly going to be VERY good customers for audiobooks. Today this is still very much a niche market.
Rolf
Audio Books Corner
August 13th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
I think there are enought audiobooks, books on tape, and audiobook torrents out there for every taste.
I appreciate both the single voice narrated audiobooks, and the dramatic audiobooks with multiple voices and sound effects.
April 7th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
[...] unintentional stumbler (self proclaimed) into the audiobook business, states that (paraphrased) the audiobook industry is moribund, dinosaurish, and fearful of change. I must agree! I’m not sure what I’m agreeing with, since there’s been so much [...]