A short TV interview with Julie Broad about the rapid growth of audiobooks compared with print/ebooks, why audiobooks are especially popular with younger listeners, gifting options (Audible memberships or single audiobook gifts), current trending titles (Mark Manson's The Subtle Art..., Dan Brown's Origin, and celebrity memoirs), and advice that authors — especially of autobiographical work — should consider narrating their own audiobooks or producing one to increase discoverability.
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Who doesn't love to read. We've got Julie Broad in the house. She is a best selling author as well as an avid reader. And you've got some really great tips for us on what's trending not just book wise as in paper books, but on the audio front. Yeah.
So it's funny because as a company that helps people write books, I don't actually read very many books anymore except for our clients books. But I am into audio. I, I have a baby and it's really hard to sit down and read. But I can have the audiobook playing. But I'm not the only one. Audiobooks are growing rapidly whereas print books and ebooks are still continuing to grow, but not as much as they used to. So audiobooks are hot. Especially if you have anybody on your list who's under 35. Audiobooks are really, really popular in that group. But I think a lot of people are into audiobooks now. So yeah, audiobooks. Couple ways we can do GIFs. You can do a membership to Audible, which is the main kind of their Amazon's company or you can just gift a single audiobook. So there's a couple options you could do there.
I have to say I tried Audible and when you sign up I think you get a free trial. And I got hooked. I mean I tried one book and then I was like that is all she wrote. It's so fascinating because you can discover brand new authors that way.
Yeah. And it's one thing I'm talking to a lot, we help people self publish and I'm talking to a lot of self publishing authors saying you need to create audiobooks because they're. There aren't that many out there so it's actually easier to be found. So that's kind of one little tip is to create that audiobook. But gift wise couple, we wanted to definitely mention some specific books. The number one book right now both in terms Amazon measures how much people are reading in the E books so they know if you're quitting one chapter in. So the most read book and the number one audio book right now is a book by Mark Manson on the subtle art of not giving up Bleep. And it's a great book and it's actually interesting because it's all about caring but caring about a couple key important things. So that's kind of the number one. So if you're looking for a gift for somebody in your list, that might be it. Or if you want to go fiction. Dan Brown Origin. That's a really hot one right now, too.
Self help never goes out of style. Is there a self help audiobook that has really kind of captured your attention?
There's one that's hot. I haven't listened to it yet, but it's Ginger Zee, who was a meteorologist and also I think she was on Dancing with the Stars. And her book is. I cover disasters and I.
Okay, Just the title alone makes me.
Want to read it. That's why it's on my list.
I love that autobiographical books are. I really love getting my hands on those because especially when it's the author who has a really good reading voice, like Tina Fey with Bossy pants. Oh, I just. I feel like I'm diving into her life and I'm in her living room and we're hanging out and having coffee talk.
And that's the other thing is I'm feeling ripped off. When an author doesn't read their own book fiction. I get it. Right. You gotta have that dramatic actor's voice. But when I'm reading a biographical book and it's your stories, it's weird if it's in somebody else's voice.
It is. It is weird. And I think some authors know when that's not their strength. Maybe.
Yeah. But you can get coached. I think you can get coached through it.
Julie Broad, thank you so much. Hey, don't go anywhere because coming up in just a bit on America Trends tonight, we're gonna show you the steps how you can get to. To writing a book, even if you just have a little inkling or idea. Right now we've got the expert herself in our studio. We're back right after this.
