25 Trends in Publishing: Crime Fiction
January 2, 2019
Writing Resolutions for 2019: Hope’s Hacks
January 9, 2019
About the column: A handful of agents and interns who work with Cyle have learned the latest and (sometimes so, sometimes not so) greatest trends in publishing right now. Tune in each week to find out what’s trending, ranging from ABA to CBA, children’s to adult. The authors of these columns have included social media tags at the end to keep up with trends they are finding. They can also be found here.
Trend #22 of 25: Audiobooks
Contributor: Hope Bolinger
Let’s be honest. With the hustle and bustle of the every day life, sitting down and reading a physical book sounds impossible. Long commutes to and from work or our children’s schools or anywhere else make it difficult to turn pages on the road. If we can’t text and drive, imagine read Les Misérables and drive. Not recommended.
Audiobooks have taken 2018 by storm. And who knows what the hurricane will do in 2019? With digital audio up 32 percent in the first quarter, the trend of audiobooks speaks for itself.
Why Trending?
Besides the obvious: adaptability and conventionality? First, it fills in the gaps. Long commute to work? No problem. Just listen to the next big mystery as your turn out of Garnet Lane onto Route 91. Second, it helps those who have a hard time reading a physical book. Dyslexia, failing eyesight, and the like make audiobooks an easy buy. Third, audiobooks usually provide an entertaining read. The voice actor for the Harry Potter series, for instance, blows me away with the number of voices he can mimic.
We could list plenty of other examples. Perhaps you need to work on something and don’t have a free hand to hold a book. Or you need to avoid eye contact with both passengers flanking your sides on the middle seat of the plane. No matter your reason, sit tight. Because audiobooks won’t go anywhere anytime soon.
Hope Bolinger works as a literary agent at C.Y.L.E. IlluminateYA contracted her YA novel Den while she still attended college (to be released June 3, 2019).
More than 250 of her works have been featured in various publications. She has received various writing awards from being a finalist in the Jerry B. Jenkins short story contest to her one-act earning second place in the Searchlight Playwriting Contest. She has served in various publishing capacities from working at newspapers, magazines, and publishing houses.
She can be found at hopebolinger.com.
