But How Much Are You Reading?
By Porter Anderson (@Porter_Anderson) | October 19, 2018 |
Image – iStockphoto: Last 19
Listening Up
For me, it’s always a kind of relief to write a piece for Writer Unboxed. That’s because you, Unboxed one, are among the most consistent elements of publishing.
Writers tend to work through the upheavals of the industry by focusing ever more intently on writing. This actually is not the pathway taken by many others in the industry.
As economic and market forces bash and bang up the business, company people (rightly) believe they have a mandate not only to adapt but to innovate, to look for things that will accommodate and/or ameliorate the changing circumstances of a creative industry in profoundly changing times. The industry! The industry!
And so my reporting at Publishing Perspectives and at The Hot Sheet have a lot to do with change: lots of trial and lots more error, fits and startups, big trends that fizzle in under two years, minor fads that flatten everybody’s expectations, and the abiding difficulty that this industry has in understanding itself as part of a major entertainment complex that has overtaken it.
On that last point, it’s not everyone. I love the exceptions: some of publishing’s brightest leaders are working well to associate themselves with studios and other production players to reposition bookish content for survival in a screened landscape.
But another thing I value in the Writer Unboxed community is the authorial viewpoint that, of course, isn’t always factored into industry thinking.
And today, I’d like to “provoke you,” to use a pleasantly over-strong term, to give me your input on an important distinction that I fear some in the business may be overlooking, and that I’ll bet many in the author corps are not.
Let’s say that there’s a difference in the content and the act: the story and the reception of it.
Heres what I’m on about. As you know, publishing’s shooting star at the moment is audiobooks. Oh, those double-digit gains. The Association of American Publishers just reported that between January and August of this year, downloaded audio was up 37.5 percent over the same period last year, by far the biggest gain in all publishing. And this is being replicated in other world markets we cover.
Audio is hot, hot, hot. (As long as it’s downloaded. Physical audio in the same time-period comparison tanked by 24.6 percent. We don’t need no stinkin’ CDs or cassette tapes, thanks just the same.)
So big is audio that at The FutureBook conference in London in November, my former associates at The Bookseller will be staging a full day of audiobook sessions–there’s an entire audio conference running parallel to the main stream. (And we could have bought stock in headphone makers, you know.)
As I’m sure I’ve bored you by saying before here, my own pet pleasure in this thing about audio is that in some markets like the UK (but not yet in Canada, we just learned), guys are leading the way in audiobook sales. Yes, guys. Outbuying the women in books. Sounds like another planet, doesn’t it? But it’s true. As long as it’s audio, the guys are in the lead. They don’t like reading, but they like listening, especially while doing other things, surveys show.
But that brings me to my provocation for you today.
Reading Books vs. Consuming Content
Provocations graphic by Liam Walsh
If audiobooks are soaring, and more people (especially those British guys) are reading, this sounds great, right? Your books are being … consumed.
Of course, they’re not quite being read. Except by those saints who are prompted by one medium to turn to another.
Similar effect in film and television series, of course. PBS recently aired the all-too-short BBC/Masterpiece production based on Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist. Granted, some viewers will be tempted to get the book. We have to assume, however, that they’re in the minority.
And as studio work becomes better–as even those audiobooks get better–what’s happening to reading.
My irritating question for you: are you reading as much as you used to?
Let’s make a few assumptions, to try to clear the table of a bit of understandable and natural clutter.
- Writers don’t always get to read as much as they like because they’re busy writing. It was ever thus, that’s perfectly okay.
- Writers also tend to become more discerning as their careers progress, so that they may read less but make more exacting choices of what they’d like to read, either to support their own writing or even to support colleagues at times. Also perfectly okay.
- Writers may also from time to time need to avoid reading. Some find that another writer’s style can become tangled with their own, or another’s good story can sway them from their outlines. Also also perfectly okay.
So those caveats and any others you feel are appropriate are easily taken onboard here, no worries.
But what I think we’re seeing is that writing really is becoming “content,” as much as some may not care for the term. I mean to say by that that your next piece may be read by far fewer than it might have been 10 or even just five years ago. It might be heard by a lot more English blokes at the gym. Or it might be watched on Hulu or Amazon Prime or Netflix or HBO by a lot more people. It might even be murmured by Alexa from a whole lot of Echo devices, right?
But reading? That’s where I’d like your input.
Being writers here, we’re all likely agreed that the act of reading is valuable in many important ways–the cultivation of imagination, the development of concentration capability, the joy and necessity of critical thinking (whatever happened to that?), the marvelous gift of vocabulary expansion, and so on. There’s little need for us to defend the value of reading to each other; other choirs need to hear us preach that one, not us.
But how say you, then? Whither reading? Not books, reading.
Start with your own reading. And be honest, we’re all friends here and my secretary will disavow all knowledge of your actions. Are you reading as much as you were? And secondly, do you think your work in progress will be read as much as it would have been in the past? Or might it be listened to, watched, whispered or otherwise transmitted (I’m ready for the Amazon implant, myself) more than actually read? I’ll appreciate your input, as always, and will no doubt be ridiculously late in replying to you, another of my more dependable traits.
By the way, Jane Friedman (“Porter’s Brain”) and I are holding our third-anniversary Hot Sheet flash sale today, with 30 percent off on a year’s subscription when you use code 3YR on checkout. If you’re interested, more info is here. The Hot Sheet is the essential industry newsletter for authors. We’d love to have you join us, And if you don’t, we still love you.
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@Porter_Anderson is a fellow of the National Critics Institute. He is Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives, the international news medium of Frankfurt Book Fair. He co-founded The Hot Sheet, a newsletter for trade and independent authors, which now is owned and operated by Jane Friedman. Priors: The Bookseller‘s The FutureBook in London, CNN, CNN.com and CNN International–as well as the Village Voice, Dallas Times Herald, and the United Nations’ WFP in Rome. is a recipient of London Book Fair’s International Excellence Award for Trade Press Journalist of the Year. PorterAndersonMedia.com
Intriguing question, Mr. Anderson.
I’d say I’m reading about at the same rate that I always have. A 50-book yearly challenge is easy enough for me to manage, mostly because I prioritize reading over watching TV for relaxation. However, I have shifted from reading a broad range of literary, genre, and non-fiction titles to reading more in-depth in the genres I write.
In the last few years, I’ve stopped using my e-reader almost completely. I found I didn’t remember reading a book if I’d used the e-reader. Old-fashioned print is more memorable.
I work part-time at my local library, and I see the popularity of audiobooks. Our audiobooks on CD or Playaway are circulated more by women than men. I don’t have access to our download statistics, so I can’t speak to that.
I cringe a bit at the thought that all our carefully crafted turns of phrase will become background “noise” while someone putters around the house doing chores. As a writer, I want to keep the reader enthralled, lost deep in the world I’ve crafted because that’s what I love about reading. I’m not sure that same experience is possible if our books are heard instead of read.
Hi Ruth – I posted my own reply before reading yours (in which I report that a reading uptick was mostly done via my Kindle). I’ve heard what you’re saying here about a decline in retention with e-readers, and I believe there have even been studies that confirm it. But I honestly I haven’t noticed a negative impact on my retention, or a story’s memorability, at all.
I have, however, noticed a negative impact on the few occasions I’ve tried to read on my iPad. Not sure if the type of screen itself (back-lighting?) is the central issue, though I suspect that’s part of it. I also suspect that ease of access to the internet, notifications appearing on the screen, etc, plays a central role in the difference. Interesting stuff.
Wow, fifty physical books a year is impressive. Good on you. Your shelves must be burgeoning. :)
First I will say that, whatever medium one uses to consume content I have created, good on you. I give you my blessing. Why insist that someone read it? I’m only one person’s parent and no one’s teacher at the moment, so the rest of the planet may do what it will when it comes to content consumption. To each his own.
As for my own reading…I have worked in publishing for nearing 17 years, and during that time I have read innumerable books, in part or in whole, in order to perform my job. They have rarely been books I would seek out on my own, but they have nonetheless often been entertaining and sometimes been edifying. But for my job, I actually have done much more listening to manuscripts by digitizing them than reading from a screen or a printed page. It’s much faster, as I am a slow reader, and it serves my purpose: figuring out how to write catalog, back cover, and web copy that will sell it.
But if I’m going to read something I choose? For myself? That’s a different story.
Apart from my day job, I read as often as I ever have, and I do it entirely with printed books. I tried a Kindle that was given to me (unasked for) and managed a few things, but I really don’t care for reading from a screen. I write in my books, and “highlighting” in a Kindle wasn’t cutting it. I couldn’t flip through and see what I’d underlined. I couldn’t make notes in the margin. And it was harder to remember what I’d read and where I’d read it without the spatial clues of the physical object.
I much prefer the analog world of my childhood to the digital world of my adulthood. But if people want to experience my own creative content though an Amazon implant in their brains, why would I stop them? But you sure won’t catch me with any of that nonsense noising up my life.
Hey Porter, great topic. And one that’s had me wondering lately.
I haven’t been bitten by the audio-book bug myself (buzzed by it?), but I know plenty of folks who have – my wife among them. For her, since she spends so much time behind the wheel while doing her job, it has much to do with CarPlay. The system automatically syncs with her favorite story from the appropriate app on her phone (Audible or Audiobooks.com) each time she starts the car. It even pauses the book for phone calls and texts – which come to her audibly over her car speakers.
As for my actual reading, not to brag or refute the theory implied (that most are reading less – I suspect that’s correct), but my time spent consuming fiction on the page has experienced an uptick during the past few years. With a caveat (that I’ll get to in a minute). For one thing, as I gain experience as a writer, I find myself more able and willing to read widely alongside my own writing – even in my own genre, which I used to avoid while writing. I suppose I’m getting better at compartmentalizing. And I though I haven’t really considered it till now, I think I’m more comfortable with maintaining my own voice and style.
I also find that more and more of my reading is done on my Kindle (I know, another screen – but have you checked out the features in the newest versions? There’s lots to like). As for the caveat, the ease of downloading (via wifi, from nearly anywhere these days) has me buying more books and supporting more writers, but I suspect it also has me taking fewer trips into bookshops (something I still LOVE). Another aspect to ease of downloading? I am far more willing to walk away. If I find myself growing restive, I’m a lot more willing to walk away (click away?) than I used to be. I’m so much less patient with those sagging middles! And so, in spite of the reported uptick, I suspect the number of finished titles per year is about the same.
But as I said at the onset, I find myself wondering about audio. Does “hearing” a story contribute to literacy? I’m sure that, in ways, it does. But I’m also sure there are much different things happening up in the ole’ noodle (some of them you aptly point out above). For me there’s a state that I’m taken to during immersion while reading (the actual words-on-pages kind) that opens a type of receptivity and analysis that I don’t think I get from any other story-consumption medium.
Our concern about the downtrend in actual reading has prodded my wife and me to put our money where our mouth is. In recent years we’ve moved a significant portion of our charitable giving to literacy causes. Including a fantastic local one – a very hands on and community-involved based in my nearby hometown called RAWK (Read and Write Kalamazoo). They’ve recently added a physical community center (with no screens) where kids come to read, write, recite, critique, and learn. It’s a great program, and it continues to grow and get better.
Congrats to you and Jane on three years! Thanks for the thoughtful provocation, Bro. These issues are essential to what we do and who we are as writers.
Very interesting about the audio books!
I am actually reading (books) a lot more than I used to (which might actually be partially why I’m writing more, too.) I used to listen to books when I was commuting approx. 2 hours a day, because I could focus on what was being said. Once I moved, I stopped listening to books and started reading again. I am not able to listen and understand while doing multi-step things like cooking or cleaning. I get focused on the task and then forget to listen. When I exercise I like to either listen to the nature around me or listen to music.
That being said, I have (female) friends who apparently listen to books on a regular basis. I have to admit I am confused on how they can do it. I would be interested if there is more info available about those British blokes who listen to audiobooks so much. Is it while they commute? Exercise? Could the environment be the clue as to why audiobook sales are increasing, especially for that particular sub-group?
I hesitate to discuss the future of audiobooks. I have a scattering of random thoughts, though. It seems to me (with my very limited understanding of the publishing industry) that book sales in the digital world very much mimic our use of technology and the current needs of the individual. Personal preference is an important factor, as well. And the increased “reading” of audiobooks might be a result of increased availability, too. Downloadable content is always better when it comes to space saving. I think it may be that there is a surge (like there was with electronic readers) and then maybe it’ll back off. People seem to have an almost emotional connection to physical books and the written word. Perhaps it’s just nice that we live in a time where there are a lot of options? ;)
I read probably 20 books or less a year. And I find I’ve been reading more nonfiction than fiction. Like you pointed out in your article, I’ve become very picky about what I read fiction-wise. Whenever I read a fantasy novel, I can’t help but to pick it apart to see how I would do it. So, when I do pick up a novel, lately it’s been mysteries.
I still read!!! I also listen to audiobooks – but only on car rides – and read ebooks occasionally when I’m traveling. But in my daily life, day after day, I read up to an hour before bed and another hour, sometimes two, first thing in the morning. At those quiet, dark times, I don’t want a screen in my hand. I want a physical book. I want to connect with the page and the mind behind it in a visceral way.
Echoing what others have said, I don’t have the same commitment to an ebook that I do to a physical book, so I stop reading and forget them. I rarely finish an ebook. A physical book, well, I may stop reading, but it’s a conscious and measured decision–because I had to obtain the book and I have to return or dispose of it when I’m done. So I have to think more carefully about whether it’s worth pushing through to finish it. And when I do that, sometimes I find myself lost in a story world that I’m grateful to be in. Which is something I rarely feel with digital “content.”
Thanks for this great topic – I love the conversation.
Hi Porter, the world opened up for me on the couch on the southside of Chicago when my mother handed me a book. I’ve been reading ever since–weekly trips to the library, gift books, and now audio books ALWAYS in my car, so that I am listening on my way to the grocery store. When my mother was dying in Chicago and I was living in Iowa, I consumed books in my car. I read every night for two hours–if I can stay awake. I read books and print material–I read a real newspaper every day, the LA TIMES. I taught reading and literature as an English teacher. I read huge tomes studying to be an RN. I read struggling authors as a proofreader. What would my world be if I could not read books? Yes, content can be wonderful and I share that on Netflix with my husband. But in the end, I’ll have a book in my hand and hope my eyes still work. And just maybe I’ll have a few books with my NAME ON THE COVER.
I listen to audio books pretty much only if I’m on a long car trip. Otherwise, I too get distracted by what I’m doing and stop listening.
As for paper vs e-books, I much prefer paper books, but I don’t have physical room in my life for them, so I am very grateful for my kindle. I have an old one, that has no backlighting on the screen and a physical keyboard, and isn’t fit for much besides reading, which is just the way I like it. I think I remember just as much about the stories whether I read them in paper or on a screen, but I’ve noticed that I don’t remember to look for sequels when it’s an ebook. I’ll think to myself, I’d like to read the next book, and then I never do. Either the story isn’t quite compelling enough, or I need the visual of a book sitting on my bedside stand to remind me.
I do read less than I used to. I’m busier and there are a lot of other things competing for the free time I do have. But I counted and apparently ‘less’ isn’t saying much. Since I started writing down what I’m reading a month ago, I’ve read – or am in the process of reading – 18 books. Five of them are books I’ve read before.
Huh. Interesting, Leilani – I’m the opposite on one of your points, too. I am much more likely to buy the next book in a series when I read the prior one on my Kindle. I think it’s because I order it right then and there (many series even have a link to the next one right on the final page.) Fascinating discussion today, though. :)
Huh. Interesting, Leilani – I’m the opposite on one of your points, too. I am much more likely to buy the next book in a series when I read the prior one on my Kindle. I think it’s because I order it right then and there (many series even have a link to the next one right on the final page.) Fascinating discussion today, though. :)
I’m reading more, but as you said more selectively. The market is flooded with third-rate, copy cat books. Many can be found on the NY best sellers list. Paying thirty dollars for another book from the Patterson Book Factory is great for some folks but not me.
I’ve only ‘consumed’ a few audio books. They’re too expensive for what you get. I think that price will cap the market for them.
I think ebooks will continue be the growth technology. Universal translation software that will allow all forms to play on all readers and the book to be sold when your done will help. Like a second hand book store.
I’m currently reading Will Durant’s eleven volume “The Story of Civilization “, and have found reading the physical book while listening to the audiobook has greatly improved my comprehension and retention.
My granddaughter is doing the same for her school-assigned works of Homer, particularly noting how the audiobooks help her with the pronunciation of characters’ names.
Best of both worlds!
Porter, I do all my reading through injectables now. It’s so much healthier than the Oxy and other opioids. But back on earth, I am reading a bit more now, which is like the second piece of cake for dessert, since I’ve always been a roving reader anyway. I still favor print, though I do read on a Kindle app too. For some reason, I prefer reading nonfiction on the screen and fiction, my first love, on paper. Whether that’s some right-brain/left-brain debate in my soul, I can’t say.
I only listen to audiobooks on long drives, and since my daily commute is to the Airstream office in the yard, my ears are sealed. But I do like to listen to some podcasts (Grammar Girl, Good Life Project, Tim Ferriss), often when I’m weary in the afternoon, or when I’m dusting under weighty furnishings.
Incidentally, I just re-read One Hundred Years of Solitude again after many years. It is still an eye-popping kaleidoscope of mirth, merriment, and mortality, but I was surprised at how burdensome I found trying to keep track of the Aureliano-begat-Jose Arcadio until begetting became bother. Oh, and I did wonder where old Gabo was getting his peyote. Anyway, reading, by eye or by ear, good stuff.
Porter, I’m reading more because of Kindle and Project Gutenberg. More and more on my phone. I like being able to highlight: with non-fiction, it creates a research notebook. With fiction, I can keep samples of great writing.
What I’m not doing anymore is buying hardbacks. No room in the house. L.A. has a great library system. If I want to keep a book, it goes on my Kindle.
I listen to audio books whenever I have a long drive (which in L.A. might be a run to the local grocery store).
Excellent article, Mr. Anderson. Thanks for sharing.
I’m an old-fashioned reader–feel of paper in my hands. I’m reading more than I used to, since I gave up cable, so now when I’m done writing for the day, I curl up on the couch with a book for the last 45 minutes of the day.
Audio, when I do big yard projects, like this year’s rehab on the creek bank and moving boulders. yes, boulders, about 100# or more (average weight, 143). I do old-fashioned dramatized CDs and, gasp, cassette tapes in my old outdoor “boom box.” I need story lines I know by heart (CS Lewis Narnia; Tolkien Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit; Star Wars, so that when I’m away from the sound, I’m not lost when I come back with the next boulder.
I’m a staunch believer in “read your work aloud,” so when I am done with the next content draft, the proofing draft, I’ll read aloud. I catch clunky sentences, repetitive patterns of all sorts. My eyes miss these, but my ear doesn’t. If I stumble on a sentence, I know something’s amiss.
When I’m someday published, I’ll be thrilled no matter what form of content my audience consumes.
I am a devout reader. Audio books don’t interest me. I need the written word. My favored learning style is kinesthetic, second is visual, and third is auditory. When I’m listening to something, I need to be taking notes. When I was in college and graduate school, I took copious notes. I need to process words through my fingers to retain them the best. I usually buy non-fiction books in paperback, so I can underline and star and tag. I read a lot of fiction, about half on my tablet. I keep track of all the fiction books I read each year, aiming for at least 50. Last year I read 56. I don’t keep track of the non-fiction. I’m usually reading several non-fiction books at any one time. Or reviewing something I’ve previously read, sometimes hitting the high points. I do my writing in morning and my reading in the evening. I rarely watch television.
Right there with you, Ms. Robinson–I have to take notes when I listen so my brain processes best. Likewise, for my craft books, highlighting and making notes in the margins, adding thoughts, and post-its for things I want to actively try applying. I may someday try an audio book I haven’t read before, but I think I’m more apt to try one I’ve read and loved. And no audio for craft books!
I do read somewhat less fiction than I used to, partially because I read too many articles online and lots of interesting nonfiction books/ebooks. There always seems to be so much to keep up with–or at least that’s what I tell myself. There’s an urgency to modern life that I find difficult to ignore.
And I listen to a lot of audiobooks, especially since I discovered how helpful they are for insomnia and dark of night moments.
As to your last question about whether one’s own work will be read in the future: It’s hard not to feel that the culture is changing so much and so rapidly that reading long-form fiction begins to seem like a niche or “boutique” pursuit–that’s probably not the right word, but I can’t think of a better one.
On the other hand, I just finished reading a fabulous novel called “The Book of Unknown Americans” by Cristina Henriquez, and I’m tutoring a UCLA sophomore for her medieval lit course. So the world of books goes on…
I am reading about 50 books a year in the GR Reading Challenge, more than last year. I read primarily in the genre I write. Psychological Literary Fiction that is character driven rather than plot driven. This year I find I am reading 80% or more Paper rather than Kindle. Even though I like the search feature on Kindle… I don’t drive and live in a big city, so no audio books in this household at all.
My reading habits haven’t changed much, except I spend more time reading on my kindle, but my husband is consuming more and more audiobooks and loving them. Streaming technology has caught up with what people want. I say it’s all good!
Porter, your post reveals that, in human history, story is the constant, while the medium that delivers it is fluid. Story’s saying power comes from its means of conveying human history–both the ‘what happened’ and ‘how it felt or how it might change us.’
If (written) accounts are to be believed, before alphabets and paper/papyrus, story happened around fires. Yep, audio books, without the books. So perhaps we are coming full circle (full spiral?) back to our roots of hearing, absorbing by ear. We are certainly becoming less literate.
Someday in the paperless future, erstwhile writers may call simply themselves story creators or even, teachers-by-mouth. Until then, I will lie and slouch with my paper editions, and, yes, hardcovers whenever possible. Though I was a storyteller with a guitar for decades, I have never listened to an audiobook. Books rock.
Has anyone noticed how audiobooks can be sped up or slowed down? Most of the younger listeners I know will speed up the listening so they can get to the next story. they do. Just as some people read faster, some listeners want to listen faster – and for that reason, the voices they prefer to listen to may make a difference in what they choose to download.
I’ve often considered adapting some stories to be similar to a radio play, but whisper-sync doesn’t allow other sounds except beginning and end, so that’s out for the moment, but using a voice that’s still concise and clear even if sped up to 2x? That’s what I’ll go with on A-books.
A few years ago, I left my work-from-home job for one in a suburb about 30 minutes away (on a good day). There are downsides to that commute, but the unexpected benefit has been how many more books I’m able to “consume” now!
Beyond the print or Kindle book on my bedside table, which I’m often too tired to focus on for long, I always have at least one other going in the car. That’s an hour more of reading time per day! Not only have I been able to keep up with newer books and discover contemporary authors I love, but I’ve also been able to catch up on all the classics I didn’t get to during school.
And if I like the audiobook well enough, I buy the paper version to keep and check in on later. Most recently, I bought Lucia Berlin’s “A Manual for Cleaning Women” in print after arriving to work in tears from listening to her stories. Now what this says about my attention to driving, I’ll let you speculate!
Audiobooks aren’t reading. They’re listening.
I think books, audiobooks, ebooks, and TV are all valid means of entertainment. In fact, I owned (my stereo eventually ate them all) a small library of audiobooks. That was back in the days when you could hold them in your hands. But now… It’s hard for me to justify owning a book that I can’t hold.
Yes. And no.
Right now, I’m in a reading slump, which is due to a confluence of events: working on a manuscript, lots of night meetings/events for work, and hockey season. However, on the overall I am reading as much as I would like. There was a period from my late teens through my early thirties where I did not read nearly enough. Thank goodness that’s over!
Something that caught my eye in this post was the notion of men consuming more audiobooks, and what that might mean for an author who wants to target men. Audiobooks arise from books that are written and printed on ink, real or electronic. Here’s my provocation: could a person make a conscious effort to write an audiobook rather than a “traditional” book, and would consciously writing for that mode of delivery change the process or result? Could we see the rise of “books” that end up sounding more like the radio plays of the forties and fifties?
I’m probably reading less, not much less, but i”m not listening more, I’m viewing more. Reading is a unique experience, and I can’t imagine not doing it, but viewing is also a good experience, in some ways less rewarding and less demanding, and frankly, despite my best efforts, I’ve aged, and it has sapped some of my energy. Less demanding is sometimes what I want.
Reading is more intimate, just me and all the wonders of story in my chair. The author has surrendered what he/she created to me, the reader, and it’s mine to experience. my way. No intervening interpreters.
On the other hand, sometimes when I’m viewing, the interpreters add real value.
I’d probably do more of both if I didn’t have other important things to do like writing.
There’s a whole lot of ableism and elitism in the assumption that reading an audiobook is not reading. Listening to stories is how cultures have always experienced stories and listening predates writing. Today, we know that, for some readers, listening is the only way they can access story. In my case, I devour hundreds of books a year…as I have done ever since I was 2. If I want to really dig deep into craft, though, I get the audiobook. Listening forces me to slow down and listen to every word and how words are used to build tension. Reading and listening should always cooperate, not compete. The means by which a story is carried may change, as it did when writing, and then print, became accessible to people, but in the end we are all gathered around a campfire sharing tales. How we choose to interact is a personal decision, and I don’t think we ought to treat readers who read with their ears or their eyes, as in a cinema or theatrical exploration of story, as lesser people. Writing is about sharing a story and/or a perspective of the world.
I stopped reading/buying physical books, other than writing reference material, when the iPad Mini came out in 2012. I had resisted e-readers before that as just more tech I didn’t need to be carrying around.
With the mini, I felt I had a Swiss Army knife as I could write and research using it, too. However, my reading as a whole didn’t increase much. Fast forward a few years. I discovered the library had e-books and audiobooks! My reading jumped exponentially and my listening began. Ironically, I do it all on my iPhone. It’s always with me and my mini is not.
I listen to audiobooks on my commute and they are all non-fiction. I found I don’t like listening to fiction being read. The voice actor reading the book, no matter how well done, affects how I experience the story.
I read the first Robert Galbraith’s Cormoran Strike book in an e-book and decided to try the audiobook for the second in the series. The actor (Robert Glenister) is a wonderful actor but his rendition of the book so conflicted with my own imagination of the characters and the story that I stopped after two chapters and went back to the e-books. Where imagination is employed, I prefer my own. Non-fiction doesn’t present that problem.
So, I would say my reading has increased, with the addition of audiobooks, but not in place of other mediums. Kindle and Cloud LIbrary on my phone, always having something readily available, is the real driving force for me.