Audio Books - Answers To Some Common Questions

Here are some answers to the more common questions people ask about audiobooks ...

In the modern world, people are always in a hurry. They rush to and from work, the gym and the grocery store and rarely have time to sit down and enjoy things. From this rush comes an idea that only a busy person would think of: audio books. Amazing tools, wonderful toys and great time savers; audio books are all of these things and more. Or are they, instead, things that simply allow us to ignore the great classics and lose ability to comprehend what we read? These questions and answers are designed to teach about audio books, explain what they are, why they're useful and where the future of audio books may lead.

What is an audio book?

An audio book is nothing more than a book that has been recorded into an audio format. This is done by a person reading the book aloud while a recording device of some sort records their voice. While it's true that the term "audio books" only refers to complete books that have been recorded, books aren't the only thing that are put into audio format. Other than books, the most common things put in audio format are things like crib notes, speeches and lectures. However, books are by far the most common non-music thing to be put in audio format.

How many audio books are sold?

It's hard to tell exactly how many audio books are being and have been sold, since records and files are fairly extensive. However, it is estimated that about two billion US dollars are brought in every year by the audio book industry. This suggests that the audio book industry is a rather large market and won't be going anywhere for quite some time. If you're looking for an industry which has a lot of work within it, this may be the one. There's always need for people to actually read the books as well as the studio workers to edit the recordings properly.

Aren't audio books for lazy people?

Not at all. Most people who use audio books are very busy people. They have things to do during the day, such as mothers who need to keep the house and take care of the children or business people who must rush from meeting to meeting and they don't always have time to sit down to read a book. Instead, these people use audio books to combine tasks. They listen to the book while they're driving to and from soccer practice or to and from business meetings. In this way, they can enjoy their favorite books and still have time during the day to do everything they need to do. 

Audio books are used to help children learn to read?

Most certainly. It's very well known that dealing with something with more than one sense can help you pick it up more quickly. In the case of children's books, an audio book can help a child pick up the words both by hearing, and by seeing. Since they're seeing the word and hearing how it's used, both by itself and in context, this can help a child learn to read twice as quickly as they might otherwise. This is how audio books can help a child learn to read. With that in mind, it's almost the exact opposite of lazy to buy a child an audio version of some of their favorite books.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Is the editing work like what they do for music?

For the most part, yes, they are very similar. Any editor for audio books must be just as knowledgeable in how to manipulate sound and use sound manipulating programs as a music editor must be. The main difference comes in the lack of musical editing. Most audio books don't have music in them, instead being simply the readers voice as they read the book. Because of this, a slight different skill set is needed to work on audio book editing. An audio book editor should be able to manipulate words and be able to string context together should some sentences be taken out. A music editor, by contrast, generally only needs to make sure the music sounds good.