Quote:
Originally Posted by Wald07
Now, I deeply respect Stephen Hawking, as he is an amazing man...but I find the text-to speech function on my K3G-keyboard a lot like having Mr. Hawking reading to me.  (Especially poor for romance novels, prolly ok for science textbooks...)
Agreed. A good audiobook is a fantastic treat. 
I'd only suggest commissioning an audio book production after an e-book has been quite successful. Only my 2c worth....  |
I appreciate the "Hawking" reference. That had not occurred to me. Very perceptive.
On the other hand none of us can afford the audio production talents of say an Alan Parsons.
Anyway with that I will share some opinions and rules of thumb I have heard.
Sci Fi audio - NOT. (And the Da Vinci Code is not Sci Fi. so that
would be ok. This doesn't include the old (very large (size) classics) that are considered as milestones or benchmarks.
Fantasy - Harry Potter types can do well. Probably have been engraved on marble slabs.
Most NY Times Best Sellers Fiction. The folks that pay the most attention to that usually have money and lots of time.
The NY Times Best Sellers Non Fiction like political books may be primarily skimmed for conversation titbits, though sometimes they will be listened to on the train to work.
The following is general for fiction without regard to the book or the genre just based on popularity (copies sold) -
100 Thousand copies - maybe
500 Thousand copies -probably
1 Million copies or more - yes
Murder/mystery - little old ladies or little French guys solving crimes while on vacation in interesting and entertaining places -definitely.
Spy Thriller - if popular and very involved - yes
War fiction (current) - maybe. Again may be primarily skimmed.
War fiction (period, historical, semi-fictional, all fictional, etc.) it varies but is a good bet
Something on Charlie Rose or in a magazine- a "probable" to a strong yes.
There are others but those are some snapshots