Some Audiobooks Are Outselling Hardcovers (msn.com) 26
In a year when print book sales have slipped 1% to 679 million copies through early December, according to Circana BookScan, audiobooks continue to carve out territory that once belonged exclusively to hardcovers, and in several notable cases this year, the audio versions have outright outsold their physical counterparts.
S.A. Cosby's southern crime novel "King of Ashes" moved more copies as an audiobook than as a hardcover, according to publisher Macmillan Audio. The same is true for celebrity memoirs from Jeremy Renner, Alyson Stoner, and Brooke Shields -- all narrated by the authors themselves. Karin Slaughter's thriller "We Are All Guilty Here" and comedian Nate Bargatze's "Big Dumb Eyes" also saw their audio editions outpace hardcover sales.
Digital audiobook revenue jumped nearly 24% in 2024 to $1.1 billion, per the Association of American Publishers, though growth has cooled to 1% through October this year, bringing in nearly $888 million. The format's strength has professional narrators watching AI developments nervously. Emily Lawrence, who has narrated more than 600 audiobooks, said there's "a lot of water cooler talk about people who haven't had work in months." Hachette Audio publisher Ana Maria Allessi said voice-cloning technology is becoming more sophisticated and could change how authors approach narration.
S.A. Cosby's southern crime novel "King of Ashes" moved more copies as an audiobook than as a hardcover, according to publisher Macmillan Audio. The same is true for celebrity memoirs from Jeremy Renner, Alyson Stoner, and Brooke Shields -- all narrated by the authors themselves. Karin Slaughter's thriller "We Are All Guilty Here" and comedian Nate Bargatze's "Big Dumb Eyes" also saw their audio editions outpace hardcover sales.
Digital audiobook revenue jumped nearly 24% in 2024 to $1.1 billion, per the Association of American Publishers, though growth has cooled to 1% through October this year, bringing in nearly $888 million. The format's strength has professional narrators watching AI developments nervously. Emily Lawrence, who has narrated more than 600 audiobooks, said there's "a lot of water cooler talk about people who haven't had work in months." Hachette Audio publisher Ana Maria Allessi said voice-cloning technology is becoming more sophisticated and could change how authors approach narration.
Is that good? It's complicated. (Score:3)
Look, I have no beef with audio books. My gut tells me that a listener does not immerse in the material like a reader does, primarily because they're consuming while, driving, exercising, whatever... and when an interruption occurs, the stream might continue while the attention diverts, But at least audio books leave imagination some space. And imagination is mental muscle. It needs exercise, or it atrophies.
But what I really think is awful are the modern Cole's Notes services like Blinkist. These are lossy condensations. If you can't read a whole structured thought, then fuck off. Don't. But don't absorb a half assed version and pretend to understand it. That's the poser with the unblemished pickup truck in literary form. Or people thinking that watching "What the bleep do we know?" means they can have an informed opinion on physics,
So I think book > audiobook > most other stuff > summarization.
Yes, it's a generalization. But it's my starting point,
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I have tried a variation of this - listening to a show or a clip vs reading the transcript. Turns out that I read much faster than a narrator talks, unless I slow down at a place to absorb the implication of what s/he said. Given that difference, I do prefer reading to listening
However, on the question of hardcover/softcover books, I have completely switched to ebooks. Convenience here is that it's all in my tablet, and doesn't weigh an ounce more, particularly if I am travelling. It also turns out th
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I think there is some merit to your generalization. I am guilty, not an avid reader but have listened to quite a few audio books, I even bought a few shelf trophies. There was a point I had a 2.5hr commute which I loathed until finding a few amazing audio books. Yes I was driving but my imagination existing in the world created by the author. I can't say I would have read(listened) to as many books without this option. Shoot I pick up my kids and they literally are like what did we miss.
I admit I do not lik
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Cliff Notes have existed for decades to service folks that can't be bothered yet were assigned real books as reading assignments in school. There's always shortcuts for people, and some people will spend their entire lives looking for the shortcut on everything, including reading. Which is sad to me, because reading is one of life's simplest and greatest pleasures, but I long ago realized that no matter how much it irks you, when it comes to things like this no amount of vitriol will change people's minds w
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Actually, I regret catching Cliff's Notes in the crossfire. They had a specific purpose - to help students pass the tests. And I respect that. That goal is nicely contained, and honest,
Blinkist, on the other hand, is targeted directly at posers.
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Agreed. That's why I think they belong solidly in the second spot. And that's not to condemn audiobooks to some sort of distant inferior position. I think they have a great deal of merit, and your succinct point is well taken.
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Homer's Iliad and Odyssey were recited and heard for many hundreds of years before they were ever written down and read. Spoken storytelling is at least as vivid, engaging and stimulating as reading *if* the story is worth hearing *and* narrated by a good storyteller. There are some truly brilliant audiobook narrators but also far too many so inept that they cannot even read and pronounce their own language well or with understanding.
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For sure. Don't mistake my objection for a complaint about the form. I'm saying modern audiobooks are usually consumed in a setting where something else is commanding some of the attention preemptively. If your attention is fully on it, I think the difference is negligible.
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Do not mistake a spoken story, narrated in a studio, sight unseen, with the craft of a storyteller, standing in a circle, commanding attention, making eye contact with each and every listener, nothing the smiles, registering the shrugs, gently shepherding the flock, luring those with wandering eyes back into the fold, repeating the funny bits as long as someone laughs, changing the story to suit the audience, cutting out the scary bits, choosing who the hero will be this time, seeking approval to continue..
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Sure, but people were actively listening to those things. I'm pretty sure most people are multi-tasking when they are listening to an audio book. As such, any time you multi-task, you end up doing both tasks worse then if you had focused on them individually.
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People always say these things but, personally I often read while doing other things. Not driving obviously, but exercising, knitting, etc. And sometimes I continue reading while my mind wanders and I'm not actually paying attention to what I'm reading. When that
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I have to back up my audio books a lot because I lose track of the story if I'm doing something higher priority (like driving).
No Surprise (Score:2)
Given our rush-here, rush-there lifestyles of late, who has time to sit and read a book?
Back to office (Score:2)
Not new for me (Score:1)
I used LOTR ebooks for my long travels since forever.
There are 2 topics here ... (Score:1)
There are 2 different topics here:
1) Humans moving away from reading to listening
2) AI putting professional voice actors out of work
For topic 1 I love the idea that mankind enjoys story telling around the camp fire more than the written word. I will wait for the research and opinion folks to tell me how to think about that.:-)
The rise of AI readers is the more interesting topic to me though. I think we are six months away from being able to train a personal AI on my favorite voice actor and have that AI ag
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Why not just have authors do the reading?
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Quite possibly because speaking and writing are different skill sets. A great author may have a horrible voice that no one wants to listen to. They may have a stutter or who knows what else. None of that would make a difference to the written word though.
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I'm an anecdote (Score:2)
Performances (Score:2)
Thought this already happened (Score:2)
I assumed this happened years ago. I know tons of people who when they say "I just read such and such" they really mean "I listened to the audio book of . . . "
I just figured this already happened.
Especially when you count ereaders. Outselling the hardcover isn't outselling all the read copies.