CCB Magazine

Podcasts and audio books are booming. How can this trend be explained? Will hearing become the new reading? The digital audio book publisher Audible is one of the market leaders in the industry. Dorothea Martin is a producer for original productions at Audible, she has accompanied the development towards auditory formats for years. We talked to her about the future of audio formats in the context of Future Publish. 
 

Interview Jens Thomas  ANDBoris Messing

CCB Magazin: Hello Mrs. Martin, Audible, audio book, audio book, radio play, you get all mixed up - what are the differences?

Dorothea Martin: Basically, audio content in which only one speaker tells the entire story is called an audio book. A radio play develops its own dynamic through the cast of several actors for the individual characters in the story, often supplemented by a narrator's voice, sound effects, sometimes music. With sometimes blurred boundaries - for example, there are audio books with only one narrative voice, but to which sound effects are added, such as a door creaking or rain that matches the scene. We are also experimenting with this more and more in our Audible Originals.

CCB Magazin: For years, 'Benjamin the elephant' and 'The Three Investigators' were the only ones on the front line, but we are currently experiencing a real podcast boom and the setting of all fonts to music. Are people becoming more and more lazy to read or do you feel more when you hear?

Dorothea Martin:The latter has indeed been scientifically proven. In a study, the renowned University College London found that hearing triggers more emotions than seeing. The tests included "Game of Thrones" - one group was shown the TV series, the other group was presented with the same scene as an audio book. Result: Heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature reacted more intensively when listening. In principle, I cannot recognize laziness while reading. Surveys show that book readers* even hear more than non-book readers. And that those who like to use audio books a lot also read more books.

CCB Magazin:How do you explain the trend that audio formats are gaining popularity?

Dorothea Martin: Those who love stories want to experience them in a variety of ways. And the reasons can be very different. Let me give you two examples: Today, thanks to our smartphones, we have audio content at our fingertips at all times and can cut waiting times at the doctor's, at the bus stop or the supermarket queue and listen to another chapter of the latest thriller by our favorite author or a short inspiring audio series. At the same time, more and more people want to limit their daily screen time and appreciate the fact that with audio books, radio plays or podcasts they can experience something without having to look at the TV, laptop screen, tablet or smartphone.

A study has shown that hearing triggers more emotions than seeing. Anyone who loves stories simply wants to experience them in a variety of ways - and this is exactly what new listening formats make possible

CCB Magazin:Podcasts in particular are currently gaining ground. Meanwhile, one in three Germans regularly accesses free audio broadcasts - with news right at the top, followed by entertainment and music formats. How fast is the market for Audible growing compared to print?

Dorothea Martin: I don't have the figures for print development, but we and our partners - including several hundred publishers - are very satisfied with our development: The listening hours downloaded on audible.de have doubled in the last three years. And because you mentioned it, I can confirm that it is not only entertainment that is an important driver for listening to podcasts. A great many people also use the format for targeted further education. For example, our P.M. podcast "Say you as a physicist" is one of our most popular serial contents. Every week you learn something fascinating new, prepared in a way that makes it suitable for small talk at the next party. This goes down well with many listeners.

CCB Magazin:More than 70 years ago, Hermann Hesse read in his book "Über das Glück" for the Suhrkamp Verlag. The focus was on personality and the bond to the audience. Is the appeal of writings also a response to the fact that personality is increasingly being lost in the mass market?

Dorothea Martin:Yeah, there might be something to that. However, not all authors* have gifted voices and the corresponding training. That's why we at Audible Studios work with more than 300 professional speakers in Germany, some of them have already built a true fan base - to exaggerate a bit, they could probably read the phone book and find their audience, simply because they are so good. In this respect, your thesis is correct: Listening conveys personality, it is a very special, intimate and storytelling experience between speaker and listener.

With our authors we develop stories, which are then exclusively available at Audible

CCB Magazin:Audible is part of Amazon. Audible and Amazon have been repeatedly criticized: In 2015, the Börsenverein des deutschen Buchhandels filed a complaint against Audible with the Federal Cartel Office. The accusation: Audible would abuse its market power by pushing publishers into a flat rate model that would bring them significantly lower revenues. In 2019, well-known US publishers sued Amazon for copyright infringement. Does Audible put profit above fairness?

Dorothea Martin: No, not at all. Incidentally, the above-mentioned procedure was officially discontinued and completed as early as 2017. We stand for a fair remuneration of our creatives and partners, but we treat the contents of contracts confidentially. In Germany, we have also been working with several hundred publishers, including many smaller publishing houses, for many years and are growing together. Anyway, the remuneration depends strongly on the effort and duration of a production.

CCB Magazin:How much do authors earn with Audible? Are there flat rates, royalties?

Dorothea Martin: There is no general answer to this question. Both is possible. It is also important what we do for our partners apart from the remuneration: We have already shown some authors how we can build them up with Audible as brand and name. We develop stories together, which are then exclusively available at Audible and advertise them accordingly with a high marketing budget. At the same time there is the chance that the story travels around the world and is also produced in other Audible countries - recently a title was even published in several countries and languages simultaneously.

CCB Magazin:Ok, so tell us: How does the work between Audible and the authors go?

Dorothea Martin: Very different. One possibility is to apply directly to us with your own ideas for audio series. For this we have created the website callforpapers.audible.de  and are happy about the numerous concepts that are submitted there every year. We work directly with other authors*, in workshops like the "Fiction Factory" and in Writers' Rooms we develop new stories and plots together. This is one of the best moments of my work, because a fascinating and creative atmosphere can be created there.

CCB Magazin:Ms. Martin, finally a look into the future: How will the audio book market develop in the next few years? Will there be books that are no longer printed, but produced just for listening?

Dorothea Martin:We already have that even now. For example, at Audible, I am a producer for original productions like this, for stories that no longer have a book template. Here the authors develop and write especially for listening, the titles are then exclusively available at Audible. We invest significantly in such audio series and see a great opportunity to continue our growth and to inspire even more people.