Does the ascent of popularity of Audiobooks mean the death of pulp and paper equipment? Will all that surplus mechanical equipment become obsolete as the paper industry falls by the wayside? Probably not. In fact, since the United States ranks in the top 5 consumers of paper products, the paper industry is here to stay. It will have to change some of the practices to encourage the use of recycled and renewable resources, but the paper industry will still be very necessary. Even in the production of Audiobooks.
A paperless society may be the wish for some ardent environmentalists who equate every sheet of paper with a dead tree, and each box of packaging as a swath of ruined ancient forest. And while the industry does have a ding or two on its record as a whole, efforts at improvement are being made. Paper equipment is being rebuilt and modernized, and the industry is trending toward recycled product. The number one reason the paper business would go one hundred percent recycled material is consumer demand. Since consumers don’t insist with their purchasing dollars, the industry has to satisfy only a small, but vocal niche with products made from recycled pulp.
Audiobooks were supposed to be the death knell for paper books. Now, people could listen to books being read to them anywhere, in their car, on the train. Audiobooks could expand the potential exposure of an author outside of a hand-held book radius. Who can read a book while driving? Who can steer a bicycle and read a book? A whole world of possibilities opened up for audio books, harkening back to the ancient oral tradition when people would learn from their elders as stories were passed from generation to generation around the campfire. A book could be put on an MP3 file, downloaded to a device and listened to again and again. The audio book could potentially bring a book to a whole new audience, those who wanted to read, and be in the know with popular culture, but were too time starved or stubborn to sit down with a hard copy book.
But people only listen around twenty five percent of the time. This makes learning via an audio book a laborious and time consuming process. Visions of studying for a Master’s Degree during the morning commute went out the window as active listening required an engaged audience. The person chosen to narrate the story or topic became just as, or in some cases, even more important than the actual words. Authors may be able to turn a phrase, but sometimes their voice narration can turn stomachs. Boring, monotone radio voices that were great at reporting traffic snarls on sound bites, became sleep inducing lullabies when reading the greatest works in history. Between choosing the right vocal and creating an engaged listener, books needed to be reworked and rewritten to connect with the audience.
The good news is there is an audience for audio books. Some people are auditory learners who retain more from listening than others. There is also a huge audience for self improvement, motivation and continuing education products that use audio books extensively. Some bestselling authors today have short, engaged writing styles that translate very well to an audio format, and as portable devices can continue to hold more and more memory, audio book lovers can carry the wisdom of the world in their pocket.
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