The rise and rise of the books you don’t read
Authors themselves are also getting much more involved in the casting process. “There seems to be a much greater embrace of audio right from the start now with authors, which is really exciting because it turns it into a collaborative casting process,” says Barrett. Some are even writing with the audio version in mind. Ben Aaronovitch, author of the Rivers of London fantasy series, has admitted that he now has actor Kobna Holdbrook-Smith’s version of his characters in his head when he writes.
Others are writing audio-only content. Michael Lewis, Adam Kay, Jon Ronson, Joanne Harris and Phillip Pullman have all written original works for Audible. “For them, I think it’s an exciting opportunity to try creative writing but in a different format, thinking about audio and how your story will resonate to the listener,” says Howell. Original content is now a major focus for the platform, which is also working with playwrights to create new dramas. “Access to theatre can still be fairly limited, and I think a lot of playwrights are excited about the opportunity to reach out to new audiences through audio.”
For Richard Lennon, there is as much excitement to be found in raiding the catalogue, and creating audiobooks for authors and texts who have never been on tape before. “You have the kid-in-the-sweet-shop moment of being able to create recordings of some of these really wonderfully iconic things that have never been done.”
So what of the future? Barrett thinks we’re only just beginning to see the potential of audio as an artform. “We’ve reached that tipping point where it’s getting to be fairly mainstream, but the artistry element is still all to play for. We’re in the kind of ‘planting the flag in the sand’ stage when it comes to ambitious productions.” And what of the people who still think they’re not ‘proper’ books? “The people that are sniffy about them are the people who will be sniffy about anything. I’m not overly perturbed by that.”
