Tim Ferris, author of the The 4-Hour Workweek, has launched an audiobook imprint. He is calling it the Tim Ferriss Book Club. Through the imprint he is producing audio editions of previously published books that haven’t had their chance to really shine.
“Starting in college, I’ve fantasized about somehow driving fantastic but under-appreciated books into the limelight. I have a soft spot for out-of-print tomes and niche publications,” explained Ferris on his blog. “After three #1 bestsellers, I’ve finally pulled the trigger. For the last several months, I’ve been quietly buying audiobook and e-book rights to books that have changed my life, and producing audiobooks in professional studios.”
Ferris explained to TechCrunch that audio books are often discarded, but that they shouldn’t be as they have a lot of potential with the massive adoption of smartphones and tablets.
The first audiobook title on the imprint is called Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts. Ferris explained that the title is “in my top-10 list for life-changing books.” It was one of two books that he carried with him when he travelled around the globe for a year and a half. (The other book was Walden by Henry David Thoreau). Here is more about Vagabonding:
Vagabonding is about taking time off from your normal life — from six weeks, to four months, to two years — to discover and experience the world on your own terms. Veteran shoestring traveler Rolf Potts shows how anyone armed with an independent spirit can achieve the dream of extended overseas travel, once thought to be the sole province of students, counterculture dropouts, and the idle rich.
(Via TechCrunch).