Audiobook Month Under Way
by Shannon Maughan -- Publishers Weekly, 6/2/2003
The Audio Publishers Association kicked off its sixth annual June Is Audiobook Month industry awareness campaign under the banner "A Good Book Speaks for Itself." To boost the program's visibility, 25,000 posters (designed by APA poster contest winner Margo Goody) bearing this tagline will be distributed.
APA is getting the word out in other ways, too, including teaming with library systems across the country for a public service announcement program. The APA has recorded more than 20 celebrities/authors reading supportive statements about audiobooks and encouraging listeners to patronize their local library. Judy Blume, Doris Roberts, Bill O'Reilly, E. Lynn Harris and Fannie Flagg are among those on the PSA roster. Armed with a CD recording of these voices, libraries are encouraged to pitch the PSAs for placement on their local radio stations. The library that secures the most airtime for PSAs will receive an audiobook collection worth $500 from the APA. Sample announcements can be heard at the APA Web site (www.audiopub.org).
Audio publisher members of the Christian Booksellers Association have pooled efforts to promote audiobooks, which CBA says is its fastest growing segment this year. Brilliance Audio, Focus on the Family, Oasis Audio, Thomas Nelson, Tyndale House and Zondervan Publishing have funded and implemented the June initiative. APA president and Brilliance Audio associate publisher Eileen Hutton recently stated that "People are searching for meaning in their lives, trying to bring themselves closer to God. This campaign is designed to show them that audiobooks can aid in that quest."
The group of six participating publishers collectively purchased full-page advertisements in the latest catalogs for Parable, Munce, and Family Christian Stores. Nine thousand copies of an audiobook sampler featuring popular Christian author Bodie Thoene, as well as selections from the other publishers involved are being distributed to retailers through Spring Arbor's Christian Advance. And retailers can also take advantage of 1,800 point-of-purchase kits that celebrate audiobooks.
Such enthusiastic support inspired Hutton to comment "we anticipate this year's campaign will be even more fruitful than years past."
