Do you listen to your books?

Audio books were something I never gave a lot of thought to. Oh, I'd listened to one or two over the years, but I always preferred to read a book. That has started to change over last year. I can't really pinpoint a single event, but I would say the amount of traveling I've been doing had something to do with this change. Anyway, sometime last year I started listening to audio books in the car. Then I brought them inside and started listening to them while I cooked, or made buttons, or any task that took both my hands but not my full attention. Now I wouldn't say I'd rather listen to a book over read it, but I definitely enjoy being able to multi-task.

All that said, when the audio rights for both the Alex Craft and Haven series recently sold, I was a lot more excited than I probably would have been in previous years. Who will the reader be? What kind of voices will she give the characters? What will Alex/Kita/Nathanial/Falin/Death/Bobby/Tatius/etc . . . sound like? In short, I'm very anxiously awaiting hearing the audio versions.

And for Grave Witch, that wait is almost over.

The audio rights for the first three Alex Craft novels were picked up by the great folks over at Tantor Audio. Grave Witch will be read by Emily Durante and the release is set for next month (April). This will be my very first audio release (though I should have more to announce shortly) so I'm all but beside myself. I get the feeling listening to my book on audio will be quite an experience. 

With this release, I also have another first to look forward to--my very first alternate cover. I had no idea the audio release would get its own cover, so I was completely shocked when my editor sent me a cover for approval.  It is a different look for Alex, but I think it is totally eye catching and absolutely gorgeous. I have been given the green light to share so I am very pleased to unveil the audio release cover art:



What do you think? (click image to enlarge) And back to the question in the title of this post: Do you  listen to audio books?

Happy Monday!

Comments

purpleprose 78 said…
I discovered them in college when I was traveling a lot. They're great for trips. If it is a book that I'm having trouble reading (Example: Lord of the Rings), audiobooks can get me past that and make me love it.

My absolute favorite audiobooks are the Harry Potter series. I listen to those over and over
Kim said…
I listen to audiobooks primarily when I'm at the gym. I figured out a couple of years ago that elliptical time flies when I'm listening to a good book. I will even exercise longer just to finish another chapter!
Anonymous said…
Congratulations on the release.

I used to listen to audio books a lot more back when I held a job doing Data Entry (we were allowed to listen to music or cds). Since it was basically the only thing keeping me sane at work.
Now... I don't listen to audio books anymore.
Simon said…
No I don't though as of yet I have not encountered a situation where i need to. I do read a lot but I still like books, and pages that I can turn. Especially if I am reading a long book. Oddly enough one of my brothers works for a company that makes audio books.
Anonymous said…
i've never tried it... i keep wondering if i could get past having the voices in my head with all the "he said's" and "she said's"... i would give it a shot, unfortunately, i don't have a lot of opportunity to listen to books... i rarely drive - unless i'm with my kids, at which point i doubt they would be interested in listening to the books i'd want to hear, and of course, most of said books would not be appropriate for my primary school-aged boys! ;p

i read at night, or while commuting by public transit, or when i have a few moments here and there... most of these times i wouldn't be comfortable being plugged in :)
Rob said…
I started listening to books when my traveltime increased and I couldn't read as much as I wanted.
The one thing I hate about them is that a series sometimes has different readers for the books.
I must agree with purpleprose Jim Dale's performance in harry potter is the best I heard yet
ScarlettDrawers said…
I discovered it in the book store when was browsing the shelves looking for something new an interesting that tickled my fancy :)
Michael said…
So, most people won't like the way that I 'listen' to books, but it really suits me.

My Kindle will read (text to speech) most written books to me. This means that I read a book when I can, but when I am getting ready in the morning, commuting, or at the gym my Kindle reads to me. I can easily switch back and forth during the same book.

However, when I say most people wouldn't like it; the issue is the quality. It is considerably better than the robotic voices of yore. I even think they've built some inflection into it. However, there is no way it can be called a dramatic reading and its common to hear mis-pronounced words. I'm quite tolerant of all this because it allows me to keep on reading even when I'm not starting at the book.

These days, I won't buy a book if it doesn't have TTS enabled.
Hockey Coach said…
Sports Coach, we travel so I am on the road a lot. Plane, bus, car have over a hundred. Just finished your Alex Craft book, Grave Witch liked it so much I have started book two, Grave Dance. I googled to see if you have any other audiobooks released and reached this page. As of today only the two above. Hope to see the others released soon.

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