Mar 2007
Rent Books on Tape - Blog | Apr 2007

Harry Potter audiobook coming soon

26/03/07 17:29 Filed in: Audio Book
By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer

NEW YORK- The U.S. audiobook of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will be released July 21, the same time as the bound text, with the Grammy-winning Jim Dale again handling all the voices. The British editions have been narrated by actor Stephen Fry.

The Listening Library, the children's imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group, announced Monday that the audio for the 784-page book will run 21 hours, and retail for $79.95.

No first printing was announced, but Amanda D'Acierno, director of marketing and publicity for Random House Audio, told The Associated Press that the number would "definitely" be higher than the 635,000 announced for Potter 6, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

Click here for the the full article.....

Tags:

Borders break from Amazon

26/03/07 11:55 Filed in: Audio Book Industry News
Borders Books is breaking ties with Amazon.com and going solo by bringing together its bricks and mortar stores with an internet presence all of its own.

From BizReport.com
By Helen Leggatt

Books are big business online and Amazon.com has been the driving force for quite some time. In 2001, Borders Books (BB) made the decision to work alongside Amazon.com rather than develop its own web store. Now, in a recent announcement, made after disappointing Q4 2006 results, BB has confirmed its intention to go it alone and “mesh the in-store sales with online”.

BB’s plans include developing its own website, closing many of its bricks and mortar stores abroad and revitalising its 499 existing superstores.

A new store concept is in development which includes a digital center where customers can purchase various digital products, including music and audiobooks.

Click here for the full article.....

Tags:

Bookworms! like what they hear

18/03/07 21:01 Filed in: Audio Books
Commute makes Bay Area a prime market for audiobooks
By Marton Dunai
From the CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Simon Vance is not claustrophobic. He spends eight hours a day in a sound isolation booth.

He can touch all four padded walls without leaving his chair. Inside, it's dark, save for a desk lamp and a single tiny window that connects him to his garage, where the booth is set up. It's a quiet spot -- though often not quiet enough for Vance.

Often, he waits for a neighbor to finish mowing the lawn. When the buzzing stops and the Walnut Creek suburb falls silent, Vance retreats into his black hole and begins reading aloud. This time, he starts with the first chapter of "The Quest," a new book by Wilbur Smith, due out in April.

His voice flows in a pleasant, measured baritone.

"Two lonely figures came down from the high mountains. They were dressed in travel-worn furs and leather helmets with ear-flaps strapped beneath their chins against the cold. Their beards were untrimmed and their faces weather-beaten ..."

The flat screen flashes in front of him as the $1,000 microphone transmits his words onto a nearby computer's hard drive. Twenty-three more hours of this, and an audiobook will be complete.

Vance, an actor and now an award-winning professional audiobook narrator, is in high demand. Audiobooks have reached new millions lately as they migrate from the home to the car to the iPod, and from tape to CD to digital files, available for download over the Internet.

"Business has really taken off, and iPods" helped, Vance said. "I turned down offers (to record) every day last week."

The audiobook market has grown to nearly $1 billion a year, mostly a result of the popularity of downloading centers such as Audible.com, according to the latest research. Offering books, speeches, lectures, sermons and all sorts of spoken word recordings, Audible alone registered revenue of more than $82 million in 2006, nearly tripling its results since 2003, when it first broke even.

Click here for the full article....

Tags:

Tastemakers: Literature - Forbes.com

15/03/07 12:41 Filed in: Audio Book Industry News
From Forbes.com;


"Paid downloads of audio books have also increased markedly in the last year, and the Audio Publishers Association reports that sales in 2006 jumped 50% from the previous year.


All in all, the American publishing industry made nearly $35 billion in revenue in 2005, up almost 6% over 2004, according to the Book Industry Study Group, a trade organization based in New York. The organization also recorded a rise in the sales of children's books--thanks in part to the continuing popularity of the Harry Potter series--and religious books, which brought in $3.3 billion and $2.3 billion, respectively."


For the full article please click here ---> Tastemakers: Literature

Tags: