That's What I Heard

~ So, have you heard the latest book by Dean Koontz? Neither have I, but I plan to. Many years ago, I remember being in a Cracker Barrel (a restaurant and country store) and seeing a flimsy, rotating wire shelf with a small, neatly printed sign atop that read "books on tape". The shelf housed a mixed variety of rectangular, multicolored boxes, with book covers printed on them. The boxes looked worn and I later learned that Cracker Barrel allowed customers to buy these and then return them to any other Cracker Barrel (these country stores are located all over the United States). I'd assumed at the time that these must be for big-rig truck drivers, because who else would listen to a book?

And although I was incorrect in my assumption back then (it wasn't just truckers after all), audiobooks have really boomed since then. In fact, according to a 2015 report by the American Association of Publishers, the number of audiobooks sold in 2015 increased roughly 40% than the amount sold in 2014. That's a massive amount of growth in a very short time. I take an early morning bicycle ride almost every morning, and I've recently started listening to my first ever audiobook. It's Stephen King's book titled 11/22/63, and although the experience was strange to me a first, I've grown to love listening to it during my morning ride (or when cooking, showering, etc). Audiobooks are a nice way to 'read' while you continue on with your other tasks. To me, nothing beats actually reading a good book, but I certainly see why more and more people are listening to books instead/as well. With that, I've decided to publish my debut novel, In The Dark in audiobook format. Over the coming weeks, I'll be going through the process of obtaining a voice actor (or maybe just a really good reader with a knack for enthusiasm and character voices) to read it. If you happen to be one of these (or know of anyone you'd like to recommend), please drop me a line. This is a paid gig, and if you're already a fan of the book, that's even better. I'll be gathering details over the next few weeks (location for recording, the process, cost/pay, etc.). Until then, happy reading ...err, listening!