While I agree with you in general, a little bit of pushback (well, more like complication really, but ...)
1. There have been SOME attempts to change the audiobook. Pushkin Industries brands itself as a "podcast and audiobook production company," and they have made serious efforts to make audiobooks into products that are more than the author or a professional narrator reading the text of a book aloud (not that there's anything wrong with that). I don't work for them, so I have no idea how well they've done, but there are people and companies trying to push the boundaries a bit.
2. It strikes me as relevant that both the founders of Pushkin (Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisbergs) had their roots in journalism and book writing. One trend I have noticed (though it may well have crested by now) is that of established book writers shifting to make podcasts in the time they would once have used to write a book. Gladwell's Revisionist History is an example of that, as was Michael Lewis' Against the Rules. And, yes, Lewis is still writing books--you get more help during the creation with podcasts, I guess--but having just popped over to the Pushkin website to double-check the name of his show, I see that he is also doing a season of his podcast based on the trial of SBF. Synergy for his newest, poorly reviewed book! Gladwell and Lewis aren't the only ones, though. Somewhat popular contrarian linguist John McWhorter devotes the time he used to spend writing books making the podcast Lexicon Valley, first at Slate and for the last couple of years under his own banner at Substack.
3. The legacy model--the photo you used in the Medium version of this post, the public library-- does seem like another complication. There really isn't a free podcast model. Ads, "branded content," deep-pocketed nonprofit/think tank sponsor, or Plus/membership are the models I can think of off the top of my head, even the ones that don't require listeners to cough up are only, to use your great term, "free in the imagination of the listeners." You still can borrow audiobooks from the library, via the Libby app, which is AMAZING! Yes, you have to wait a bit sometimes (just as you do for other products at the library), and how much is available varies with the resources of your local library, but you really can access books for free in ways that still lead to the author being compensated. (I mean, I'm sure bootlegging is also possible, but that's not something I want to support.)
4. I hesitate to mention this, because as much as I absolutely love it, I almost can't quite believe it's legit, because the deal seems too good to be true: Scribd--yes, the document-hosting app--also has a membership program, which allows people to read ebooks and listen to audiobooks for one monthly fee. There's no limit to how much you can consume in a month, but they don't have everything. Still, I find a LOT of things I want to listen to. (They're going to change the name of this service to Everand soon. Whateverand.)
5. I'm not quite sure if this the right place to share this thought, BUT ... it feels to me as if there is going to be another point of differentiation in the podcast market at some point in the not-too-distant future, when the expensive-to-make, limited-run and thus hard to monetize high-touch shows become their own thing, probably accessible on yet another app.
I’m glad you mentioned Scribd. I don’t think Spotify will hurt Audible as much as it could kill Scribd. I actually prefer the 15 hour cap at Spotify over the often sparse library of Scribd. I tried to have Scribd as my supplemental to my Audible subscription but finally quit it in frustration. The app was bad and unreliable. Meanwhile I already have Spotify Premium so this audiobook service sounds enticing. Value add with no additional fee. I am excited. Not sure when it’s hitting the States though.
Interesting! The combination of Libby and Scribd covers most of my needs. I always seem to have extra credits at Audible, because I use it for books I don’t want to/can’t wait for, and those are relatively rare.
Some really interesting insight here Nick. I literally just signed up to Audible yesterday to listen to Michael Lewis' SBF book (shouldn't have bothered), but I then discovered you can't buy audiobooks? It's just the credit thing only?? Seems bizarre. My plan is to use the credits for long book, like every Anthony Beevor book. Some are a good 40 hours long. Seems the best way to extrapolate most value.
I like to combine an ebook with an audiobook. If you buy the Kindle book first, the audiobook costs $12.99, sometimes cheaper. You don’t even need an Audible subscription to do that. It’s not cheap but it’s probably no more expensive than a hardcover. And then you can toggle back and forth. (It saves your place via Whisper Sync.)
While I agree with you in general, a little bit of pushback (well, more like complication really, but ...)
1. There have been SOME attempts to change the audiobook. Pushkin Industries brands itself as a "podcast and audiobook production company," and they have made serious efforts to make audiobooks into products that are more than the author or a professional narrator reading the text of a book aloud (not that there's anything wrong with that). I don't work for them, so I have no idea how well they've done, but there are people and companies trying to push the boundaries a bit.
2. It strikes me as relevant that both the founders of Pushkin (Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisbergs) had their roots in journalism and book writing. One trend I have noticed (though it may well have crested by now) is that of established book writers shifting to make podcasts in the time they would once have used to write a book. Gladwell's Revisionist History is an example of that, as was Michael Lewis' Against the Rules. And, yes, Lewis is still writing books--you get more help during the creation with podcasts, I guess--but having just popped over to the Pushkin website to double-check the name of his show, I see that he is also doing a season of his podcast based on the trial of SBF. Synergy for his newest, poorly reviewed book! Gladwell and Lewis aren't the only ones, though. Somewhat popular contrarian linguist John McWhorter devotes the time he used to spend writing books making the podcast Lexicon Valley, first at Slate and for the last couple of years under his own banner at Substack.
3. The legacy model--the photo you used in the Medium version of this post, the public library-- does seem like another complication. There really isn't a free podcast model. Ads, "branded content," deep-pocketed nonprofit/think tank sponsor, or Plus/membership are the models I can think of off the top of my head, even the ones that don't require listeners to cough up are only, to use your great term, "free in the imagination of the listeners." You still can borrow audiobooks from the library, via the Libby app, which is AMAZING! Yes, you have to wait a bit sometimes (just as you do for other products at the library), and how much is available varies with the resources of your local library, but you really can access books for free in ways that still lead to the author being compensated. (I mean, I'm sure bootlegging is also possible, but that's not something I want to support.)
4. I hesitate to mention this, because as much as I absolutely love it, I almost can't quite believe it's legit, because the deal seems too good to be true: Scribd--yes, the document-hosting app--also has a membership program, which allows people to read ebooks and listen to audiobooks for one monthly fee. There's no limit to how much you can consume in a month, but they don't have everything. Still, I find a LOT of things I want to listen to. (They're going to change the name of this service to Everand soon. Whateverand.)
5. I'm not quite sure if this the right place to share this thought, BUT ... it feels to me as if there is going to be another point of differentiation in the podcast market at some point in the not-too-distant future, when the expensive-to-make, limited-run and thus hard to monetize high-touch shows become their own thing, probably accessible on yet another app.
I’m glad you mentioned Scribd. I don’t think Spotify will hurt Audible as much as it could kill Scribd. I actually prefer the 15 hour cap at Spotify over the often sparse library of Scribd. I tried to have Scribd as my supplemental to my Audible subscription but finally quit it in frustration. The app was bad and unreliable. Meanwhile I already have Spotify Premium so this audiobook service sounds enticing. Value add with no additional fee. I am excited. Not sure when it’s hitting the States though.
Interesting! The combination of Libby and Scribd covers most of my needs. I always seem to have extra credits at Audible, because I use it for books I don’t want to/can’t wait for, and those are relatively rare.
Some really interesting insight here Nick. I literally just signed up to Audible yesterday to listen to Michael Lewis' SBF book (shouldn't have bothered), but I then discovered you can't buy audiobooks? It's just the credit thing only?? Seems bizarre. My plan is to use the credits for long book, like every Anthony Beevor book. Some are a good 40 hours long. Seems the best way to extrapolate most value.
I like to combine an ebook with an audiobook. If you buy the Kindle book first, the audiobook costs $12.99, sometimes cheaper. You don’t even need an Audible subscription to do that. It’s not cheap but it’s probably no more expensive than a hardcover. And then you can toggle back and forth. (It saves your place via Whisper Sync.)