2007 will probably see many more forms o the “ebooks aren’t dead!” rallying cry, along with commensurate yawns about how the statements are a load of hot air. But the same certainly cannot be said for audiobooks, which have taken off in a big way thanks to CDs, DVDs, and of course, downloads (via sites like Audible) to the iPod. The New York Times’ Andrew Adam Newman finds out more, especially that according to the Audio Publishers Association, downloads have grown sharply, rising to 9 percent of audio book sales in 2005; that is a 50 percent increase over the previous year.
But one stigma that remains is that the audiobook rarely, if at all, gets its own share of publicity. Instead, audiobook publishers rely on riding the coattails of the print version’s publicity, marketing and advertising. And so, when crunching numbers about how to release an audiobook – by downloads only, or on a CD – the decision is most closely linked to hardcover sales. Which may give rise to an interesting experiment, if a major publisher is game: drumming up interest for a particular book by releasing it exclusively on audio for a limited time period, promoting and marketing the hell out of it, and seeing if the audio interest and buzz leads to a spike in hardcover sales, a bigger print run, or all the other hallmarks of potential success.