The chair of the 17th annual APA’s Author Tea, hosted by BookExpo, is actor and author Alan Alda, who is joined by authors James Patterson, Marissa Meyer, and Daniel José Older.
The tea takes place in the context of an industry that continues to grow exponentially, says Michele Cobb, executive director of the APA. “The biggest trend has, and continues to be, more, more, more,” she states. “More audiobooks produced—more, more, more sales.”
Bigger productions are also part of the current audiobooks world. The APA’s Public Relations Committee chair, Katie Punia, points to Penguin Random House’s audiobook of George Saunders’s Lincoln in the Bardo, which featured a 166-person cast, including Saunders, his wife, children, agent, editor, and Penguin Random House staff, in addition to celebrity names like David Sedaris, Nick Offerman, and Susan Sarandon. Cobb notes the similarly large cast Galaxy Press employed for its Earphone Award–winning production of L. Ron Hubbard’s Battlefield Earth.
According to Cobb, there is a growing acceptance of the audio format as a storytelling medium. “We continue to see more and more people listening and more and more people understanding the concept of audio,” she says. This new audience includes a large overlap with listeners of the growing podcast format, a trend Cobb applauds. “You might listen to Serial or S-town and say, ‘hey, wow, this is a great experience. I should try an audio book.’ Anything,” she concludes, “that gets more people listening is good.” —D.A. Stern
Today, 3–4 p.m. The APA Tea takes place in Room 1E07/08. Tickets are required.
