"With our current brick-and-mortar customers, the primary issue that we need to work to resolve is retail space. The plurifiction of multiple formats, which has fueled tremendous growth in our business in the last two years, has exacerbated the problem of front list pushing back list of shelves." ~ Jenny Frost
"...Downloading allows us to offer all our titles to all our customers at all times. It also offers a level of mobility for what has always been a mobile product. We need to be sure that we move into this new world carefully and thoughtfully." ~ Jenny Frost
"More than 97 million people drive to work solo each day, and the average delay due to traffic congestion has tripled in the last 20 years." ~ Eileen Hutton
"For Mr. Runnette, who has recorded audio books for 15 years and won three Grammy Awards, this is the first time he has had to ponder what a footnote sounds like. But the industry increasingly has to address such vexing one-hand-clapping questions: what does an illlustration sound like? Or a chart? A map? A photograph? A blank page?"
With the IPod revolution and podcasting, digital audio content
is
growing rapidly and that includes digital audio books. In 2004, all
audio book sales were about $29 billion in the U.S. Audio book sales
grew 14 percent from 2001 to 2003. Internet downloading is a major
factor in that growth.
The Audio Publishers Association formed the Audiobook Foundation to promote public awareness of the value of audio books. Brilliance Audio sponsors IListentoBooks.com aimed at encouraging audio book readers to share stories/experiences.
The Open
ebook Forum,
representing the ebook community has changed its name and scope. This
is an important development and makes an important point about the
future of audio books.From their website.
The International Digital Publishing Forum
(IDPF), formerly the Open eBook Forum (OeBF), is the trade and
standards association for the digital publishing industry.
Our members
consist of academic, trade and professional publishers, hardware and
software companies, digital content retailers, libraries, educational
institutions, accessibility advocates and related organizations whose
common goals are to advance the competitiveness and exposure of digital
publishing.
The IDPF will:
In the beginning, audio books were promoted for those who had
difficulty reading. Later, the rationale was convenience. One could
"read" via the audio book while driving or exercising or doing
household chores. Still, the common feeling was that the audio books
wasn't really a book--that the experience of reading or listening
wasn't the same. Several argue that listening to an audio book
read by an accomplished reader is an exciting and different experience
than reading the book.
There is some tension about the relationship between the audio
book and the print book. For some time, it was popular to believe that
the audio book was similar to the film version of the book. Thus, audio
books were derivitatives. However, in general, audio books are closer
to
the original book than the film. Films abridge the intellectual content
of the original work as do the abridged audio books. However, most new audiobooks are unabridged.
The Talking Book, a durable, long-playing record was created in 1932 by engineers for the American Foundation for the Blind. In 1948, Ampex made available audiotape recorders and the National Bureau of Standards established specifications for an inexpensive, reliable talking book machine. The first audio books were created for blind war veterans. Today, the Library of Congress is in the process of moving to digital content and digital players for a simliar audience.
In 1952, Caedmon, the first commercial audio publisher, released A Child's Christmas in Wales and Five Poems written and read by Dylan Thomas. Philips created the first compact audio cassette using high quality polyester tape and the modern audio cassette soon followed.
In 1975, automobiles were available with in-dash audio cassette players. In the same year, Books on Tape began to sell and rent unabridged audio books by direct mail. Four years later, Sony began to sell the Walkman portable audio cassette player.
By the mid 1980s, major publishers began to take back audio
rights and
create their own audio book subsidiaries. The Audio Publishers
Association (APA) was established in 1987. In 1994, the first major
audio book club (the Audio Book Club) began to sell books. Doubleday
and Columbia House soon followed.
Given the success of Netflix [21st Century], there are now about ten firms
that provide online audiobook rental services. Simply Audiobooks
is the most successful. A flat monthly fee is charged for unlimited
rentals but the fee varies with the number of books that may be held at
one time.
Libraries represented the first substantial market for audio
versions of best selling books. Until recently, few bookstores carried
many audio books. From the beginning, however, there was a strong
tension between librarians who were opposed to abridged titles and
readers who preferred them. For libraries, tape replacement
policy was especially important. Libraries did not want to
purchase an entire new audio book to replace a single damaged cassette.
Audio book leasing programs, similar to those for popular books, are
now available from Brodart's McNaughton and others.
The Library of Congress is eliminating its 500,000 or so
cassette players and the related tape library and replacing them with
digital book readers. The technology change was estimated to cost about
$75 million. There have been some problems with Congressional funding.
Audio books have gone from a marginal sideline to a major market. Today, most major publishers have their own audio divisions rather than selling audio book rights to others. Trade book publishers have accepted and integrated audio books into their operation. When Random House purchased Books on Tape, the largest publisher of unabridged audio books, it was clear that the major publishers wish to dominate the audio book business. Random House Audio Publishing Group is the "world's largest trade audio publisher." Audio book rights are increasingly available only from the smaller publishers.
According to Bowker, about 9,000 new audiobooks were released in 2006, somewhat less than in previous years. While there are at least 3,000 audiobook publishers in the U.S., most are invisible.
Simultaneous publishing has become increasingly popular. Major publishers now release 20 percent to 30 percent of their new titles in both abridged and unabridged formats.
As more of the larger and medium-sized publishers merge, audio book publishing is becoming more concentrated. Just as with hard copy book publishing, there are still opportunities for the smaller publishers but distribution remains a major problem.
The CD format is relatively new and sales are growing. However, the CD holds only 75 minutes and requires more CDs than an audio tape (90 minutes). CD players do not mark the stopping place and that is an inconvenience. This changes with the MP3 CD format. It's likely that the MP3 CD format will be transitional with digital downloads being the most likely future format.
MP3 CDs are on the market. MP3 is an
abbreviation for MPEG Audio Layer 3. MPEG1 is a format for compresssed
digital video. MP3 audio books are typically compressed at 9:1 or 18:1
ratios [128Kbps and 64Kbps]. This results in listening quality that
works well for audio boooks. At the 64Kbps compression ration, a single
CD will handle just over 24 hours of content. Sound quality is better
than that on the audio cassette. Bookmarking is easy because the story
is divided into easily found scenes [tracks]. Many new CD players
play the
MP3 format. However, most audio book users are older and most MP3 users
are younger. Too, few autos have MP3 players. When the
traditional CD format is used, the lack of
bookmarking is also a problem.
The first million dollar sales audio title was in 1996 with Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. This was a ninety minute one cassette tape that sold for (retail) at $12.00. There has been a dramatic increase in sales in the last three years. About 21 percent of US households used or purchased an audio book during the preceding 12 months in 1992 and the percentage is much higher today.
Even with substantial growth and a variety of likely opportunities, the audio book market accounts for from five to ten percent of the total book publishing market.
For some time, publishers believed that there was little market for unabridged audio books outside the library. While many buyers and listeners seemed to prefer the abridged editions [about 70 percent of the content is removed] earlier, about two-thirds of new audiobooks are unabridged. The major problem with the unabridged editions is their cost, often in the fifty dollar range. Some longer works might cost $100. The greater capacity of the MP3 CD will reduce these costs with fewer discs.
One of the problems facing book stores is that a popular audio book may be available in abridged, unabridged, cassette, and CD formats. This requires more shelf space and reduces the number of titles that can be displayed. Backlist selections have been reduced.
In the beginning, audio book rights were not highly regarded and were typically sold to independent audio book publishers. In the last few years, these rights have been take in-house and the major publishers have their own audio book subsidiary. While there are still a few audio book only publishers, they are not as important as before. With major publishers issuing audio editions in-house, it is more difficult for the independents like Recorded Books to find popular titles.
In library land, there are a few distributors that account for most of the digital audio book selected and purchased. These are:
Publishers and manufacturers continue to create new packages to be more appealing, easier to use, and cheaper to manufacture.
The typical audio book comes in a box that is seven inches by 4.24-4.5 inches wide. A few boxes are 6.75 inches by 4.24 inches to fit mass market paperback racks. Boxes are bright and eye-catching. Text layout and illustration copy what is found on the print books.
There are two major approaches to packaging. The book pack has a front cover that opens like a book and the tapes or CDs are in plastic tray nooks. There are no separate boxes for each type. This package is easy to use and is sturdy. It also shelves well with print books, but it is more expensive. The second approach is a paper or cardboard sleeve that holds individual boxes for the tapes or CDs. This is much less expensive, but is not as sturdy.
Sticker shock is a problem for all publishers, but audio book publishers are less certain of customer reaction to particular prices. When consumers can purchase a recent popular film on DVD with value-added extras for $15 or $16, these prices seem unreasonable to many prospective buyers.
As with digital music, the subscription [rather than the
purchase
model] has received growing attention in the past two years. Audible,
for example, has had good success with it. Most people will
read/view/listen to a book but once, so the subscription model makes
sense for many.
Three key individuals are involved in creating the audio book:
the abridger, the director/producer, and the audio engineer.
The abridger plays a crucial role in insuring that the
essential
intellectual content is included. This role is rather like that of a
translator in insuring that the abridgement is faithful to the original.
The director/producer works with the abridger and the original
author or editor. The director is also responsible for guiding the
reader through the readings and making suggestions for improvement when
needed. Lines that don't read well may need to be revised and rewritten.
The audio engineer insures that the sound levels create a good listening experience and that the sound is clear and focused.
The cost of creating the abook master has notably increased. These costs include:"An audiobook is essentially a performance." The reader is crucial to a successful audio book. He or she must be able to create memorable, well-defined characters in both genders, perhaps a dozen in one novel. She also creates a "sense of nuance and pace, intent and pronunciation." There is some confusion over the importance of the type of individual who reads or tells the story. Typically, there are four reader types:
Celebrity authors are a natural choice for reading their own works. Authors of spiritual, self-help, and business books who are often dynamic professional speakers who are usually quite effective. Celebrity readers may make an audio book sell much better and some celebrities are excellent readers. Actors are best for fiction. The most well-known actors and celebrities are not always the best readers. Professional readers are usually the best choice and a few have a notable following regardless of the book.
Quite a few buyers ask for audio books by the reader and not the author. This is a problem since reader names are not easily found. Frank Muller, Barbara Rosenblat, Martin Jarvis and Jay Sanders, all actors, are readers with a considerable following. Reading an audio book, especially an unabridged one, is quite a challenge for an actor or any other reader who must be able to handle multiple voices and situations. A few readers will receive royalties.
Although still accounting for a relatively small proportion of sales, audio theater -- imagine the filmed version of a book with all of the actors, music and special effects transformed into an audio book -- is growing in popularity. BBC's Lord of the Rings has sold well.
These are audio books which play in CD players, but also contain additional special features such as video or graphics rather like music CDs with DVD video. Only a few have been issued.
These are audiobooks designed to play well on mobile devices such as cell phones and MP3 players. Much future growth is expected for this category, especially with younger audiences.
The APA, which has about 50 members, provides a public relations service with articles promoting audio books. This is a separate section of the American Booksellers Association. Their awareness program, with a $250,000 budget, is titled "Are you Listening?" and may be found on billboards, newspaper ads, radio spots, posters, buttons, and press kits. A Davis-Kidd bookstore (Nashville) was one of the trial stores for this campaign. There is an emphasis on more, and more immediate displays and these have substantially increased sales. APA has worked with Bowker to create an online, searchable version of Books Out Loud, the BIP for audio books.
Audio book month is in June. Both chains and independents participate. A highlight are the Audie awards. There are twenty-three for such categories as abridged fiction, unabridged fiction, mystery, abridged nonfiction, unabridged nonfiction, personal development/self-help, business, educational, children's, inspirational, humor, poetry, and original work.
While audio books are now found in most larger book stores where they are reasonably popular, they are not always well displayed. Spine out displays are not effective and cover out displays require more room. Industry marketing campaigns have resulted in more promotion and visibility for audio books. Sometimes, the audio book section seems neglected. Often, there is no linkage between the print and the audio edition of the same work since audio books are normally segregated. Placing the audio next to the cloth book substantially increases sales. Handselling makes a difference, but few chains have the time or the staff for that. Perhaps most important, the stock needs to be large enough to be an appealing destination for the person interested in audio books [an argument against integrating formats?].
Both Amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com carry audio books. Amazon.com even has an audio book editor and lists various formats available for any title so that a buyer may select audio book, CD, hardcover or paperback. Internet sales are especially important for back list titles that receive little exposure in retail outlets. Small publishers who find it difficult to get their books into retail outlets welcome the broad selection available at online stores.
Eileen Hutton lists eight steps needed to "sell" audio books:
Brand name authors and movie/TV tie-ins are important. There is much more emphasis on the front list than on the back list. The past two years have seen a growth in titles of interest to women. Adult fiction continues to dominate audiobook best seller lists wtih mystery/suspense especially popular. Slightly more than half of all 2006 audiobook releases were adult fiction. It's interesting that seven of the top ten best sellers on Audible are in the erotica genre which an be downloaded and read anonymously.
Juvenile titles [about 14 percent] were second most popular. Children's titles have been best sellers for years, especially with the book and cassette packages. Gradually, these are being replaced by MP3 CDs. Scholastic Media has formed the Scholastic Audio Group which which began with a book and CD edition of Clifford the Big Red Dog. There will be unabridged CD audio books for older readers.
Getting attention for audio books in the retail environment
has been a notable challenge. Audio books typically do not recive a
separate marketing budget, so the marketing is limited to the
print copy. A traditional and often successful way to
grow the market is to give away audio book samplers. For example, in
2002, S&S audio packaged a free CD audio sample of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
by Stephen Covey in 550,000 specially banded cereal boxes.
Another approach is to create a value-priced line that can be sold in mass market discount outlets such as Sams.
Borders has created its own proprietary line of unabridged audio books.
Cracker Barrel has been quite successful with its audio book program offering travelers an opportunity to try an audio book while they travel. Books are returned to the same or another store for a small exchange fee.
The ITunes store has had considerable success with audiobooks as well as book length podcast series so there is clearly a growing market for digital audio on serious topics, especially as more colleges and universities distribute lectures and presentations via ITunes. The ITunes store sells Audible audiobooks. Amazon has a strong selection of audio books.
With audio book stores difficult to find and indifferent selections at major book stores, the market has been dominated by book clubs. Until recently, there were three major audio book clubs: Audio Book Club [ABC], Columbia House audiobook and Doubleday Audio Books. ABC purchased the other two and dominates this market. In fact, audiobookclub.com has been a popular e-commerce web site.
The first audio book club [Audio Book Club] began in 1994. In 1999, Audio Book Club [ABC] purchased Columbia House's audio book division to become the largest audio book retailer in the U.S. Columbia was larger than Audio book club with about 600,000 members while Audio Book Club had about 400,000. Columbia also had more revenue, about $30 million versus ABC's 25 million. Before the buyout, Columbia's audio book unit was a Time-Warner/Sony Music partnership. ABC recently changed its name to MediaBay with Audio Book Club, now with 2.2 million members, being a subsidiary. Media Bay units Radio Spirits and Radio Classics distribute Old-time radio shows (over 60,000),. Audio Passages is the ABC Christian audio book club. MediaBay Downloads "offers old-time radio programs and audio books for purchase via secure digital download. Increasingly, ABC uses the Internet rather than direct mail to recruit new members, market, and interact with members. It claims to be getting about 4500 new members per month via the Internet. The Audio Book Club sells more than 70,000 audio book titles. The ABC web site receives more than 1 million unique visitors per month.
Book of the Month Club and its Quality Paperback Club offer some audio books along with the print ones. There may be several dozen titles available.
Member turnover remains a continuing problem. There is the usual "free" offer such as four audio books for one dollar and then some discount after the required purchases.
With catalog sales, there are no monthly selections and no negative option. Audio Editions is the best known of the catalog sellers. Its catalog is mailed fourteen times per year to about 200,000 homes and contains about 4000 titles.
When most chain and independent book stores would not carry audio books, small audio book only stores developed in some metropolitan areas. There were probably less than one hundred nation-wide. A few enthusiasts suggested that the U.S. might support as many as 400 such stores. They were modeled closely on the video store with audio books for rent or purchase. Some claimed a very large collection, perhaps as many as 7000 titles, but most had much smaller collections and were a "mom and pop" operation.
There are several small audio book chains. About half of the audio book only stores belong to one of these chains. The typical store is in a strip mall with lots of traffic and easy access. Location, as with any retail business is very important. The audio book store rents (about 65 percent) more books than it sells and offers memberships to its customers. An average store is about 2000 square feet with a stock of about 7000 audio books. Listening stations are increasingly available. Stock is about 65 percent abridged and 35 percent unabridged. Ideally, the staff will be knowledgeable and informed. A typical investment might be $300,000 and it will take at least one year to break even in a good location.
Few record stocks sell audio books. In the beginning, when audio books were issued in a record format, many record stores did have a small selection of literary works on vinyl. While record stores certainly are familiar with the audio format, relatively few of their customers seem interested in audio books.
Limited selections of popular titles are now found in a variety of discount stores. Target, Wal-Mart, KMart and Best Buy give little or no space to audio books. The key here is buyer interest, visible space, and lower price. NewStar is issuing a new imprint with $4.99 and $7.99 one and two tape products with both front and back list titles. Brilliance is reissuing back list titles for $7.99 to $12.99.
Staples and Office Depot sell some business titles
Some publishers have had success in placing self-improvement and health audio books in hospital gift shops and other stores selling supplies and equipment such as health food stores.
Truck stops represent a substantial and growing market. Truck drivers spend many hours driving and enjoy audio books. Audio theater, reading accompanied by sound effects and several actor readers, is popular. This is mostly a rental market with much interest in westerns (Louis L'Amour does very well), SF, mysteries and true crime. Truck drivers prefer unabridged titles and CDs. There is little interest in business or self-help. Audio Adventures is noted for its truck stop and travel center business.
Some audio book vendors have made arrangements with trucking companies to supply drivers with audio books and these seem to work well.
Many audio books are sold by direct mail, especially those dealing with business and managerial topics. Nightingale-Conant is the best-known of these publishers and had annual sales of more than $100 million. Today, direct mail is being replaced by downloadable books via websites.
In the past few years, there has been growing interest in downloadable audio books. The technology is readily available, but digital rights management adds substantial complications. Still, this is less of a problem here than with music or film. Simon & Schuster has experienced a 300 percent increase in downloads from 2005 to 2006. Downloading should substantially reduce production and distribution costs and has the potential to substantially grow the market.
"E-audio" describes digital audio books. At the moment, there is no standard format. Windows Media Player is one popular format, but excludes the IPod. MP3 is attractive, but few automobiles have playback equipment and many audio book users are older people who are not interested in downloading audio books. Real Audio is another possible format. The digital downloadable format has some assets, especially for libraries:
At Audible.com"you can choose from over 4,500 audio books and 14,000 other audio programs, download them to your computer, and listen immediately, transfer them to an AudibleReady Pocket PC or MP3 device or burn them onto a CD!" Audible also has an agreement with satellite radio provider XM to broadcast a feature about audio books and will provide XM programs for download via its regular service. It anticipates that portable satellite radios will be able to download and play digital Audible content. The company also has had success with a London office acquiring local content and has added a service in German in cooperation with Bertelsmann and Hotlzbrinck as well as a French site.
Random House has invested in VOCEL to make Random book content available via cell phones via monthly subscriptions.
Downloading is a variant of publication on demand. It removes manufacturing and most distribution costs and there are no returns. Random House Audible has some titles that are only available in this format
An APA market survey found that nearly 23 percent of U.S.
households had listened to audio books in the past year. The average
user is about 47 years old, but there is growing interest by seniors,
and has an income of at least $50,000. More than half of the users
began listening within the last two years. Much use, 60 to 70 percent,
is listening while driving. Listening at home is also
popular. Users may listen while cooking or exercising. Some users who
enjoyed the audio book will then purchase the printed edition. Most
books are purchased from catalogs or borrowed from the library. Audio
books are more popular with older users and publishers are attempting
to move beyond the " core 45-and older group" with more titles likely
to appeal to a younger audience. Celebrity readers also expand the
market.
The most popular categories are
The best sale months are December, June, and March. Summer is
a good season because of the additional long distance travel and more
leisure time. Drive-time radio is the best
advertising medium, and public radio seems to work well.
Audio books for children have become especially popular
following the audio book edition of the first Harry Potter book.
Children's audio books account for about 14 percent of the industry's
audio sales.
Recorded Books, L.L.C has begun a large scale unabridged audio
book program for the Spanish speaking audience. It is called Recorded
Books Audiolibros.
Audible.com has exclusive deals with most major publishers. The download is relatively fast.
The future well be digital audio quickly downloaded from websites and relatively inexpensive playback units much like the MP3 music players. No packaging, no manufacturing, and no returns should reduce prices considerably.
With different formats available and audiences for each, audio book publishers face a difficult challenge. The audio cassette remains popular while the CD format is rapidly growing [about 30 percent of abook sales are in the cassette tape format]. In the near future, the space-saving MP3 format is the likely winner. One MP3 CD can hold the content of about nine regular CDs. This reduces production and distribution costs and allows for lower prices. Industry experts expect cassettes to go away as more cars have CD/MP3 players [today about 25 percent of cars have a CD player]. The MP3 format is popular and is likely to become much more popular with more downloadable content for portable wireless devices.. Audio ebooks have a small but growing audience. Technology is very much driven by the auto industry and audio playback standards have been developed that include the need for hardware to bookmark or "hold state" when a CD is removed. As with film on DVD, digital media provides the opportunity to include value-added features such as author interviews or comment by critics.
The Mobile Electronics Spoken Word Committee of the Consumer Electronics Association, working with the Audio Publishers Association, has approved standards creating production guidelines for the audio book and consumer electronics industries. For example, audiobookmarking is required. Products should indicate that they meet the standards. It is likely that the IPod and more sophisticated cell phones [iPhone] will provide more demand for digital, downloadable audio books.
As with digital music, there is no single standard for
reading/viewing. MS Windows Media Player and their audio player are
leading at the moment, but this excludes IPods.
Convenience and discount stores want audio books with a few price points, consistent pricing, and in a particular range likely to guarantee sales. For example standard price points might be $27.99, $24.99, $17.99, $9.99 and $7.99. Until purchase prices are lowered, sales are likely to be somewhat limited and "renting/leasing" will remain more popular.
Retail outlets want consistent packaging and labeling.
Publishers are especially concerned with the small amount of space allocated to audio books and the fact that this space is often not visible or attractive to most shoppers. Audio books sell better when integrated into the regular bookstore categories, but most stores do not have the space to do this. For example, business audio books do best in the business section instead of the audio book section.
The APA has had some success with a staff listening program where retail outlets receive a lending library of various titles so that staff can become more familiar with content and the experience. It's difficult to do hand-selling without such experiences. Staff picks work well here too.
Time lag before releasing the audio book frustrates users who believe that various formats ought to be released at the same time to give buyers a choice and take advantage of the buzz surrounding initial publication.
Discuss the nature and the likely growth in the market for audio books. Use yourself as an example of a potential or actual user.
If you were to read an audio book [but not go to the library], which of the various sources mentioned above would most appeal to you? Why?
Discuss the assets and liabilities of wireless, Internet radio services that would provide listeners with access to audio book content.
There is still some controversy, especially among librarians, about the merits of the abridged audio book. What are the assets and liabilities of abridged versus unabridged audio books for the listener?
Last major revision: June 2007.
