How Is Audio Impacting Publishing?
WILL AUDIO CHANGE THE WAY WE CREATE BOOKS?
Do you listen to Book Exploder? It’s this podcast hosted by Susan Orlean that features an author speaking about a specific passage in their book. I enjoy the way it’s produced, with lines from the excerpt being interspersed throughout the interview, culminating in a full reading of the scene at the end.
Listening to that podcast makes me think about the future of reading. It makes me think about the role audiobooks might play, but, more curiously, the role audio as a sector might play in relation to books, more generally.
Is it a leap to say that audio will be the dominant form of consuming books? And what would that mean for literature, for authors, for how we create books, and for publishing as a whole?
Audio and audiobook consumption
If you look at the stats, you’d say it’s only a matter of time before audiobooks take over.
Over 70% of U.S citizens over the age of 12 have listened to an audiobook in the past month. 75% of readers in the U.K and 71% in Canada have listened to an audiobook in the past week (ages 16+ and 18+ respectively).
Now that’s just audiobooks, specifically. If we broaden the scope to include podcasts and non-music consumption of audio, nearly half of all U.S citizens over the age of 16 listen to two hours of audio every single day. That consumption figure puts spoken word audio ahead of music.
Let’s dig a little deeper. Who is actually listening to audiobooks? To put it plainly, nearly everybody. In Canada, women between the ages of 25-34 are the top audiobook listeners. Older adults, age 55+, are increasing their audio consumption at a rate of 13% year over year. 41% of Millennials and 43% of Gen Xers engage with audiobooks, with 19% identifying as Black and 16% as Hispanic.
Stats are one thing, but what about culture?
Stats are great, but you need to understand what’s happening culturally to give these stats their proper context. For example, many of us thought Gen Z would instinctively crave tech over anything physical. Meaning e-books and audiobooks would be more attractive alternatives than physical books. That hasn’t turned out to be true.
Gen Z still prefers physical books over any other format. More Gen Z’ers have visited a library in the past twelve months than any other demographic. I remember reading an article where an exec from Barnes and Noble said that his stores are filled with kids by the time schools are let out.
For Millennials, especially older Millennials, the nostalgia for the 90s is causing them to return to their local bookshops and has resulted in a surge of independent stores opening up. On top of that, Barnes and Noble has restructured its strategy, giving each store autonomy on the books they sell. This has caused some controversy (maybe I’ll write a full piece on why this move has been controversial), but it’s led to a more hyper-focused listing of titles that reflect the tastes of each locality.
Zooming out to social media, I’ve written a lot about Colleen Hoover. She doesn’t explode onto every top-selling list without Gen Z recommending and buying her books. Plus, Gen Z has become part of the top consumers of romance novels.
You also have to consider that publishing has just come off its best year since sales tracking started. The industry sold more physical books than ever recorded, selling 825 million print books in the U.S alone.
So print sales are growing and audio is booming. What does that mean?
It means nothing is ever as extreme as we think. Or I should say that things are rarely ever as extreme as we think. Going into doing this research, I thought my conclusion would be that audiobooks would eventually surpass physical as the preferred means of consumption. But although the numbers point to a surging audio industry, I don’t think that will ever be the case.
Physical books offer far too differentiated of an experience that just can’t be replicated. For reasons I still can’t figure out, humans all over the world seem more connected to this experience than any other I can think of. The audiobook market will continue to grow, especially with players like Spotify jumping into the game. But I truly believe the publishing industry will always be a mix of physical books and everything else below it.
But there’s a catch
I do think there is a caveat. If publishers notice that the performance of an audiobook correlates directly with the sales of that title, things can change quickly. What I mean by that is if audiobooks become more produced— different voices, sound effects, music, etc.—and the quality of that production increases sales significantly, then I can see a world where audio comes much closer to being on par with physical books than my initial assumption suggests.
Right now, just over 49% of audiobook listeners purchase books in multiple formats. I personally believe that’s a high figure. But is there more room for audiobooks to be the driver of sales to physical books? Or, is there a world where audiobooks become the show and a new means of monetizing these performances is developed?
I say a “new means” because publishers are not keen on current subscription models. They don’t believe the value works out in their favour. That said, the opportunities within audio are enticing. As AI tools become more ubiquitous, the time and cost of producing an audiobook will drop. Right now, one hour of an audiobook takes about five hours to produce. You’ll need a voiceover actor (or the author themselves), recording software, editing tools, plus any additional production layers you want to add.
The question authors and publishers need to ask themselves is how they can use audio to enhance the reading experience and create a performance worth listening to. And, is it worth it to invest in creative audiobooks that blur the line between repeating what’s on the page and scripted podcasts?
Maybe for some titles, publishers will scrap the physical book and do an audio-only release. They’ll funnel the money used on printing into the production and charge what they would for the cost of an e-book. Or, like I said in my previous piece, publishers create their own platforms and charge a subscription fee for access to audio titles.
There will be a shift
While I’m not convinced that audio will surpass physical books, it represents the biggest threat. There’s clearly a shift happening and publishers should be thinking of how they can innovate to capitalize on opportunities that audio is providing. I think the present lack of innovation within publishing is because print continues to do so well. But again, audio should be looked at as an opportunity to further engage with new audiences and perhaps increase the value of each title.
The last time publishers really pushed audio was when they wanted to transform the audiobook industry from a commuter market to something listeners did in their homes. Publishers were taking out ads back in 2013 to guide listeners on how and when they could listen to audiobooks, like while they were doing crafts or working out. Clearly, those campaigns have had an impact.
Will publishers wrap their arms around this iteration of audio? We’ll see. The innovation I’m reading about is happening more in media companies than in book publishing. Hopefully that changes, and publishers at least dip their toes into what could be possible.