we believe strongly that
exploiting audio rights along-
side the print edition is crucial
to an overall publication suc-
cess story.”
However, independent
companies are expanding
their lists, too, and are on the
hunt for rights with every-
body else. Blackstone Audio
said that its launch of Blackstone
Publishing, an imprint for print and
e-books, was indeed sparked by this
issue. “With the explosion of audio—
which has resulted in great sales for us—
there is just one problem with that core
business: rights,” says Josh Stanton,
Blackstone CEO and president. “This
move [into print and e-books] allows us
to position ourselves a little better, so
that we can go to literary agents and
compete for all rights out of the box.”
Tantor Media, acquired by Recorded
Books in January 2015, made a similar
move into print books in 2012 (and
e-books in 2011).
At Recorded Books, Juliar is confident
that his company’s experience can be a
big factor in the bid for rights. “We have
a very good message about why to publish with Recorded Books—from our
long-standing reputation as a quality
producer to our direct selling in institutional channels to our global footprint,”
he says. “Rights are competitive, but
there is a long line of quality authors who
know our unique capabilities and want
to bring their rights to us.” And, according
to Lynch, it would likely be impossible
for the larger houses to publish every
print title as an audio, so there are
rights available to outside publishers.
“As much as we are expanding our list,
there are still some titles we don’t publish
in-house,” he says.
Though the picture of a hot market
prevails, audio publishers are not upping
digital output without careful consider-
ation of the format. Scholastic has begun
to increase the number of YA titles on its
list, “because they do best in the digital
market,” Lee says. D’Acierno notes: “We’re
able to publish more titles with greater
niche appeal since we don’t
have to meet physical produc-
tion minimums. The digital
audio audience and physical
audio audience also differ—
we strategically publish titles
into each channel based on
demand.”
To D’Acierno’s point, all
the publishers PW spoke with
noted that they remain flexible on issues
of format, as they must weigh which titles
will have the best success in digital audio,
and which may perform better as physical
audio—still an important part of the
market. “Physical is still a very viable
business,” McManus says. He speaks for
many colleagues when he describes what
has essentially become a best practice
industry-wide. “HarperCollins still focuses
on physical sales, and we have put in
place agreements with print-on-demand
partners to make sure that any ‘digital-
only’ title is available to anyone who
wants to listen to it via physical CD.”
As Juliar explains it, “The P&Ls for
titles have shifted over time as the blend
between physical and digital goods has
changed—but that has been happening
for years,” he says. “There are some titles
that perform uniquely in physical or
digital formats, or uniquely
in libraries versus consumer
markets, so it is important to
estimate that blend as accu-
rately as possible. The revenue
per unit hasn’t changed all that
much in the shift to digital, so
it affects the financials a little
less than you might think,
though costs are certainly dif-
ferent when running a digital business
versus a hard-goods business.”
In this digital audio heyday, the
number of titles being produced is a plus,
but not the only one. D’Acierno points out
that “one of the biggest benefits of digital
production is that we now measure our
turnaround time from casting to recording
a title to bringing it to market in a matter
of days, not weeks,” she says. “That allows
us to be incredibly nimble in responding
to trends and breakout bestsellers.”
Most publishers agree that, at its core,
marketing digital audio is not very dif-
ferent from marketing physical audio,
with a goal of promoting titles and
authors (and narrators). But Cobb notes,
“The social media opportunities to intro-
duce potential listeners to a new title or a
snippet of a title have helped us reach a
wider audience.” And according to
Edelson, that kind of reach in the digital
segment has led her team to add “even
more direct-to-consumer marketing.”
Looking ahead, the picture is bright
for not only digital audio, but for the
entire industry. As reflected in the APA
survey, audiobook sales in 2015 were
up 20.7% over 2014 and totaled more
than $1.77 billion. “Audio is having its
moment, and has been for the last couple
of years,” Lynch says. “I don’t believe
people are forsaking books for audio, but
people are discovering audio,” he says on
what the future holds. “Because of the
popularity of smartphones, there is an
audio player in everyone’s pocket.
Listening to a CD or a digital download
is not much different. But there is a big
difference between reading on a screen
and on the printed page.”
As Edelson puts it, “Even with [the
audio industry’s] amazing growth, the
number of people who listen
to audiobooks is still a rela-
tively small percent of the
book buying market, which
indicates that there is still a
lot of potential out there.
With widespread technology
and people leading ever-busier
lives, I think we will see more
and more consumers add
audiobooks to their reading habits.”
And according to Cobb, it’s impor-
tant to build on the industry’s positive
trends, and the APA continues apace
with its efforts to raise awareness of the
medium. To that end, she says, the APA
is working on a major marketing cam-
paign for June, which is Audiobook
Month, encouraging publishers,
authors, narrators, and listeners to
share their enthusiasm via the hashtag
#loveaudiobooks. ■
Troy Juliar
Michele Cobb
