When Michael
Lewis had an idea for his next book, a contemporary political narrative, he
decided he would test it out first as a 10,000-word magazine article, as he
often does before committing to a yearslong project.
But this time he
made a surprising pivot. Instead of publishing the story inVanity Fair ,
where he has been a contributing writer for nearly a decade, he sold it to
Audible, the audiobook publisher and retailer.
“You’re not going
to be able to read it, you’re only going to be able to listen to it,” Mr. Lewis
said. “I’ve become Audible’s first magazine writer.”
Exploding market
Mr. Lewis is
part of a growing group of A-list authors bypassing print and releasing
audiobook originals, hoping to take advantage of the exploding audiobook
market. It’s the latest sign that audiobooks are no longer an appendage of
print, but a creative medium in their own right. But the rise of stand-alone
audio has also made some traditional publishers nervous, as Audible strikes
deals directly with writers, including best-selling authors like historian
Robert Caro and novelist Jeffery Deaver.
Audible, which
is owned by Amazon and the biggest player with more than 425,000 titles in its
online store, has an enormous advantage in this increasingly crowded arena.
Joining the
bandwagon
Amazon has been
pushing audiobooks on its platform, listing them as “free” with a trial Audible
membership, which costs $15 a month, and includes a book each month. (The
typical price of a la carte audiobooks ranges from about $15 to $40 depending
on the length.)
In the past five
years, Hachette has doubled the number of audiobooks it produces; it will
release about 700 titles this year. Penguin Random House will put out roughly
1,200 audio titles, up from 652 in 2014, and now has 15 recording studios.
Macmillan Audio will release 470 audiobooks this year, a 46% increase over 2017.
Two of the company’s biggest recent hits are the audiobooks for James
Comey’s A Higher Loyalty , which has sold more than 167,000 copies,
and Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury , which sold about 320,000.
Ellen Archer,
president of HMH Trade Publishing, said she expects the audio release will
boost print sales, rather than cannibalizing them.
“The marketing
muscle they’re going to put behind this book is going to drive interest in the
print version,” she said.
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-life/book-lovers-are-all-ears-as-authors-skip-print/article24074666.ece
