Is your summer shaping up to be too busy to catch up on the latest audiobook industry news? Check out these articles! Topics include the scoop on how RBmedia came to life, how Iran is catching onto the audiobook craze, and how in India they've created a "human library". Additional tidbits delve into the topics of the growth of the audiobook industry, including the type of audiobooks the current political climate is inspiring people to download, and instructions on how to program Alexa to play your audiobook for you.
May brings a variety of audiobook-related news. There are some exciting industry updates including the new RBmedia launch (and they just acquired Audiobooks.com), and how print to speech programs are continuing to emerge (could be a boon to narrators pre-reading their projects?) There are some touching stories on how other countries are making media accessible to those with print disabilties, and how the UK made an audiobook accessible to aliens in outer space!
April brings a wide variety of audiobook-related articles. Topics covered include record-breaking preorders of a certain J.K. Rowling audiobook, a first-time half marathoner using audiobooks to train with, the gift of free audiobooks to book groups, book stores getting in on the profit of audiobook sales, a European publisher expanding their reach into other countries (each in their native language), as well as a brief history on why some audiobooks were deemed "unrecordable." These and many more tidbits await you in the April News Roundup!
A wide variety of postings and articles have cropped up in the last month. Highlights include...
Audiobook availability continues to spread and grow throughout the international sphere with countries like Japan and India working to bring more listening opportunities to their population; UAE incorporates reading into their professional development plan; data shows that listening expands learning, rather than derailing; playing audiobooks at increased speeds allows listeners to increase efficiency; PRH looks to Guinness World Records for recognition for the most voices used to record an audiobook; and audiobook listening now includes wearable technology.
As we jump into 2017, we continue to see coverage on industry partnerships, changes, new technology developments, evolution of listening habits and more…Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. are ending an exclusionary global arrangement for the supply and distribution of audiobooks; soon an approaching ambulance may interrupt your in-car audiobook; Sonos now plays audiobooks, and research shows that podcasts increasingly drive listeners to audiobook purchases.