audiobooks – The Writers in Residence

By Jackie Houchin

The first audiobook I ever listened to was Robinson Crusoe, from Books On Tape, way back in the 1970s. I was cleaning multiple horse stalls twice a day back then, and I needed an escape! An adventure on a deserted island with a guy named Friday had me hooked. I rented hundreds more.

Then I found Audible and began cautiously buying digitally recorded books. Currently, I have an account that allows me to buy 25 books per year for a nicely discounted price. Others are available through Amazon/Audible.

Later, I discovered Chirp, a deeply discounted audiobook seller. Sometimes I can get a book for as little as $0.99!

Libby is a library app that allows you to rent books and audiobooks at no cost. But friends tell me they usually have to WAIT for books to become available.

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For this post, I decided to try Libby. The app is free, but you need a library card. I put in my Mission Viejo Library card number & pin. Thousands of book titles appeared.
I narrowed my choices to “audiobooks,” “available,” and “juvenile” to get a list of 4th-6th grade books. (Quick to read for this blog post.) I selected “The Sherlock Files: The 100 Year Old Secret” and pressed “Borrow.” And there it was, with cover, synopsis, reading time, volume, and speed controls. I could keep it for 21 days. FREE. Okay, not bad.
I finished the 3-hour book. It was fun, and the narration was good. When it was over, I simply pressed “Send Back,” and the book was gone. Easy-peasy.
I did search for other books, and of the three that I wanted, none were stocked at my library. So that’s a bummer. But I will definitely go back to Libby.

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Yes, I am addicted to listening to books. Here’s why.

AVAILABILITY. I can listen to books anytime and anywhere. I have Bluetooth, so I do not wear clunky headphones. No one can tell if I am on a spaceship to Mars, helping Lane Winslow solve a murder in 1941 British Columbia, or learning about Extra Virgin Olive Oil. While I walk, drive, wait for appointments, wash clothes (or floors), and cook, I can be entertained or educated.
NARRATORS. Good narrators transport you to times and places far away. (It is the next best thing to travelling.) In a series, a repeat narrator immediately puts you into the familiar setting with people whose voices you already know.
NO EYE STRAIN. Audiobooks don’t stress your eyes. These days, my eyes become blurry and sting when I read print too long.

Okay, there are downsides too, and you have probably guessed the first big one.

COST. A newly published audio bestseller can cost $25.00 or more. Yes, you own it, but you cannot share it with a friend, give it away, or sell it.
The annual fee at Audible averages $9.15 per book, so I usually save these credits for new, popular (expensive) books throughout the year.
Chirp is far more reasonable, but their books are not as new, and often are a genre I do not want to read.
But now, of course, I’ve found the Libby lending library. I suspect the choices are limited. But I’ll give it a try. After all — FREE!
NARRATORS. Some are horrible. Sorry, but it has to be said. I will not buy or rent a book narrated by Scott Brick. And there is a woman too… Audible is good about that and will refund the cost if you return the book quickly.
BOOK REVIEWING. If you are a book reviewer like me, audiobooks make it harder to pick out quotable lines or memorable details. With print books, you can bookmark, highlight, or pencil in notes. But, unless you want to immediately jot down a note, it is difficult to find details you missed (or forgot) in an audiobook.
When reviewing one, I usually write out a rough draft immediately after finishing the book. Then, to ensure I am spelling characters and place names correctly, I will often check them on the website.
Unfortunately, “hearing” something doesn’t stick in your mind the way “seeing” it does.

Yes, I still read print books. I have to; not all books are recorded! But I try to avoid fine print and extra-long tomes. Hence, the middle-grade books. (HEY! Some of them are fantastic!!)

I also read digital Kindle or Book Funnel books, where I can adjust the font size. However, on my phone, that means flipping pages quite often. (I don’t have an e-reader.)

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So, do you prefer audio, print, or digital books for your reading? What are your reasons? Do you have a favorite audiobook you can recommend? How about a favorite narrator?

***By the way, CHIRP now has THREE audiobooks by our own Linda O. Johnston on sale for just $3.99! “3 Pet Rescue Mysteries”

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PS: I know it’s difficult to comment on this website, so if you like, you can respond to me via my email at Photojaq@aol.com, and I’ll post your comment here.

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.