Audiobooks – Did You Know?

As fans of audiobooks here at The Goss, we still like our own quiet time with a print book. But the rise of the audiobook is a steady one. So, we thought we should share a few things about audiobooks that you might not know.

Ever wondered about the origins of audiobooks? First appearing around 1932 when a recording facility converted books to vinyl, established by The American Foundation for the Blind. Before this made audiobooks available, it was common practice for visually impaired people to have another person read aloud to them.

The first recordings were Shakespeare, The American Constitution and As the Earth Turns by Gladys Hasty Carroll before more recording facilities were built allowing for more variety to be made available.

Audiobooks sometimes contain sound effects and background noises which combined with speech often keep multiple parts of the brain active compared to just reading. Then combined with the emotional attachment to the narrative and overall experience, tends to store in your long-term memory more easily. This relationship and level of activity and attachment can potentially improve memory. Similar to the way a song can conjure vivid memories and emotional responses with a strong level of specificity.

Learning languages is much easier through the audio form. Note that I said easier, and not easy. The listener gets the advantage of hearing how the words should sound whereas, in written form, this wouldn’t be as easily achievable. But it can’t work for writing, right? When listening to a language learning audiobook, it is a great way to learn the written part as the listener has to focus and pay attention to the descriptions of how it is written without having any visual aids like in print form.

Ever thought about being a narrator yourself? It’s not an unachievable goal even without experience. What you will need though apart from the ability to read out loud, is a high-quality microphone. Sound is everything, and good sound is key to a professional-sounding product. Pair that microphone up with a pop filter and some good headphones and you’re all set up. There are companies out there where you can narrate/volunteer/sell your narrations. For detailed information about how to seriously become an audiobook narrator, check out my article which includes a step-by-step guide from pre- to post-production.

Audiobooks can be a good earner for pocket money. With the increasing popularity of audiobooks, there’s a business for it somewhere with different ways to get some money. As previously discussed, you could narrate your books and sell them to a distributor or even become one yourself. With the money that could be paid from advertisers, you can host space with your work and get paid from the advertisement revenue alone. We’re not talking about a get-rich-quick system, but most things can be turned into some form of revenue if you work out how.