Audible has teamed with Neil Gaiman to do an audiobook series curated by the bestselling author. Gaiman, who is both a fan of spoken-word as well as a practitioner (having narrated a number of titles), chose favorite books for the series, and then paired narrators with the titles. Among the books in Neil Gaiman Presents are Jonathan Carroll’s The Land of Laughs and Robert Sheckley’s Dimension of Miracles.
The first five audiobooks from Neil Gaiman Presents go on sale today and were produced through ACX, an online audiobook rights marketplace which the company announced in May. (ACX features available titles, as well as working narrators and producers.) The agreement with Gaiman is the first deal struck with a major author.
Commenting on the agreement, Audible founder and CEO Don Katz said: “Neil’s embrace of ACX is important since it is truly a self-empowerment platform for writers, actors, and holders of unexploited audio rights. ACX’s escalating royalties and bounty payment opportunity, and the ability to be part of the audio production process, is designed to allow stakeholders to participate directly in both the creative, marketing, and financial processes that sustain professional creators. Neil is one of the most sophisticated masters of his own destiny among all writers working today. He nurtures a vast personal following in a way that all authors ought to study and understand.”
