I have previously reported the purchase of Audible.com by Amazon. Now linked into the mix is AudioFile, “the magazine for people who love audiobooks.” Now we are beginning to see the results. They are impressive.
AudioFile is establishing itself as a major hub of information. The magazine is available both online and in print. You can even sign up for a free online monthly newsletter presenting Editor’s Picks by filling in your email address in the appropriate box on the left sidebar of the magazine homepage. That’s how I got to know the magazine. The newsletter also led me monthly onto the informative website. Now I rely on an online subscription, which is available for $2.95 per issue and which comes out bimonthly.
The magazine presents industry news, audiobook reviews, even coverage about the leading narrators and various presentation techniques. Valuable information for a writer.
I particularly appreciate the annual AUDIES awards, which identifies the best audiobooks of the year by category, along with the runner ups. This may be the best overview of the audiobook industry anywhere. I’m intrigued that these awards also focus on the narrators, as well as the books themselves.
One of the most useful features of AudioFile is its page of links to Audiobook Retail Sources at the website store. This single page provides one of the best overviews of the audiobook industry I’ve come across. Besides presenting links to the major audiobooks retailers — 15 of them — the page offers links to the advertisers in its print edition, broken down into categories. These categories are instructive about the industy:
- Audio Retailers
- Duplicators and Manufacturers
- Editors and Abridgers
- Producers and Directors
- Professional Services
- Publishers
- Trade Distributors
If you ever imagine releasing your book in audio format, this list is invaluable. The site also offers a more extensive Reference Guide to the industry.
If you’ve never listened to an audiobook, you might wish to try out one that gives you a flavor of the medium, as well as provide insight into the power of words: WORDS THAT WORK: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear, by Frank Luntz and read by Frank Luntz and L.J. Ganser. AudioFile offers an excellent review.
You can purchase an abridged version on CD’s from Amazon, or immediately download it from Audible. If you want the full version, you can download it onto your Kindle e-book reader [you have one already, don't you?]. The Amazon CD and Kindle versions are, incidentally, available via our very own specialty bookstore for writers [developed by this blog but powered by Amazon -- purchases help to support this blog at no additional cost to you].
Just for your reference, the hardback version costs $16.47, the CD version $19.79, the Audible download audio version $15.74 and the Kindle download version $9.56. Hyperion has also just released early this month an updated and revised edition at $10.85 — interestingly, it already ranks at 338 on the current Amazon best-seller list. [In these various prices, there's an important lesson here, folks].
NOTE: Luntz is a prominent Republican strategist, sometimes showing up on TV interview shows. He is particularly self-promotional. Still, as a demonstration of the audiobook format, this is a useful exercise. He addresses all of us use words — not only politicians, but business people, journalists, even novelists. I bought it via Audible and, setting aside my political views, found it really instructive.
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