The Guardian view on audiobooks: a growing market that asks existential questions | Editorial

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 ]

Other news stories related to: "The Guardian view on audiobooks: a growing market that asks existential questions | Editorial"

Mission-Driven Indie Bookstores Drop J.K. Rowling's Books

Three mission-driven indie bookstores well-known for their commitment to social justice have ceased stocking books written by J.K. Rowling, accusing the Harry Potter author of promoting hatred towards transgender people. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-07-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Andy Serkis records audiobook of The Hobbit for HarperCollins

HarperCollins is releasing an unabridged audiobook of J R R Tolkien's The Hobbit, read by Andy Serkis who starred as Gollum in the blockbuster movies. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-01 17:52:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Lit Hub Daily: June 29, 2020

“Maybe the WPA let new passions into the public space.” David A. Taylor on how the government supported the arts during the (first) Great Depression. | Lit Hub History Missing the drama of sports? James Tate Hill has some audiobook recommendations to fill the competitive void. | Lit Hub... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-29 10:30:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this

'Fleabag' star Clifford to narrate Gannon's Olive

“Fleabag” star Sian Clifford is narrating the audiobook of Olive, the debut novel by author and broadcaster Emma Gannon. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-29 08:42:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this

The four best audiobooks of June to take you places

Hardboiled mysteries, obscure farming communities, and tales of home and family provide ample entertainment in June’s audiobook roundup. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-06-23 23:13:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this

The four best audiobooks of June to take you places

Hardboiled mysteries, obscure farming communities, and tales of home and family provide ample entertainment in June’s audiobook roundup. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-06-23 23:13:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this

The four best audiobooks of June to take you places

Hardboiled mysteries, obscure farming communities, and tales of home and family provide ample entertainment in June’s audiobook roundup. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-06-23 23:13:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Behind the Mic: On Soup to Nuts by Judith Deborah, Read by Barbara Rosenblat

Every Monday through Friday, AudioFile’s editors recommend the best in audiobook listening. We keep our daily episodes short and sweet, with audiobook clips to give you a sample of our featured listens. On today’s episode, host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Barbara’s narration of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-23 08:20:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this

"Let’s clarify what free speech is and is not": An open letter to the industry from Pride in Publishing

Being a book publisher comes with a set of tough moral responsibilities. You provide livelihoods for authors and booksellers, your hiring decisions can greatly influence how UK culture is shaped, and you’re also a company with a duty of care towards your staff. Sometimes these duties come into... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-23 03:23:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this

3 Great Memoirs Written (and Narrated) by Queer Women

Celebrate Pride Month and queer voices by reading these three captivating audiobook memoirs written and narrated by queer women. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-06-22 10:36:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Four authors leave Blair Partnership over Rowling controversy

J K Rowling's agency The Blair Partnership has lost four of its author clients over the controversy surrounding the Harry Potter author's views on transgender law reform. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-22 05:27:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this

In Utter Celebration of Juliet Stevenson Brilliance as an Audiobook Narrator

Have you ever dropped a thermometer and watched its ball of mercury break into a scatter of glistening droplets? That’s my mind right now. The table next to my bed is anchoring a tottering tower of books I have begun and then abandoned, not out of displeasure but because… well, I actually... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-17 08:48:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Listening Pathways: Julia Whelan Audiobooks

Julia Whelan audiobooks are some of the best listens out there. This guide will help you find your perfect audiobook by the award-winning performer. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-06-12 10:38:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Audiobook of Theatre for Dreamers debuts new music by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd

Husband and wife duo Polly Samson and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd have teamed up to work on the audiobook of Samson's novel A Theatre for Dreamers. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-11 22:58:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Lit Hub Daily: June 10, 2020

In order to create the Ultimate Summer 2020 Reading List, we’ve ventured into unfamiliar territory and employed… math. | Lit Hub How JK Rowling betrayed the world she created: Gabrielle Bellot on growing up with the Harry Potter universe. | Lit Hub “The pace and frequency of Trump’s falsehoods... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-10 10:30:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this

PRH Audio to release audiobook anthology for mindful living in lockdown

Penguin Random House Audio is bringing together wellbeing experts, including fitness author Chloe Madeley and performance coach Sara Milne Rowe, in a new audio anthology, The Here and Now. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-09 10:56:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Daniel Radcliffe rebukes J.K. Rowling’s latest tweets about trans women

After the author’s widely criticized round of gender identity tweets over the weekend, the actor spoke up on behalf of transgender women. The creator of Harry Potter seems to have lost Harry Potter himself, as Daniel Radcliffe comes to the defense of trans women in the wake of J.K. Rowling’s... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2020-06-09 10:00:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this

In Conversation with Golden Voice Narrator Julia Whelan

Every Monday through Friday, AudioFile’s editors recommend the best in audiobook listening. We keep our daily episodes short and sweet, with audiobook clips to give you a sample of our featured listens. Host Michele Cobb speaks with narrator Julia Whelan, one of AudioFile’s 2020 Golden Voices,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-08 09:15:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Listen to Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning for free.

If your local bookstore is all sold out of its books on anti-racism, good. Finally. Backorder them for yourself. But in the meantime, the audiobook version of Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the 2016 National Book Award... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-04 14:34:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this