Audiobooks are rapidly gaining popularity with widely accessible digital downloading and streaming services. This book engages with the digital form of audiobooks, framing audiobook listening as both a remediation of literature and an everyday activity that creates new reading experiences that can be compared to listening to music or the radio. Have and Stougaard Pedersen challenge the historical notion that audiobook listening is a compensatory activity or a second-rate reading experience, while seeking to establish a dialogue between sound studies and media studies, comparative literature, aesthetics, and sociology.

Audiobooks are now a staple in most public and school libraries, and with good reason, since they have a clear role in the education of today's "born digital" generation. Burkey, who has been following their rise in popularity for years, combines a fascinating history of the medium and practical tips for using them in a readable guide applicable to school and public librarians as well as classroom teachers. Enriched with reflections and comments from authors, audiobook narrators, producers, reviewers, and librarians, this book Shows how audiobooks not only benefit struggling readers and bring families together but also fit neatly within newly accepted standards for early literacy education Demonstrates how to use audiobooks as classroom and library tools for learning Identifies how to locate “must-have” audiobooks and offers advice for maintaining a collection Including an overview of the major audiobook awards and lists of additional resources, Burkey’s guide will help librarians and educators unlock the educational potential of audiobooks for youth.

Their ever-evolving popularity notwithstanding, audiobooks remain a rather undertheorized phenomenon. The prevailing handful of existing studies seem to have adopted an inherently historicist approach, which fails to identify and scrutinize their aesthetic importance. Thus, rather than regarding them as mere recorded ‘versions’ of existing literary works, this book explores them as the unique products of a hitherto undefined artistic genre. As performance-based aural artefacts, the very act of listening to them is rendered an aesthetic experience in its own right. By effectively embracing an interdisciplinary approach and introducing a set of aesthetic questions and philosophical conundrums (ignited by a paradigmatic application of the New Institutional Theory of Art), this study establishes a new aesthetic category—which, in turn, not only classifies audiobooks as artworks to all intents and purposes, but also generates the criteria and parameters for evaluating their merit. Since the proof of the proverbial pudding is purportedly in the eating, in surveying a series of concrete case studies—each highlighting different degrees of complexities—this study mainly examines first-person narratives as the most natural medium for the aesthetics of the audiobook. As such, the investigation herein provides one with comparative close listenings, appropriately analyzing and debating their aesthetic properties. Finally, in exploring what this study identifies as one’s informed intuition and its role in the craft of casting audiobooks, this study also proposes a new understating of how aesthetic appreciation works in action.

The rapidly increasing availability and low cost of e-book technology make it perfect for schools and educators looking to expand their resources for readers. This book introduces the unique features that have established e-books as a powerful, effective learning tool for all grade levels and for special needs students. It includes descriptions and illustrations of the most popular e-book platforms and programs, as well as dozens of practical ideas for using e-books for reading instruction, personal productivity, and curricular enrichment. Brimming with interactive lesson ideas, teaching tips, and online resources, this book is a must-have for teachers in all content areas and library media specialists. Descriptions of the most popular and affordable e-book devices, software, and content for educators Guidelines for accessing the free digital library resources available on the Web and for creating your own e-books using basic software tools Strategies for using the annotation, reference, and hypertext capabilities of electronic text to promote active reading.

Valuable guide book for authors, audiobook publishers, narrators, voice-over artists, and audiobook listeners. Learn how to create, produce, publish, and market your audiobooks.Are you wondering if you should turn your print and ebooks into audio? Get valuable information, details, and all the necessary links on:- How to Create and Record Audiobooks- Audiobook Narration Tips- How to Find the Right Narrator or *- DIY Narrate Your Audiobooks- Production Cost and How to Plan Your Audiobook- Equipment for Audiobook Narrators/ Voice-Over Artists- Where to Find Audiobook Reviewers- For Listeners: Free Audiobooks to ReviewLearn the following and more:- Why investing in an audiobook is worthwhile- How to choose an audiobook studio or production company in the USA, the UK, and Canada, and most important: to find the right narrator for your title- How to set up your own DIY recording spot and which equipment to use for quality recording--Where to take narration training and learn voiceover techniques or build a career out of your voice- How to make words on a page come alive for the audience and create a visual image for the listener- How to find reviewers (including direct links) and how to market and distribute your audiobook- Where to find info about audiobook sellers and apps, and even where to find free audiobooks on the internet- All about audiobook industry associations and their awardsMost important: Get step-by-step instructions on how to create, plan, narrate, record, edit, master, proof, market, and sell your audiobook, plus countless tips on finding the best audiobooks and apps.

The first computational study of reading to focus on audiobooks, this book uses a unique and substantial set of reader consumption data to show how audiobooks and digital streaming platforms affect our literary culture. Offering an academic perspective on the kind of user data hoard we associate with tech companies, it asks: when it comes to audiobooks, what do people really read, and how and when do they read it? Tracking hundreds of thousands of readers on the level per user and hour, Reading Audio Readers combines computational methods from cultural analytics with theoretical perspectives from book history, publishing studies, and media studies. In doing so, it provides new insights into reading practices in digital platforms, the effects of the audiobook boom, and the business-models for book publishing and distribution in the age of streamed audio.

This volume offers a critical overview of digital reading practices and scholarly efforts to analyze and understand reading in the mediatized landscape. Building on research about digital reading, born-digital literature, and digital audiobooks, The Digital Reading Condition explores reading as part of a broader cultural shift encompassing many forms of media and genres. Bringing together research from media and literary studies, digital humanities, scholarship on reading and learning, as well as sensory studies and research on multimodal and multisensory media reception, the authors address and challenge print-biased conceptions of reading that are still prevalent in research, whether the reading medium is print or digital. They argue that the act of reading itself is changing, and rather than rejecting digital media as unsuitable for sustained or focused reading practices, they argue that the complex media landscape challenges us to rethink how to define reading as a mediated practice. Presenting a truly interdisciplinary perspective on digital reading practices, this volume will appeal to scholars and graduate students in communication, media studies, new media and technology, literature, digital humanities, literacy studies, composition, and rhetoric.