This post is to announce the audio book specials for the month of July 2008. The audio book discounts page has been updated. We have kept the 20% coupon up in honor of the Get Caught Listening Campaign through this month.
This month I have decided to highlight the specials offered on titles by Terry Goodkind and Malcolm Gladwell.
Terry Goodkind is a fantasy writer in the fashion of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings series. His books in the series the Sword of Truth are slated to be produced as a TV Series starting this fall(at least the first one).
Malcolm Gladwell is a writer for the New Yorker and his 2 books have become bestsellers because of his knack for making sense of things that don't always make sense. The Tipping Point addresses the power of change and the subtleties of how "one well placed lever can move the world". Blink delves more into the inner workings of how we work and why we do the things we do.
More detailed reviews of these authors works are planned.
The 4 hour work week is a great contribution to the area of time management and in many ways life and career management. I actually listened to this book when it was originally released back in mid 2007. It is a good fit for the audio book format since most self help books are easy listens. As owner of CreateTimeAudio one of our main interests is finding the time to do the things that you want to do and need to do in a world of multitasking and information overload. Timothy Ferris has captured many of the frustrations of living chained to working for others in a 9-5 lifestyle where your life is really not your own. He proposes a series of mini retirements, planning your dream lifestyle and outsourcing not only your work life but parts of your home life as well.
One of the criticisms of the 4 hour work week mainly revolve around the literal interpretation of the title. Does he show you how to get to that 4 hour work week? Yes but each persons goals will be different. What everyone views as their dream lifestyle is different. Timothy Ferris is 29 years old and has packed a wide range of experiences into his short life including entrepreneur, kickboxing, dancing and acting. In the book he shares his strategies to be able to afford these activities which he participates in all over the globe.
In some ways this audio book reminds me of Michael Gerber's E-Myth books. Do you want to be self-employed or do you want to run a business? Outsourcing and streamlining processes related to your business will free up your time so that you can "work" on what you want to. Timothy Ferris also provides an approach to how these principles can be used for those working for others as well.
When doing an audio book review you need to look at the narrator as well as the book. Ray Porter does a good job of representing the author's no nonsense writing style. Some may actually be put off by the dry wit and "barking" style but if you are serious about changing your life this a is a great audio book to listen to. It gives you an idea of what the "new rich" of this highly mobile world do and think and will provide frameworks to break out of the trap of the 9-5 mentality.
The 4 hour work week is a #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best Seller and is highly recommended for anyone looking for strategies to save time and therefore create time. It is available for download through the link below, a sample is also available for your listening pleasure.
I almost forgot to notify you of our update of the discounts page. There has been so much excitement around here because of the Audie Awards, the launch of the Get Caught Listening Campaign by the Association of American Publishers and to top it off June is National Audiobooks month.
As for the discounts we have updated the 6 titles we have negotiated discounts for as well as the coupon code that we are offering in honor of the "Get Caught Listening" campaign.
The 2 titles I have chosen to highlight are Jane Austen's Persuasion and James Patterson's Thriller - Stories to Keep You Up All Night.
I will start with the latter when it comes to why I chose it. Thriller is a compilation of short stories from 32 of the best thriller writers. This gives anyone interested in exploring this genre a great way of evaluating specific authors and their styles. The book is edited by James Patterson and he does the introductions as well. The book marked a kickoff of the International Thriller Writers organization which is the first to organize thriller writers in an official group.
I chose Jane Austen's Persuasion because it is a classic and highlights the timelessness of good literature which is further brought to life in a recorded book.
As the Get Caught Listening campaign kicks off it is so appropriate that the Audiobook of the Year for 2008 is a title that was made as an audio book, not a written book. The Chopin Manuscript won the award this past Friday in Los Angeles at the annual Audie Awards Banquet. The audies are awards similar in stature to the Grammy Awards for music and the Oscars for movies except the award is given out over 30 categories for audio books.
Besides just being produced as an audio book the Chopin Manuscript also is innovative in that it was written by 15 different authors. They are a who's who of thriller writers that collaborated by taking what was passed on to them from previous chapters and adding on to it. The success of this audio book with its unique approach needed the talents of a very skilled narrator and they found one in Alfred Molina who had to adjust to the pace of each author and a full slate of characters with a variety of different accents.
As everyone who reads this blog knows I love a thriller and the Chopin Manuscript is definitely a thrill ride. With this list of authors no one should be surprised.
Jeffery Deaver (Lincoln Rhyme series)
David Hewson (Nic Costa series)
James Grady (Six Days of the Condor)
S. J. Rozan (Bill Smith/Lydia Chin series)
Erica Spindler (Last Known Victim)
John Ramsey Miller (Winter Massey series)
David Corbett (Blood of Paradise)
John Gilstrap (Scott Free)
Joseph Finder (Power Play)
Jim Fusilli (Terry Orr series)
Peter Spiegelman (John March series)
Ralph Pezzullo (Jawbreaker)
Lisa Scottoline (Daddy's Girl)
P.J. Parrish (Louis Kincaid, Joe Frye series)
Lee Child (Jack Reacher series)
Hats off to Audible for coming up with an award winning audiobook with a unique and innovative approach in the production of the Chopin Manuscript.
I will be expanding on other Audio Award Winners in the weeks and months ahead.
The Association of American Publishers recently announced the "Get Caught Listening" campaign aimed at increasing the awareness for the audio book format. We are very excited about this campaign which is scheduled to start in June. Though the use of audio books continues to increase there is some confusion and misinformation about them. Most of it revolves around choosing to listen to a book versus reading books themselves. The latest statistics published by the Audio Publishers Association shows an estimated 6% growth in audio books sales from 2005 to 2006. More updated information will be provided sometime in the summer but I don't doubt that it will show continued growth.
Having the AAP kick off the "Get Caught Listening" campaign and separating it from their "Get Caught Reading" campaign is a sign that the publishing industry is seeing the complementary value of reading and listening to books. Like their almost 10 year "Get Caught Reading" campaign the goal is to increase awareness, availability and the value of listening to books in all their different formats ranging from downloads to CDs. The main focus will be on all the joys and the benefits of listening to audio books.
"Get Caught Listening" is incorporating recorded messages from authors like Frank McCourt, LL Cool J and Valerie Bertinelli just to name a few. As mentioned in my post "Audio Book Benefits for the Classroom" the value of audio books as an educational learning tools is also addressed in the AAP press release. I have often received feedback from misinformed parents that listening to audio books may decrease the desire for a child to actually read a book. The Milken Family foundation study cited in AAP press release "found that [educational] programs that included the use of audio books improved children's proficiency more than programs that did not use them."
As we at CreateTimeAudio gear up for National Audiobooks Month in June we will look for ways to get the word out on "Get Caught Listening" so stay tuned!
