But most audiobook listeners are not just foul-weather friends. Able to be "read" while you're driving, cooking, and exercising, audiobooks continue to make inroads with the public. In the last five years alone, the industry has grown by 70 percent.
Tom Clancy Audio Books Unabridgedl
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Although spoken-word recordings date back to the 1930s, audiobooks didn't become a viable retail product until the early 1980s. In the mid-'80s the big publishers jumped into the business. The tapes were initially sold through independent bookstores, and eventually picked up by chains like Walden Books and B. Dalton. The advent of in-dash cassette decks in cars also helped the fledgling industry, estimated today to be worth $1.5 billion annually.
The 1990s have brought the rise of the audio-only bookstore. Some 75 of these stores exist around the country, most of which have opened in the last five years. Libraries also carry audiobooks and some mail-order audiobook companies do a large rental business. Recently, big publishers that do both print and audio, like Random House and Simon & Schuster, have started releasing some audiobook and hardcover titles simultaneously. That beats the three to six months it used to take to get a bestseller on tape.
These publishers have also started to expand their abridged versions from three hours on two cassettes, to four to six hours on four cassettes. They are now offering a few unabridged titles as well. "People do want a longer product," says Anne-Lise Spitzer, spokeswoman for Random House's audio division. She says the marketplace has shown it can handle longer, higher-priced audiobooks. The new Tom Clancy book, "Executive Orders," for example, is a six-hour, four-cassette product and sells for $24.95.
Even though more people are reading with their ears, Cool says she feels there's still "not a lot of public understanding or knowledge of what audiobooks are." Once thought of as primarily for the visually impaired, audiobooks are now used by people who already read and are looking for ways to bring more books into their lives. Others use audiobooks to pass the time at work: postal and night shift workers, truckers, and traveling salespeople.
As for competition between print and audio books, observers say the recorded versions are a boon, not a bane to the printed word. Notes Earful's Rush: "Many of our customers discover authors for the first time and then go read their works." 2ff7e9595c
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