You're not listening

Imagine a book fair or a literature festival where you couldn’t pick up books and read them, or hear authors read aloud. Imagine not being able to judge the text, assess the illustration style or comment on the photography. Feels outlandish, right?

Yet, that’s pretty much the standard for audiobook events and publishing exhibitions with an audio element. It is a wonderful world of audio zones, audio alleys, audio stands, audio talks… where there’s almost nothing to listen to.

Whether it’s trade fairs or public book fairs, the need (and the smart thing to do) remains the same. We need to hear the product. Yet, bar a smattering of screens here and there, or staff using their own smartphones for demos, for the most part there’s no method to listen to the thousands of audiobooks published annually at these crucial events.

Peer professionals should want to hear the works, sample the quality, enjoy the voice and the production that they’re selling or buying into. Tech companies should want to showcase their platforms, their recording processes, their AI-voice technology (yes, I said it… it is not going away.) And the public (consumers, listeners, call them what you will) surely want to be able to preview and sample audiobooks and services, beyond the samples available when they’re already considering a purchase online.

But time and again, the ability to showcase the audiobook experience in public is slim on the ground. Every now and then the opportunity is there, with audio fully available to sample and enjoy. But this is a vanishingly rare occurrence right now – I can only name a couple of events this year where I have seen (pretty basic) playback facilities available.

On that note, big nods to Mofibo at Copenhagen’s annual Bog Forum, and JukeBooks at Thessaloniki Book Fair in Greece, both of who showcased their actors and recordings. Their executions were simple, appropriate and utterly engaging. Even Frankfurt Buchmesse’s impressive dedicated audiozone only had a smattering of listening options, depending on the stand, instead of it being the norm and in abundance.

Bar a smattering of screens, or staff using their own smartphones for demos, for the most part there’s no method to listen to the thousands of audiobooks published annually at these crucial events

And this when audio remains the book industry’s fastest growing area. And when, despite that, the vast majority of people – even in the mature markets – have never tried audiobooks. There’s a wealth of readers to still reach, even within our existing spheres. How many professionals at those publisher stands representing these works can honestly say they’ve listened in depth and in full, that they know the work, and can talk about it as passionately as they can its printed or digital counterpart?

I would humbly suggest that organisers of book fairs and events consider the below for 2025:

• Provide listening-post options in the stand-builds so publishers can easily opt-in for the highlights
• Provide listening-post options in your dedicated audio areas where publishers and authors can option to exhibit their work
• Double this up in selective café areas
• As screenless audio become so important in children’s publishing, provide a space where this can be actively showcased in the dedicated children’s publisher areas
• Provide live-reading opportunities for narrators to sit and immerse a crowd in the power of the spoken word

Or if you really want to up it a gear, look at podcasting events. As well as all the usual commercial meetings, you see and hear something completely different. Completely relevant. Live broadcast booths, recording suites, panels which are recorded and broadcast. In short, everything that happens is appropriate to medium. Surely, audiobook publishing can reflect some of this.

Let’s stop asking people to imagine the format. Let’s stop hiding audiobooks away, and exhibit these recordings with pride. Let’s showcase those narrators’ voices . Let’s get the producers’ efforts and skills exposed. Let’s give this multibillion-dollar industry a little more of the showroom… and maybe it can grow even faster and further.