Books
This Is Why Your Next Read Should Be An Audiobook
Photo by Distingué CiDDiQi, Unsplash
Books
This Is Why Your Next Read Should Be An Audiobook
The popularity of audiobooks is rising, and providing new storytelling experiences that are innovative, immersive—and irresistible.
We all know what it means to lose yourself in a good book—that feeling of letting the characters, the plot, the setting and simply the beauty of words plunge you into the world the author has created, to the exclusion of every thing going on around you. For us readers, it’s the absolute best feeling, right? The companies that create audiobooks, once only the go-to format for people with visual impairments or readers on the go, have taken that idea to heart and are now offering experiences that go beyond just reproducing an oral version of a printed book. Today’s audiobooks have real life sound effects and celebrity narrators to make listening to a story as compelling as reading one. But those enhancements are only one reason the genre has grown beyond its niche status to become a favoured medium in its own right.
We can thank the pandemic for part of the recent surge in popularity of audiobooks. Georgia Knox, Canada country manager for Audible, the leading creator and provider of audio entertainment, notes that COVID19 helped bring about an initial boost, saying, “The pandemic brought a shift to listening habits, moving from cars or trains to inside the home, as many transitioned to remote work. We also saw more and more people turning to audio for screen-free entertainment, as a break from Zoom calls or a way to switch off at the end of the day.”
Your local library has embraced the audiobook genre, too. Since 2017, the number of Canadian library audiobook loans has increased by 156 percent!
The statistics bear these thoughts out. Booknet Canada, a nonprofit that supports the Canadian publishing industry, states in its 2023 Canadian Leisure & Reading study that Canadian readers’ interest in audiobooks is increasing. And according to Statista, a market and industry research company, 2024 Canadian audiobook revenue is expected to reach more than $300 million, and is forecasted to see an annual growth rate of 10 percent for the next five years. The facts that major publishers, such as Penguin Random House, have their own in-house recording studios, and that music and podcast giant Spotify recently entered the audiobook market, are more proof that the genre is here to stay.
What else is driving this upswing? Well, the multitasking we do in our busy lives, and better sound systems on our devices are factors. But, even more, modern audiobooks owe some thing to incorporating thoughtful elements that create a richer experience. Audible, no surprise, is at the forefront of this practice with its stable of Audible Originals: exclusive commissioned books and content designed specifically to be heard. With a focus on Canadian talent, including titles such as The Downloaded by Robert J. Sawyer (narrated by Brendan Fraser— he’s still got it!), Oracle by Andrew Pyper (narrated by Joshua Jackson), and Benefits with Friends starring Mae Martin and Sabrina Jalees, the Originals catalogue makes engaging homegrown compositions a priority.
In addition, the Audible Indigenous Writers’ Circle, a six-month mentorship and workshop program to elevate the voices of First Nations, Inuit and Métis writers in Canada, has released its first audiobook, In the Hands of Men, a dystopian thriller by 2023 program participant Gin Sexsmith, and narrated by Devery Jacobs. Powerful and haunting, this is the kind of storytelling that Canadians love. It’s clear that audiobooks have carved out a place in the hearts of readers, not to the exclusion of other formats, but rather to complement them. “We love that Canadians are not strictly audio book, paper or ebook readers,” says Knox. “They understand how each format can fit into their lives.”
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