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With audiobooks, the reader is as important as the writer. One of my favorite books of all time (Brian Daily's Coramonde series) was ruined as an audiobook for me because I found the reader's "female" voice so annoying. I suppose I could have lived with it if I really liked his male voice, but I didn't. I don't mind voice talent that reads without a separate voice for each character, though I think that a good voice actor is best, but either way you live and die with the reader, regardless of how good the original work is. (just my two cents)
I agree that audiobooks is a huge growth market, at least based on what I read authors who are willing to discuss where their money comes from. I think that the "but it ought to be free or at the most $1" mindset hasn't made it to the audiobook market. Plus, there is enough upfront cost that it keeps out the scammers, which makes books more discover able (though I will say that it's getting worse).
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