Mr Gaiman and Mr Hodgman continue their conversation about Audio Books. Here they talk about the upcoming audiobook release of Robert Sheckley’s DIMENSION OF MIRACLES and why it sometimes feels like a strange cross between Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy AND Mad Men at the same time.
(It’s about five minutes of us burbling.)
Mr Gaiman and Mr Hodgman discuss Audiobooks, and how much fun it is or isn’t to record them, also several of the dangers involved for the unwary.
ACX - if you’re a writer, an actor, a producer
I thought I’d remind those of you on Tumblr who are writers, producers or actors (and that smaller group of you who are “rights holders”) that ACX - Audiobook Creation Exchange - is a wonderful thing, and it works.
Here’s the press-release type anouncement we did when it went live: http://www.acx.com/neil
And here’s how ACX explains itself:
To understand what ACX is, imagine an open marketplace, one where anyone who holds the rights to an audiobook—an author, agent, or publisher—can be matched with the narrators and studio professionals who can get those audiobooks made.
At the heart of the system is this idea: The rights to an audiobook often remain unrealized and the book is never recorded. And there’s huge potential sitting there, too—the potential for creative work, the potential for new income, and the potential for good listening.
Consider this: In 2009, while the market for digital media was expanding enormously, about one hundred thousand books were published, and not even five thousand of those were produced as audiobooks. We view those idle audiobook rights as a ready and clear opportunity for everyone.
Whether you’re a Rights Holder or Producer, here is how ACX can help you:
- If you’re a Rights Holder—meaning you hold audio rights to a title—you can find an audiobook Producer on ACX who can bring that title to life, or an audio publisher who wants to buy those rights. You can also choose to take control of your audiobook and narrate and produce it yourself. When done, send it to Audible and distribute it through ACX.
- If you’re an audio publisher, you can expand your offerings by finding new titles on ACX to produce.
- If you’re a Producer—meaning a narrator, studio engineer, or studio professional with the capability of producing a commercial-ready audiobook—you can use ACX to find more work. Work that you’re passionate about.
- If you’re a print book publisher, use ACX to create an account as a Rights Holder and engage Producers to produce audiobooks for your titles. Eventually you can have a catalog of audiobooks to offer for sale.
This is what ACX is all about: opening alternative channels of access, collaboration, and income.
I’m really excited. Ellen Kushner’s SWORDSPOINT has gone live over at ACX. Ellen Kushner reads, with a supporting cast of voice actors (including Hitchhiker’s Guide’s Simon Jones) Go to this page, listen to the sample, and you’ll want it to keep going…
“A glorious thing, the book we might have had if Noel Coward had written a vehicle for Errol Flynn. It’s wicked and visual and witty, and it pulls you in like the doorman of a Bourbon Street bar.” (Gene Wolfe)
“Swordspoint begins with a single drop of blood on a field of new-fallen snow, an image that burned itself forever into my mind the first time I encountered it. I can close my eyes and see it still. It’s a terrific opening, an unforgettable opening… and the book just gets better from there.” (George R. R. Martin)
The first “Neil Gaiman Presents” audiobooks are out:
The first round of NEIL GAIMAN PRESENTS audiobooks consists of:
LAND OF LAUGHS by Jonathan Carroll read by Edoardo Ballerini.
YOU MUST GO AND WIN written and read by Alina Simone
PAVANE by Keith Roberts, read by Steven Crossley
LIGHT by M. John Harrison, read by Julian Elfer
THE MINOTAUR TAKES A CIGARETTE BREAK by Steven Sherrill, read by Holter Graham
The website is running slow right now — we’re suffering a DDoS attack from China, someone trying to hack into allhallowsread.com from Portugal, and there’s general traffic overload just to complicate things even more — but it’s worth seeing if this journal entry is there yet to follow all the links on “Neil Gaiman Presents” that are up on my website.
This photo of me looking very serious with a beard and sushi pillows has nothing to do with anything, and is just here to make this seem less like a block of text.
The first five books are out! I’m all excited!
Listen to samples over at this link.
