I love audio books. I have one going all the time in my car. Even when I don’t leave the house for five days or even a week, I seem to have no problem picking up with the story where I left off. Right now I’m in the latter half of A Thousand Splendid Suns and loving it. I listen to both fiction and non-fiction, and I also listen to the Bible on audio, too.
So I was not at all surprised to learn this from PublishersLunch:
The Audio Publishers Association (APA) reports results of their recent sales survey, conducted by research firm Lewis & Clark Research, in which 30 audio publishers reported their own data for 2006. On that basis, with additional "factoring" for non-participating publishers, they found a 6 percent increase in sales over 2005, and "estimated" the market at $923 million.
In their data pool, CDs comprise 77 percent of dollar sales and downloads comprise 14 percent (very close to the number recently reported by RH Audio). Direct sales to libraries continue to rise, now comprising 32 percent of sales. And unabridged titles comprise 71 percent of sales.
Three of my Christian novels are available on audio books from Recorded Books, all of them unabridged versions, which is the only kind I like to listen to myself.
Have you listened to a great book lately?
-rlh-
I love audiobooks! I hate housework, and listening to a book makes it tolerable. It’s also great for exercising. I put my workout video in with the volume off, and follow the moves while I listen to a book or Teaching Company tape.
Right now I’m listening to Sisterchicks in Gondolas, which is a hoot. Before that I listened to Summer of Light by W. Dale Cramer, which was excellent.
Hi Robin! I haven’t listened to a great book lately, but I’d love to get into narrating them! As you know, I’m a professional voice-over artist. If you have any suggestions or a direction to point me in, let me know! 🙂
I love audio books too. Makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something in the car. My kids and I are listening to Eragon right now. Another story we loved together was Dragon Rider. Even fun for adults! Brendan Fraser did a fabulous job. Personally, I listened to Kite Runner. Amazing.
We’ve been working through the library’s collection of Beverly Cleary, with a Mr. Popper’s Penguins stuck in there. Mary Poppins is waiting in the wings.
Hey Robin, AudioBooks are fantastic things. My mother (she’s 86) has been legally blind since 1999 (completely lost her sight 2 years ago) and has been listening to audiobooks ever since. The State of Texas has the “Talking Books” program…it’s a library of sorts for the visually impaired. Mom blazes through 2-3 books a day while she knits or crochets. I think she would lose her mind without her books! 🙂
Audiobooks
The Fiction Works produces each story as a full theatrical production. Thousands of
Hi Robin my son Daneil has learnt a new language through audio books. He learnt Spanish language with right accent. I have downloaded this language book from
http://www.hear-now-audio-books.com and they even offered me a free audio book of Macbeth