Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association

BBC Audiobooks America’s Twitter collaboration with Neil Gaiman generated plenty of audiobook buzz recently – if you haven’t heard about the project, here’s an intro from the BBCA blog (read the rest on the blog) :

Our crowd-sourced saga has concluded! The Twitterverse (with the assistance of New York Times Bestselling Author Neil Gaiman) has created a rollicking, epic fairytale, set in a fantasy world, with an endearing coming-of-age story at its heart.  Here’s a brief summary of the eight-day-long story event. Stay tuned to this space for more updates and developments as we take our story through the editing and production stages of making an audiobook! First line: Sam was brushing her hair when the girl in the mirror put down the hairbrush, smiled & said, “We don’t love you anymore.”

Today, I have BBC Audiobook America’s Marketing Director Michele Cobb as this week’s Inside the Audiobook Studio guest – and Michele starts off her visit with a scoop for us. Narrator Katherine Kellgren has been chosen as the voice of the world’s first AudioTwitterBook – or is that TwitterAudioBook? Ok, Michele, it’s time for the five questions:

1. What’s on your MP3 player?

I admit I’m still a big CD/MP3CD fan as I primarily listen in my car. Currently, I’m wrapped up in Lorrie Moore’s A Gate at the Stairs. Literary fiction lends itself to audio well for me. I can really get into the characters and prose. Whenever I hit a particularly dense passage I go back to the beginning of the track and savor the words by hearing them again. As an auditory learner I retain much more when I listen and adore coming into contact with books in this way. Stairs has me longing to get back in the car. Mia Barron does a wonderful job of bringing to life the main character. She’s keeping me engaged in the story and interpreting the words without getting in the way of them, which I always appreciate in a narrator.  This is the type of audiobook that, regardless of where the plot goes, I don’t want to end because I’m enjoying the experience so much. When I’m not in the car my listening is usually a Live Oak Readalong with my daughter who is almost two. Currently we are hitting repeat on Mole Music and Snow.

2. Tell us about your role in the audiobook community.

I work on the marketing side of things – it starts early on in the cycle – providing feedback of which titles might make good additions to the list (and I take suggestions from librarian’s on this all the time), creating materials to help BBC Audiobooks America get the word out about our titles, working with libraries on collection development and reaching out to consumers directly. My department is also responsible for a wide variety of projects – including Behind the Microphone Narrator/Author Events at libraries and our Twitter Audiobook with Neil Gaiman. Check  out  www.BBCAudiobooksAmerica.com/Library – or friend us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

3. What was your most interesting/embarrassing/hilarious moment in the audiobook studio?

A number of years ago I took a group of our salespeople to hear a title being recorded at Cedar House Audio in Seattle. This was more of an almost embarrassing moment that luckily, was avoided  – the title being recorded was romantic suspense that had some steamy love scenes. We joined the recording not too long before a compromising situation was about to be reached. As luck would have it the narrator didn’t quite reach the really heated portion before we had to leave, but it would have been awkward to have all of these people starring into the recording booth at the narrator as she got to that part.

4. What future trends or changing technologies do you think will have the greatest/worst/revolutionary impact on the audiobook production field?

The digital trend is certainly one that is exciting and opens up a lot of possibilities for original works and multi-media projects (and hopefully exposes a lot more people to audio publishing). But the publishing world is going through a lot of upheaval at the moment and new business models have yet to fully emerge –  how companies can reach a significantly higher number of consumers and continue to create a quality product in a digital world where the price points are so much lower than the world of hard goods – remains to be seen.

5. What’s new and exciting in your part of the audiobook community?

The big news for BBC Audiobooks America recently has been the success of our Twitter Audiobook Project with Neil Gaiman. The story unfolded beautifully and we’re lucky to have a fabulous editor, Tara, who worked with the thousands of tweets that came in to craft a great story that we look forward to recording soon. From the radio drama world we’re also excited to have some fantastic Doctor Who radio dramas – Hornet’s Nest – five new tales starring Tom Baker as the Doctor with Richard Franklin as Mike Yates. These television tie-in titles join the Torchwood Original Radio Adventures that launched in 2009 and star the cast of that series. Plus, I really enjoy getting out to visit libraries with author & narrators. Watch this video of Paul Tremblay, author of The Little Sleep and audiobook narrator Stephen R. Thorne at an OverDrive Digimobile event in Rhode Island recently. It was really fun to see them interact – it wasn’t captured on the video, but I especially liked it when Paul said he had to stop listening to the audio when he did his author tour because he kept hearing Stephen in his head whenever he tried to read.

Thanks so much for being here for the interview, Michele! I am always amazed at the innovative ways that BBCAA connects with audiobook listeners – from last summer’s Facebook Audiobook Club to the Twitterverse. Can’t wait to see the new Twitter project you’ve got planned for early in 2010. Hope we hear about it first here on Audiobooker

Smartphone with Audible account and credit card info + sweet sticky fingerprints from granddaughter = my dog racking up big bucks in download charges a definite possibility!

Not really reading or perfect partners? Curious minds want to know! I’m collecting information for an upcoming article in Booklist Magazine on the role of audiobooks in book clubs. As an audiobook blogger & columnist, I’ve received lots of requests from librarians and teachers interested in book clubs that welcome audiobook listeners with open arms, as well as questioning whether listeners face disdain from book club members who think audiobooks are cheating. Do you have experience with an audiobooks-only club? Have stories to tell about book club members who are dedicated listeners, but would never have participated in a printed-book-only club? How do you include critical discussion about audiobooks in your meetings? Are there members of your club who are vision impaired?  Are there clubs out there for the blind? Have you hosted a listening club for children or teens? Any tips or promotional success stories for integrating audiobooks in your book club? I’d love to hear your stories – both good and bad – about how listening to literature unites or divides the members of your clubs. Please send any anecdotes to mary.burkey@gmail.com along with a note granting or declining the use of your club’s name in the feature. Can’t wait to learn how creative clubs are adding listening into the literary discussion!

CNET’s top pick? The iTouch. Runners up? Sansa Clip+, iPod Classic, Zune HD, and the Creative Zen. The best bargan? The Sansa Clip+, at $200 less than its rivals. Be sure to read the complete article by Donald Bell, CNET Senior Editor, for specific details about each unit. If you select one of the players Bell recommends, you are sure to get a player that automatically resumes playing at the spot where last turned off. Bell also notes the the availability of multiple bookmarks, verifies long battery life, and checks compatibility with major audiobook download vendors and file protocol. Kudos to CNET’s recurring articles on audiobook-specific technology!

Nominate your choice for a visit from the Google Trike! Stonehenge & Warwick Castle have been picked in the UK. Here’s how to add your USA choice (from the Google Blog):

At www.google.com/trike, you can suggest interesting and unique spots in six categories:
* Parks & Trails
* University Campuses
* Pedestrian Malls (e.g., outdoor shopping areas, boardwalks)
* Theme Parks & Zoos
* Landmarks
* Sports Venues (e.g., golf courses, racing tracks, stadium grounds)

Nominations will be open until October 28. We’ll then comb through all of the suggestions and let all of you cast your final votes on a winner from each category for the Street View trike to visit. For any privately-owned or operated location, like a campus or theme park, we’ll work directly with the relevant organization prior to collecting the imagery.

When we unveiled the Street View trike in the U.K., we received more than 10,000 nominations and 35,000 votes; Stonehenge and Warwick Castle were two of the top vote-getters. We can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with in the U.S. — head to www.google.com/trike to submit your most inspired ideas.

Nominate them for NPR’s 50 Great Voices TODAY! Do you choose your audiobooks by reader rather than author? Then you know the power of the perfect voice! Deadline for nomination is TODAY Oct. 15th. Here are the details from the NPR website <www.npr.com>:

In January 2010, NPR will launch a year-long exploration of 50 of the great voices in recorded history. With the series, we’re hoping to discover and re-discover awe-inspiring vocalists from around the world and across time. Through archival material, interviews and music, NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered will spend the year delving into the lives and legacies of these voices. But we don’t know yet whose voices they’ll be.

Between Oct. 5 and Oct. 16, we’re asking you — NPR listeners and readers — to tell us who in the whole world possesses the most beautiful, singular voice you have ever heard. Leave your picks, along with a sentence defending each choice and a link to an audio clip if possible, in the comments below, or email GreatVoices@npr.org.

We’ll compile your nominations, along with those of our panel of experts, academics and public-radio critics. At that point, we’ll name the nominees and ask you to help us winnow them down to the 50 great voices we’ll profile in the coming year. We’re relying on you to remind us of those voices we may have forgotten or never got the chance to hear; those voices that may sound strange to Western ears; vocalists silenced by politics or history; the singers who are only really embraced by critics and those who are heroes of the everyday listener. No voice is too outlandish, too old or too compromised. It’s All Voices Considered here, and we can’t wait to see and hear what you send us.

Thanks to Ellen Myrick for the tip!

Winner of the first Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production, Arnie Cardillo of Live Oak Media is a meticulous craftsman of children’s audiobooks and readalongs. I had the pleasure of interviewing Arnie for Booklist after he won the Odyssey for Jazz, written by Walter Dean Myers and illustrated by Christopher Myers – you can read here his description of the process of creating original musical pieces to underlay the sung & spoken narration of each poem in the Myers’ journey through the history of jazz. Let’s hear what Arnie has to say in response to my weekly Inside the Audiobook Studio questions…

1. What’s on your MP3 player?

MP3 Player?  I prefer listening to CDs, not downloads (and I’ll tell you why later on).  But did go to see David Sedaris, on the first night of his fall tour, and got to hear him read some of his new material. Not the greatest voice, but an incredible reader and storyteller; and someone who is deeply committed to the spoken word.  His delivery and pacing are impeccable; and, when you are listening to him read his stories, the stories themselves transcend his vocal qualities, and he transports you into the stories themselves, into his genius.

2.  Tell us about your role in the audiobook community.

When I’m wearing my production hat, I’m responsible for finding the right books, (a ongoing process that I share with my editor in CHIEF and wife, Debra) obtaining audio rights, drawing up contracts, researching information in text to make sure recording or facts are authentic (and solicit the aid of the author when appropriate or necessary), spotting the book with my engineer and composers to plan out the production (places music will appear, type of music and instrumentation that will provide the appropriate emotional support to the reading, places where sound effects should be used and placed so that the text/words make a greater impact and imprint on the early readers memory and mind), hire narrator(s) and musicians, work with narrators at the voiceover sessions, working on final mix of all audio elements and components with the engineer to make sure production sounds the way we want it.  Boy I should give myself a raise…but really, productions are a collaboration with many talented artists, and my main purpose is to make sure it all get done, and of course, pay everyone!

3. What was your most interesting/embarrassing/hilarious moment in the audiobook studio?

Many hilarious moments at the voiceover sessions—and what language comes out of these actors.  But the funniest narrator we’ve ever worked with is John Beach (titles he recorded for us include Punctuation Takes a Vacation, Mystery On the Docks, Art Dog, Moo Cow Kaboom, the Grandpa Spanielson series).   It’s like he channels voices that come out of nowhere.  During a recent recording session for Grandpa Spanielson #3 The Shrunken Head, we were trying to find the right voice for the rotund Queen of the Headhunter pooch tribe, and all of a sudden he comes out with an impersonation of James Mason!  He is so spontaneous, and every session with him is an adventure into hysterics.  By the way, Barbara Caruso’s reading of the Minnie and Moo series, and her characterizations of the Lucy and Ethel of the Bovine world, is another non-stop, laugh out loud fun-filled experience.

4. What future trends or changing perceptions or technologies do you think will have the greatest/worst/revolutionary impact on the audiobook production field?

OK, here is the answer I was referring to at the beginning of question one.  In a nutshell, I think downloaded audio sounds horrible.  It’s thin, hollow-sounding, and lifeless.  Call me a throwback to an ancient time, but I still love listening to vinyl, and loved the introduction of the CD because of dynamic range that it lent to sound and the total lack of recording (white) noise that used to be introduced in the recording process and was ever-present on cassettes.  All of the good sonic qualities, like a warm, full and life-like sound that we heard on vinyl and CDs, has been squeezed out of the digital download sound quality.  It’s like taking all of the healthy, nutritious, and vitamin rich contents of whole wheat and making Wonder Bread.  It’s processed sound, if sound is an appropriate word for it.  Maybe technology will correct its own sonic shortcomings in time, but right now, I consider digital download sound a giant step backwards.

5. What’s new and exciting in your part of the audiobook community?

Our plan is to add more video clips to our website, so that avid audio listeners and fans can “peak in” on the recording/production process and get to see what a recording or mixing session looks like.  And, by the way, you have to listen to what the reigning queen of audiobook narration, Barbara Rosenblat,  did on our recent production of Kate DeCamillo’s and Harry Bliss’ picture book, Louise: The Adventures of a Chicken.  She dances gingerly between the voices of French chickens, Pirates, circus performers, Mid-Eastern fortune-sellers, etc., all with a clever tongue-in-cheek flair, to make for a truly enjoyable audiobook experience.

Thanks so much for being here as our guest, Arnie! I am looking forward to the new releases from Live Oak – especially This Jazz Man, Karen Ehrhardt’s clever play on the finger-play chant “This Old Man,”  retooled to introduce nine jazz masters. Sure to be another great title in the Live Oak “Music Makers” collection. And check out Arnie & Debra Cardillo’s great Behind the Scenes interviews on their website!

Check out this video of  notes dancing to Giant Steps, the jazz classic. Perfect to supplement a classroom listen-aloud discussion of the awesome audiobook John Coltrane’s Giant Steps, Chris Raschka’s colorful introduction to jazz saxophone master Coltrane.

Thanks to Open Culture for the link!

Add your tweets to complete a communal tale kicked off by the Hugo, Newbery, Nebula, and Bram Stoker Award-winner Neil Gaiman. The resulting story, a combination of 140-character contributions from around the globe, will be recorded as an audiobook by an as-yet-unnamed narrator by BBC Audiobooks America and distributed as a free download. When Michele Cobb of BBCAA called me to share the news of this very cool event, my fan-girl reaction was that I hoped Gaiman would do the audio. Michele said it’s too early to think about the narrator, as the final story will determine the voice needed. Gaiman, no stranger to the audiobook world, is a Twitter fanatic. Earlier this year, I sat on one side of the room at the 2009 Audies Award ceremony tweeting the winners while Gaiman, tapping away on his phone across the room, reported his own take on the celebration via Twitter. The audiobook of Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book was named the 2009 Audies Audiobook of the Year by the Audio Publishers Association that night, a fitting honor for a haunting novel with Gaiman’s own fantastic narration. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with in those first 140 Twitter characters. Now I must arrange for my lunch to coincide with the launch at noon on Tuesday, October 13. Thank heavens I have a brand-new phone, ready to speed-tweet!

Here’s the press release:

BBC Audiobooks America Launches the World’s FIRST
TWITTER-CREATED AUDIOBOOK With Neil Gaiman

Write an Original Audio Story via Twitter with the Bestselling Author
of Coraline and The Graveyard Book This Halloween

North Kingstown, RI—This Halloween, BBC Audiobooks America (@BBCAA) is offering a treat for Twitter audiophiles: the chance to write a story with fantasy master Neil Gaiman. The New York Times bestselling author of The Graveyard Book and Twitter enthusiast (known as @neilhimself) will launch an original story-writing project on the popular social networking site October 13 at Noon EST. Gaiman will tweet the first line of the story and fans can jump in and continue it with their own 140-character contributions. To participate, fans must log into Twitter (registration is free) and post in this format: @BBCAA Your Tweet Here #bbcawdio. Searching for #bbcawdio will allow you to follow the tale minute-by-minute.

BBC Audiobooks America will compile the contributions of approximately one thousand tweets into a finished short story to be recorded by a professional narrator. The audiobook will be downloadable free at www.BBCAudiobooksAmerica.com/trade and also available as a digital download at iTunes and other audiobook retailers in time for the holidays.

“We thought this was a fantastic way to get more people excited and actively engaging with audiobooks,” said Marketing Director Michele Lee Cobb, citing that the company took their cues from Britain’s Royal Opera House, who successfully created a fan-twittered opera last month. “There’s a misconception still that audiobooks are only for a small, elite niche of book lovers and we want to explode that myth and tap into the possibilities of digital storytelling in a whole new way.”

To join the fun and add to the tale, sign in at www.Twitter.com to follow @BBCAA and tweet with the hashtag #bbcawdio. The story in progress—along with official participation rules and legal waiver—will be chronicled at the BBCAA blog on www.BBCAudiobooksAmerica.com/trade.

About BBC Audiobooks America

BBC Audiobooks America is a leading publisher of bestselling single-voice and full-cast dramatized audiobooks. BBC Audiobooks America has a library of more than 3,000 audio titles available under its Sound Library, BBC Radio Collection, and Chivers Audio Books institutional imprints and has won multiple Audie Awards, including Audiobook of the Year in 2006, for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: The Tertiary Phase. BBC Audiobooks America distributes product to libraries across North America and to consumers via Perseus Distribution. For more information about BBC Audiobooks America, visit our website: BBCAudiobooksAmerica.com.

For more information:

Tara Gelsomino, Editorial Marketing Manager, BBC Audiobooks America

(401) 295-3831, Tara.Gelsomino@BBCAudiobooksAmerica.com

Awesome, hilarious poetry performance for all school librarians – and those who support student access to libraries! Thanks to slam poet Taylor Mali of Page Meets Stage, for this great Friday morning smile. And if Mali’s voice sounds familiar, he is the terrific narrator of non-fiction audiobooks Close to Shore, Escape! The Story of the Great Houdini, Notable Children’s Recording title Revenge of the Whale (one of my personal all-time favorites), and more.

Thanks to Nina Jackson on LM_Net for the link!