I have been doing a lot of audiobook listening lately and I attended a recent blogger webinar about audiobook reviewing which got me thinking more and more about audiobooks. So I wanted to know more of what you think about them! From there, Audiobook Discussions has been born!
Today I want to find out how you feel about book extras and their inclusion or exclusion from audiobooks.
Historical novels in particular tend to have some supplementary material included in a print copy of the book, be in a cast of characters, glossary of terms, maps, etc. I have always enjoyed perusing them as I read and this is even more so with non-fiction. Obviously they can’t include images in an audio medium. Some books have these extra materials available on the author or publisher website, but many do not (or if they do they don’t make it clear as to where the listener can go to find these materials.) That is one thing that I miss when listening to some audiobooks. I do appreciate that much of the time Reader’s Guides are available online. It is also hit or miss with whether they include the Author’s Notes in the narration, which is one of those things that I always read.
So, what are your thoughts on book extras and their inclusion or exclusion in audiobooks? Have you found any that have done an especially excellent job handling these?
You can check out the other posts in this series:
- How You Listen
- Why You Listen
- What You Listen To
- The Audible App
- The Audie Awards
- What Makes a Good Production
- Favorite Narrators
Copyright © 2017 by The Maiden’s Court
I don't listen to many audiobooks. My mind seems to wander more with audio than visual. But I've noticed the same thing with ebooks — that supplementery materials are often not included and when they are it is harder to peruse them than in a print copy where I can just flip forward to a map or backwards to a glossary. It can be done, of course, but it is more difficult with an ebook.
ReplyDeleteI also don't listen to audiobooks. I have tried many times, but I don't have the patience for them. They are too slow and many times, their soft voices put me to sleep. I wake realizing that I missed an important part of the story. Also, there have been many cases in which I don't like the narrator's voice. One case is the Secret Keeper, where the narrator has a gravelly voice that it made me cringe every time she reads a word. Thus, I always read it in print form or as an ebook. I now find that I prefer an ebook to a print version. This is mostly because I find myself running out of space for print books and with ebooks it doesn't take up any physical space. As for the book extras, I find that I really don't mind them being included. Its the story for me. There are some audiobooks that have extra stuff that is not included in the book. One example is that in the Eragon series audiobooks, they each include a thirty minute interview with Christopher Paolini. The interview is not included in the book. Thus, while there are book extras, there are also audiobook extras. It just depends on the publisher on what they want to include or not include in the audiobook. It really doesn't matter to me because is the story that matters in the end.
DeleteYes I agree! I find it very hard to find anything quickly in an ebook too. It almost becomes a black hole.
Delete@Laura Lee - yes! I have encountered a couple times there is some cool stuff included in audios that doesn't appear elsewhere, I forgot about that. It is really awesome to hear an interview - sometimes they do include them in print books too in some of the back material. I am someone that always reads through all the Discussion Questions, Author Notes, etc in a book and I do miss that sort of stuff isn't in an audiobook. Of course it's about the story, I'm never going to in essence downgrade a production because it doesn't include that material, but it does give it a little extra boost when that type of material is included in some manner.
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