When is a book not a book? When it is performed by a starry cast of hundreds. Except it has always been more complicated than thatNews this week of a 17% hike in the UK’s audiobook sales might seem like a niche business story, but it raises an existential question. What exactly is an audiobook today? Is it a book? Is it a play? Or is it becoming something else entirely? What is clear is that a jostle for market dominance is driving it into new dimensions. The streaming platform Spotify followed its move into podcasting two years ago with the launch of an audiobooks business. Though it has yet to start making its own recordings, last autumn it made a deal for 200,000 audiobooks to be available to its premium users.Not to be outdone, Amazon-owned Audible – accustomed to being the market leader – upped its game, hiring the Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes to record multi-voice versions of the Dickens novels Oliver Twist and David Copperfield, and announcing last month that it had reached an agreement for a recording of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series, voiced by more than 100 actors and featuring a “groundbreaking new soundscape”. The new Potter audiobooks, it said, would not usurp but “sit alongside and complement” conventional recordings by Stephen Fry and Jim Dale, which Audible also hosts. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2024-05-10 17:25:03 UTC ]
Amazon’s audiobook service Audible and phone apps for reading the holy books of Islam and Christianity have disappeared from the Apple store in mainland China Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2021-10-15 21:01:46 UTC ]
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From Grange Hill to the West End, via Eurovision and the Brit awards, the star has built multiple careers. She talks about stage-school pressure, TV diversity and playing Hermione in Harry Potter and the Cursed ChildMichelle Gayle was 10 months into her role as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-10-13 08:41:05 UTC ]
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The installation marks the 20th anniversary of the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2021-10-07 15:35:52 UTC ]
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Farshore has adopted a "total audio" strategy which will see the imprint publish an audiobook for every narrative book published in print. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-05 22:40:19 UTC ]
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Love listening to audiobooks at 1.25 or 1.5 or even 2 times the speed? Here's your challenge to slow down and listen with intention. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-10-04 10:39:00 UTC ]
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Bafta-winning actor Toby Jones will read the audiobook of John le Carré’s final novel, Silverview, which publishes on 14th October 2021. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-28 22:01:16 UTC ]
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You no longer have to wonder just what Netflix's adaptation of Sandman will look like. Netflix has shared a teaser for The Sandman that reveals the pivotal moment when an occult ritual captures Morpheus (aka Dream, played by Tom Sturridge) and sets the story in motion. As author Neil Gaiman put... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2021-09-25 17:30:41 UTC ]
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The technology of Speechki, an exhibitor at Frankfurter Buchmesse, offers faster, less expensive paths to audiobook production. (Sponsored) The post Speechki: Synthetic Voicing to Augment the Industry’s Audiobook Inventory appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-09-21 19:39:32 UTC ]
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As indicated in a leak earlier this week, Amazon is updating the Kindle Paperwhite. The fifth-gen Paperwhite (which marks the first refresh in nearly three years) has a larger, 6.8-inch display, compared with the previous model's six-inch screen. The company says the 300 ppi screen is glare-free... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2021-09-21 13:00:32 UTC ]
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Storytel reports seeing a rise in audiobook downloads in Russia by 45 percent in the last year. LitRes leads market. The post Audiobooks in Russia: Storytel and LitRes Cite Rising Interest appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-09-14 11:42:09 UTC ]
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Two illustrations from J K Rowling's forthcoming children's book The Christmas Pig (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) have been revealed. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-13 21:29:03 UTC ]
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Traveling with young children is like trying to turn a cruise ship: It’s cumbersome, takes a significant amount of planning and requires a team effort. Because I apparently lack any amount of common sense, I recently took a 3,000-mile RV trip with my partner and two toddlers. Traveling with... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2021-09-01 12:30:02 UTC ]
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Booming audiobook sales and strong performances in some of its largest markets boosted profits up 55.1% at Penguin Random House in the first six months of 2021. Revenue rose 10.9%, to €1.80 billion. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Now might be a good time to buy an e-reader for school — or that end-of-summer vacation. Amazon has cut the price of the ad-supported 8GB Kindle Paperwhite to an all-time low of $71 in a one-day-only sale, well below the official $130 sticker. That's lower than what we saw just two weeks... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2021-08-29 15:44:54 UTC ]
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Many shops plan to open early for the arrival of Sally Rooney’s latest novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You next monthWhen they were children they lined the streets in their witch hats and capes, keen to pick up the latest Harry Potter title as bookshops opened their doors at midnight. Now they... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-08-28 15:00:00 UTC ]
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Weruche Opia, best known for her role in Michaela Coel’s Bafta-winning series "I May Destroy You", will read the audiobook of the Nigerian essay collection Of This Our Country (The Borough Press) alongside fellow actor Oseloka Obi. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-26 15:58:01 UTC ]
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Cambridge University Press is to release an audiobook featuring all of Shakespeares sonnets, narrated by Lolita Chakrabarti and Kenneth Branagh. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-25 16:30:36 UTC ]
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Audible is releasing an audiobook of Peter Kay’s record-breaking autobiography The Sound of Laughter in September with two new and exclusive bonus chapters. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-25 06:53:06 UTC ]
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Independent audiobook publisher W F Howes has landed rights to Val McDermid's new Allie Burns series, releasing the first of five audiobooks this week. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-20 14:12:25 UTC ]
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Emmy award-winning Scottish actor Brian Cox has been confirmed as the audiobook reader for The Dark Remains, the new novel by Ian Rankin and William McIlvanney, published by Canongate. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-18 21:48:07 UTC ]
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