Audio Book

The audio book market has a mass audience that is rarely influenced by traditional forms of literary criticism. But now an "independent audio book magazine" aims to help separate the wheat from the chaff by offering its readers expert advice on what to buy.

The idea for the magazine came from Christian Bärmann of the falkemedia publishing house in Kiel, and the first issue came out in May 2007. Bärmann was also appointed editor-in-chief of the magazine, a role giving him the more top-notch jobs, such as travelling to Los Angeles to interview Cornelia Funke and the famous US narrator Scott Brick. These are all things that are only possible at the outset with the backing of a major commercial publishing company. falkemedia itself is a fairly new company which has been publishing special interest and specialist technical journals in Kiel for the past 10 years. Bärmann’s idea for a magazine about audio books has also kept within this profile, with no plans to branch out and compete with the media and agencies concerned with highbrow literary culture, for example. As Bärmann himself puts it, [the magazine is] "packed full of up-to-the-minute information on everything to do with audio books, with interviews, fascinating background information and no pompous literary analyses that would bore our readers. Our publishing company is more concerned about giving reliable advice on what to buy."

Not totally devoid of high culture

This publication aims to cater to a wide, albeit young target audience and this is reflected in its distinctive and easily recognisable design. The cover pages are adorned with the same sort of celebrity photos found in the commercial TV and radio listings magazine HörZu and other tabloid media. The inside pages are colourful, featuring the cover images of the audio books reviewed as well as photos of the actors involved – from famous narrators such as Iris Berben or Charles Brauer to behind-the-scenes figures such as director Leonhard Koppelmann. The actor Rufus Beck is a particular favourite with the public. The magazine attracts its target audience by addressing issues that affect the young, and featuring images of young people. However, the magazine’s interview with the somewhat older Jan Philipp Reemtsma does show a modicum of respect for high culture.

Reemtsma is interviewed about his recording of Martin Wieland’s Aristipp (Aristippus) although with a price tag of EUR 99.00, this highbrow product is unlikely to find a very wide audience. But this is still a sign that literary culture is holding its own in this publication. Admittedly, its aim is more to encourage people to buy rather than invite literary discussion, and it therefore inevitably relies on conventional marketing strategies and entertainment rather than on aesthetics, education and debate. But somewhere between what the audio book publishers think the market wants – from instant audio adaptations of current bestsellers to non-fiction – there is obviously still a great demand for and interest in real literature, and not only literature on the bestseller lists, although of course, bestsellers always feature in the repertoire as well.

Audio book addicts as critics

The reviews – of around 100 audio books per issue – form the core of the magazine. In line with the target audience, these are written by a fairly large group of mainly young women, both with and without any formal literary education, but having one thing in common: "We are all audio book addicts". They put themselves through the hard slog of listening to audio books for hours on end, after which they write down their impressions. They pen lively reviews of each audio book on the basis of their personal interpretations, and very rarely bore the reader with literary analyses although this is sometimes unavoidable in the summaries – for the fact is that an audio book review has to contain an introduction to the author and the book because it can’t always be assumed that readers will know the original publication. The questions that audio book critics should ask themselves when reviewing their subjects are listed in issue no. 1/2008, including the following. Narrator and director – is there in fact a director? Content and adaptation – is the material actually suitable for adaptation to audio? Music and sound – music as an independent narrative tool; recording quality – the sound must be exceptional. Packaging and presentation – is the booklet more than just an advertising medium for the publisher’s other books? Reviews in other media and awards – has the audio book made it on to the bestseller lists, which are themselves a reflection of popularity?

Ambitions should not be hidden

These audio book reviews are becoming noticeably more professional and sophisticated in terms of the language and vocabulary used. And they could improve even more if the reviewers move more in the direction of theatre and film critiques. Such a move would be appropriate for the medium of the audio book, where the voice has the principal impact and theatrical training is a must. The magazine’s audience will also become more discerning if exposed to real literary criticism. And if the editors of the magazine hörBücher don’t have to hide their "higher" ambitions from their publishers, by gradually developing its critical skills and the expertise of its staff, they could turn this magazine into a highly sophisticated and valuable general interest publication.