by Hannah Dennison
The saying ‘ask a busy person’ never held truer for me than these past few weeks. I was on a deadline – the kind where you cannot be late because the publisher works to a tight schedule – I visit my mum almost daily in a nursing home, I have a demanding job to pay the bills, and I have energetic dogs to walk – but despite all that, I happily agreed to feed my daughter’s cats adding another 1 ½ hours of commitments to my day. It’s only a 25-mile round trip but those are country miles along narrow twisty roads and if you get stuck behind a tractor …
Miraculously, it all turned out to be a wonderful gift. The weather has been fabulous (ask Jackie – she knows!) so each morning I would take my coffee and breakfast and sit in Sarah’s beautiful garden with Taz and Tilly and listen to the birds and remember to breathe – to literally ‘stop and smell the roses.’
I also rediscovered audiobooks.
When I’m in serious writing mode – I can’t read any fiction. I just don’t have the bandwidth. Not only that, when I do pick up a book, I find it hard to switch off my writer or editing hat, unintentionally critiquing instead of just going on the journey. There are exceptions of course. I just finished Lucy Worsley’s excellent biography Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman and I can’t say enough good things about it. But I digress.
I’d checked out a CD of ‘Outlander’ by Diana Gabaldon from my local library initially for my mother who – at 93 – is a great audio fan. I’d always loved Diana’s time travel series. I’d heard her talk many times, especially at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, AZ where she is their local author.
On a whim, I thought I’d listen to Outlander en route to kitty duty. Usually, I listen to podcasts but I’d forgotten all about audiobooks despite having devoured them on my daily freeway commute when I worked in Los Angeles another lifetime ago. I’d even got stopped by Highway Patrol once for speeding. When I explained that I’d been listening to ‘Shutter Island’ by Dennis Lehane and just hadn’t been paying attention, they still gave me a ticket – clearly not amused.
An article in Wordsrated (January 2023) stated that globally, audiobook revenue for 2022 is projected to be worth over $5.38 billion. Over the last five years, audiobook revenue in the USA has increased by 113.3% making it the fastest-growing book format in the USA. Nielsen reported that in 2022, 27 million audiobooks were sold in the UK alone, an increase of more than 50 percent since 2018 – and the median just keeps on growing. Revenue from audiobooks is expected to grow 26.4% every year from 2022 to 2030 and reach $35.05 billion in 2030. It’s mindboggling stuff so if you haven’t explored this option for your work, now is the time!
Happily, my books are available on audio but full disclosure, I don’t think I can bear to listen to them. I’d hear all the discrepancies or things that in hindsight, I may have written differently. It would be too cringeworthy.
The narrator is critical. Davina Porter has narrated the entire series of Outlander. Deemed a Golden Voice narrator with AudioFile, it’s easy to see why. AudioFile’s founder, Robin Whitten said ‘Golden Voice narrators have superb performance skills, are keenly attuned to their authors, and are practiced in many genres and styles.’
Voice acting is a unique skill that includes accurate articulation, the ability to control emotions, instinctive pausing, being aware of when to use an accent (Davina Porter’s Scottish accent in Outlander is flawless) but most of all, the narrator must be able to differentiate each character to enable listeners to audibly ‘see’ that character and bring it to life.
I know some folks record their own books – and I say good for you! An author friend of mine uses his car as a sound booth – seriously. He stuffs the interior with pillows and duvets and does everything on his phone. It works for him but I wouldn’t have the patience to fiddle with all the editing software.
Audio books are not for everyone. In ‘The Author’ – the UK’s quarterly publication from the Society of Authors, Laura Hackette, Deputy Literary Editor at The Sunday Times, says she ‘doesn’t have the attention span for the format’ and either she drifts off or gets distracted by other things or gets ‘frustrated by the slow-paced narration.’ She even tried listening on 1.5x speed but it just sounded weird.
My cat feeding duty is over now and, to my surprise, I turned the manuscript in three days early – the first time in years. Perhaps it was just taking that enforced time out that made a difference. Who knows? But what I do know is that I have another 8 volumes of Outlander to listen to. I think I’ll just spend more time in my car – even if it is just parked outside my house.
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The Writers in Residence 
Hannah, I just might look into turning some of my books into audio books. People don’t read so much anymore, but they do listen to things while driving (traffic tickets not withstanding), so thanks for the reminder. Glad you and Jackie had a good time while she was visiting your next of the woods.
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Yes – Jackie and I had such a lovely time. She was lucky with the weather – it’s supposed to break this weekend. As for your books – I think it’s definitely a must these days. I hope you do that – I’ll put you on my TBL pile!
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I love audio books, especially as eyes are going south. Only have one book in audio…might look into finding a reader… helpful post, thanks!
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I’m glad it’s helpful. And my eyes are going south too – the downside of being chained to a laptop all day!
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Interesting and varied post, Hannah, with lots of information on audiobooks. I have narrated two – not my own – and found the experience mind-broadening. Both were narrated in professional studios with a sound engineer and a director who kept an ear open for tone, swallowed-words, etc. I did manage to play-act a little, thanks to my brief appearance in the Dr. Zhivago movie but I found, after listening to several other audiobooks, that it was disconcerting to hear male parts voiced by females. One reader lowered her voice considerably for the male dialogue which made it giggle-worthy.
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I know exactly what you mean about the male voice! LOL. But more importantly … Dr. Zhivago? Okay – you have to spill the beans. I loved that movie!
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Hannah, my Zhivago cameo was pure happenstance, will write it up for my next post as it ties in to writing.
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When I was practicing law and commuting to work, I always listed to audiobooks in my car as I was driving. I don’t take the time to listen as much these days, but I do love the idea of audiobooks–and yes, some of my books are available as audiobooks, and I’ve even helped in choosing the reader. Thanks for an intriguing post, Hannah.
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Oh – I would love to be able to choose the reader. I remember listening to an American narrator who was attempting a British accent … narrators are everything!
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Audio books are a great way to “read” books you may not have the time or the patience to read otherwise. In my final brick-and-mortar job with its tedious commute, I often listened to books on tape. Captive in my car for two hours daily, I substituted audio versions of books ranging from the latest editions by my favorite authors to several classic novels I found too plodding to cope with in print. I recall it took Thomas Hardy twenty minutes to describe Tess (of the d’Urbavilles) walking over a mountain. Stuck in traffic as I was, I didn’t mind the slow pace.
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That’s so funny about Tess and the lengthy description. You are so right! Since my current craze is Outlander, I remember reading the book and drifting off when there were long chunks of description. Captive in my car – I love that!
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Hannah – what fascinating post. I used to listen to a lot of audio books. Lynn Redgrave read the Rosamunde Pilcher books with seamless female and male characters. So you’ve spurred me on to get back to them! During my acting years I did a lot of voice-overs and narrating documentaries. It’s a very specialized field.
And I just returned from England, too. The London weather was mixed – gray rainy days and sunny days – as usual! But I picked up a lot of books from the charity shops!
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I love Rosamunde Pilcher – I should imagine Lynn Redgrave would be brilliant. Yes – v/o and narrating is so specialized and something I don’t think I could tackle. I am off to Cornwall today for a week with the family in a cottage by the sea … and as you know England … you’ll know what we’re in for LOL.
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I once lived near the Antelope Valley and commuted into L.A. The 1994 quake made a treacherous commute even more so, so I started renting audiotapes from the library. Soon other commuters got the same idea and the shelves emptied. I found a store that had tapes for rent.
When I moved to Virginia in 1996, my commute was much shorter and I no longer listened in the car. In fact, I only started listening recently when authors offered free codes to their audiobooks in exchange for an honest review. Problem is that I listen late at night in bed (that’s my reading time) and the voice lulls me to sleep. It doesn’t matter how riveting the story is, I still nod off and have to backtrack. This even happened with Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger—beautifully written and narrated.
I’ve had one of my books narrated and, like you, Hannah, I can’t listen to it. I’m glad all worked out for you. Somehow it usually does.
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Hi Maggie – I didn’t know that authors offered free codes – that’s a good thing to know. I’m going to look into it. The last audio book I listened to before bed was a Paul McKenna’s ‘I can Make You Confident’ LOL …. I can’t say if it worked however …
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Well, I’m coming late to the party. I couldn’t seem to comment via my phone in Jolly Olde England. But having talked to Hannah in person I knew what the post would be about. I LOVE LOVE LOVE audio books and probably listen more than I read these days. There’s a downside of having to wear hearing aids of course, but the way, way UP side is that mine have blue tooth, so I can listen to books anywhere, anytime with only my phone in my pocket. Walking, driving, cooking, gardening, house cleaning, doesn’t matter. I have some fave readers and ONE, THAT I WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT – NEVER EVER buy a book narrated by him (and I once even heard him as a speaker at a Mystery Writers of America meeting). It’s Scott Brick. Makes me shudder even to consider him. So, choosing readers is very important.
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