Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association

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 [...]

I hope you’re enjoying meeting members of the audiobook community here every Wednesday. The whole idea for “Inside the Audiobook Studio” was triggered by a great event hosted by Brilliance Audio at their studio in Grand Haven, MI. Tim Ditlow, Brilliance VP & Young Adult and Children’s Acquisition Editor, invited a few audiobook aficionados to [...]

The home of 2,557 audiobooks in 26 languages – all FREE. Hugh McGuire launched the volunteer-effort audiobook publishing model LibriVox on August 10th, 2005. Hugh is this week’s Inside the Audiobook Studio guest, ready to share the background on this amazing project. Want more information on LibriVox? Subscribe to the Community Podcast here. Have you [...]

Subtract the illustrations from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, add the author’s narration and what do you get? This year’s Odyssey Award-winning title recognized as the best in audiobook production. Audiobooks for young listeners have long featured the audio rendition of text plus added music & effects. But what about audiobooks of [...]

Mo Willems & daughter Trixie are our special guests today, as Weston Woods delivers an extra-special “Inside the Audiobook Studio.” Paul Gagne, Director of Production, recorded a fantastic audio interview with Willems, multiple Geisel Medal & Caldecott Honor recipient, and Trixie, her father’s co-star in Weston Wood’s 2007 Carnegie Medal-winner Knuffle Bunny. If you’ve ever [...]

Watch this video on recording World War Z & The Zombie Survival Handbook as audiobooks. Interestingly, Brooks praises the Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic’s audiobooks, featured in this Comic-Con post with Stan Lee, for helping him make it through school as a student with reading difficulties. World War Z is one of my personal [...]

Click here for a link to the audio recording of our ALA session “Evaluating Audiobooks for Children & Teens” – with tips for anyone interested in learning how to talk the talk of audiobooks. Be sure to check out this post for the session notes, PowerPoint, and more. And if you’d like even more research [...]

Today’s panel at ALA Annual was a happy reunion of nearly all the members of the 2008 Odyssey Award committee, while those missing lent their support from afar. The wonderful women who served with me on that first-year committee are an amazing group of children’s and YA literature experts with a deep knowledge of the [...]

Industry leaders react to APA sales survey results in Spoken-Word Audio Market Holds On, a Publishers Weekly article by Jim Milliot. Thoughtful comments on changes due to the economy, the library & bookstore markets, shifts from CD to downloads, DRM, and the increase in sales of pre-loaded Playway audiobooks.

The mic won’t pick up page turn sounds, that’s for sure! Interesting blog post by Open Book Audio. Digital text does save on paper. I wonder if any other audiobook studios have gone this route?