Author: Vidya Prabhakar
How would you like to have Bill Bryson for a walking buddy? Or John Grisham as a travel companion? They are just a earphone away from delighting you. Audio books are a new and exciting way to experience reading and storytelling. Audio books – a book narrated and presented in an audio format, initially meant for visually impaired people are fast gaining popularity among various sections of readers. A good narrator provides a rich storytelling experience. Audio books offer a chance to drive around, run errands, clean your house, and do your laundry and more while listening to your book. It is possible to download these books, burn them to a CD and play them in your portable audio player.
Market
Audio books are a small part of the book publishing industry. It is already popular in International markets especially in UK, US and Europe. The market for audio books in India is still nascent. Writers! Sit up and take notice: Audio book market is poised to grow well; the story telling tradition and the growing literacy rate mark a future for audio books in India. Large players like penguin are entering the fray – refer to the ePublishing-News and Views tab for more details on the same. This will lead to opportunities for writers to explore new areas and niches to write about.
Genres that work best for Audio Books
Audio books are an exciting new area for writers to explore. Some of the best selling categories in this format include fiction, humour, self-help books, drama and children’s books. Books on religion and spirituality, “how-to” titles, Language instruction, children’s textbook / reference books are also much in demand audio books. Audio books come in an unabridged form – the book is narrated verbatim. An abridged audio format is a condensed version of the original book. An audio book is narrated as is or can be produced in the form of a dramatized audio book that has a cast, music and sound effects to add to the narrative.
How to approach this?
How can writers align their writing to cater to this development? What kinds of books lend themselves to audio format? Typically, all books are adaptable to audio format. It helps to understand the reasons why people choose audio books and the benefits they derive out of them.
Unabridged versions provide hours of entertainment on long drives or travel involving long hours. Audio books help to meet interest levels of people when they are unable to read. They are especially beneficial for reluctant young readers who would listen rather than read. Well-read audio books offer fluent reading examples for young readers. Language inflection is best brought out in an audio book. They are often used as effective teaching and learning aids. It is a great way to learn new languages and can be used as an aid to understand language patterns and pronunciation.
These benefits offer writers a platform to write on subjects other than fiction and non-fiction. Writing can be expanded to include drama, educational books, activity books, health and wellness subjects, spiritual & religious books and even language studies.
This then brings us to the next topic, how do you write to maximize the potential of a book that will be produced in audio format? Here are some tips:
- Subject matter relevance along with appropriate length and a tight plot are often successful in abridged versions.
- Eliminate unwieldy characterizations, descriptions and rambling sentences.
- Lifeless prose, even when narrated well will not hold the listener’s interest. The flow and the tempo of the story are important. Polished language and presentation make for successful audio books.
- Writers have favourite words and phrases. Readers notice repetition distinctly when listening to a book. Vary the usage of words to prevent jaded use of expressions.
- Sentences need to be structured to convey and evoke the intended feeling. Short sentences to convey tension, urgency and anticipation; long sentences to help build a sense of calm and flow to the story.
- Read your work aloud to check for flow, balance and rhythm. What works on papers may not necessarily work well when read out aloud.
- Dialogues, when kept crisp avoid sounding awkward and monotonous.
- A touch of humour lightens up the narrative and makes for an interesting listening experience.
- Check out free audio book samples on sites such as www.audible.com to get an idea of how an audio book sounds like.
Write to be read (aloud), it could be music to the ears!
About the author:
Full Name: Vidya Prabhakar – Vidya is a Chartered Accountant and a Psychology postgraduate. She has worked in finance, banking and the content development industry. Reading, writing, baking and needle crafting are among her many pursuits.
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Comments:
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Nice article, and informative, as I personally do love the concept of Audio Books, i think that they can change the way people read books, but its availability is limited with only website offering audio books in india, but this is a good site to buy some bestsellers.
http://www.audiobookindia.com
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