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 ]
And here it is: Canadian Book-Buying Habits Haven’t Changed Much in the Last Year. In case you’re still reading, for some reason Forbes is reporting that Canadians (my people) aren’t taking to audiobooks in quite the same way their cousins to the south are. Year-over-year American audiobook... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-11 16:22:32 UTC ]
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Five nominees for the Grammys spoken word award offer vastly different listening experiences. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-01-23 15:00:45 UTC ]
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Niantic's real-world events for 2019 were so successful that they generated $249 million in tourism revenue across Chicago, Dortmund and Montréal. That's what the company has revealed in a new events website, which it launched alongside its fe... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2020-01-23 13:44:00 UTC ]
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Seven publishers had sued the audiobook giant last July, claiming that its audio-to-text service Captions was unauthorisedAfter months of back and forth, Audible has settled in a copyright lawsuit with major publishers over its plan to introduce captions to their recordings, a proposal that the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-01-15 14:00:06 UTC ]
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Amazon's audiobook company Audible has reached a settlement with a group of seven US publishers in the copyright lawsuit against the firm's Captions programme, according to a letter from Audible's legal team. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-13 21:30:27 UTC ]
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There have been some ambitious Minecraft projects before, but this one may win for sheer sophistication. The modding team Floo Network is creating Minecraft School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a Harry Potter-themed role-playing experience inside a Mi... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2020-01-13 18:43:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House Audio will publish an audiobook edition of the stage production of Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel My Name is Lucy Barton (Viking) by the show’s star, Hollywood actress Laura Linney. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-10 15:27:10 UTC ]
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"Derry Girls" actor Nicola Coughlan will read the unabridged audiobook of Michelle Gallen’s début novel Big Girl, Small Town. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-08 09:51:32 UTC ]
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Harry Potter actress Evanna Lynch will narrate Irish author Sam Blake's feminist thriller, Keep Your Eyes on Me (Bolinda), billed as "Strangers on a Train” meets “Dial M For Murder”. The deal for world English language audio rights was agreed between Ellis Moore, senior rights and content... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-07 12:05:13 UTC ]
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When you're looking for an audiobook with a great narrator in addition to a great story, check out these excellent audiobooks narrated by Robin Miles. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-01-07 11:32:32 UTC ]
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Pottermore, the digital publisher of Harry Potter, recorded sales of £31.5m in the year to end March 2019, with pretax profit jumping to £6.9m. Describing the performance as "another very good year", chair Neil Blair highlighted "strong" sales of the original Harry Potter series across e-books... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-02 23:13:21 UTC ]
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Check out Harry Potter duvet covers in simple, nuetral colors, bright, fantastical images, and learn about Harry Potter pillows. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-12-27 11:31:39 UTC ]
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Gender policy is splitting the U.K. in two this week. Across the pond, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is being crucified online, blasted as “transphobic” and a “TERF,” after she tweeted the hashtag #IStandWithMaya. Who is Maya? What’s a TERF? We have answers.Read Full Story Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2019-12-19 15:21:28 UTC ]
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The Harry Potter creator’s year is now bookended by Twitter controversies, but this latest one is much worse. The constant hum of Twitter outrage makes it all sound the same at a distance. Everyone is mad online again? What else is new?Read Full Story Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2019-12-19 12:15:49 UTC ]
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A girl who went blind is able to read again after being given a camera that reads for her. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2019-12-19 09:27:57 UTC ]
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Harry Potter and romance books? Of course!!!! Get ready to know more about these romance books matched with Hogwarts Houses. A Slytherin + Hufflepuff? Yes. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-12-18 11:38:39 UTC ]
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Few gifts say I didn’t know what to get you like candles or gift cards. And for about the same price as that throw blanket or wine you were planning to wrap, an audiobook can make you the hero of any gift exchange (and they’re even easier to wrap than books). Choosing books for other […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-18 09:48:15 UTC ]
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Here's all you need to know about Harry Potter music, including who wrote it, where you can buy it, and where to see it live. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-12-17 11:34:55 UTC ]
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Megan Dobson has been appointed publisher of independent audiobook producer RBmedia's ChristianAudio brand. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-17 05:00:00 UTC ]
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TweetSomeone came up to one of our children’s specialists the other day and asked if anyone had ever retrieved the $200 Harry Potter boxed set that had been accidentally knocked into the hollow column next to the Harry Potter section during our storewide inventory in July. Since no one had... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-13 13:00:27 UTC ]
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