Audiobooks Are Officially The Trendsetters In Publishing Industry

Association of American’s Publishers released a report of the audiobooks’ stats; it witnessed the elevation of 32.1 per cent of revenue, earned by publishers alone from audiobooks. That’s a pretty strong number which is definitely going up.  

But when did this happen? When did the booklovers switch to audiobooks from physical books (though one’s first love is still a physical book)? 

In the past few years, people struggled with filling the gaps in their daily routine by reading books. In this hectic schedule, it is a bit of a task to fit reading in it. Though booklovers didn’t give up on the passion of reading, they just changed the medium. Now, they listen to two or three audible audiobooks per month on average (still better than no books at all).  

Some people think that listening to audiobooks is like betraying the physical books and their authors. However, this is not the case. Instead, they are new trendsetters in the publishing industry.  

Let’s dive into every aspect of the audiobooks industry and how they are competing with old love for physical books.  

Reader’s view  

According to AAP, the sale of audiobooks is even more than mass-market paperbacks and eBooks. Not to mention that due to this the eBooks market fell to 3.2 per cent.  

Though, seeing the ease of audiobooks and less time consumption, the numbers didn’t surprise the publishers much. 

Anyone who didn’t even have time to concentrate and read for long hours is switching to audiobooks. To be honest, audiobooks give more freedom to the reader. Like, they can listen to them without taking out the extra time.  

Audiobooks are like a window to a new way of storytelling that just blends in with your routine.  

Talking about the youth, they find audiobooks pretty cool and call it efficient reading. It helped them in listening to more books in a shorter time than traditional books.  

There is no doubt that the audiobooks market will continue to grow and might become the largest revenue contributor in the publishing industry.  

Publisher’s contribution  

The popularity of audiobooks wouldn’t be possible without the contribution of publishers. The publishers actually tried a new approach for the non-readers by publishing audiobooks.  

Harper Collins said that 25 per cent of their digital revenue is from the audiobooks downloads and this revenue has increased 5 per cent from the last year.  

With the increase of demand for audiobooks, publishers have started setting up the in-house recording and publishing of audiobooks. According to AAP, publishers have published 33.9 per cent more audiobooks in 2017 than the previous year.  

So, it is not only giving the reader’s new experience but also new opportunities for the publishers to expand their business.  

Author’s Profit 

Audiobooks are the medium to reach not only to the readers but it also engages the non-readers. Many people who are blind, dyslexic or just busy with life look for audiobooks.  

So, audiobooks give the wider reach of the audience and have proved to be a profitable industry for authors also.  

Authors get to be on the digital map through the listening version of their books. This means, there are more chances to be found by the readers who are not likely in the traditional book form.  

But, if you are a new author or a debutant then you should probably not take a chance with audiobooks. Indeed, it is a nice medium to approach the audience but it does not apply to the budding writers.  

Audiobooks are costlier than eBooks or paperbacks. So, there are fewer chances that people will invest in your book until you are some popular author. Also, rather putting your money in the production of audiobooks one should focus on the marketing of their paperbacks and establish themselves in the market.  

The Audiobook Promoters 

And, here we will talk about the actual catalysts of audiobooks sales. The companies like Amazon, storytel, audiobooks.com and others have solely dedicated their services to promote audiobooks and improving the customer’s experiences. 

Talking about Amazon, it has launched one of the largest producers and sellers of the audiobooks, Audible. It has 725 million downloaded audios by its subscribers. It is still fresh for many users who are still learning the working of Audible. The best is it keeps you giving more and more facilities like audible credits, returning audible books, gifting audiobooks, and other discounted plans.  

The reason for the reader’s careening to the audiobooks is the services of the big audiobook companies. They have amazing features that compel readers to try audiobooks. For example, adjusting narration speed, Audible’s drive mode, quality narration, and the list goes on.  

Final Words  

Audiobooks are the perfect example of the evolution of technology. Its expanding marketing is not going to stop here instead would come up with new innovations in the niche.  

People think that listening to audiobooks is not equivalent to reading books. But, it is exactly the same thing as both of them require the same mental process. There is a study that says that listening to audiobooks makes listeners more emotional than movies or televisions narration.  

So, keep on listening to as many audiobooks as you can and keep yourself indulge in the beautiful art of storytelling.