The audiobook industry gained a new member yesterday when Dreamscape Media began to distribute its first 10 titles in both digital and CD formats. The Chicago-based company was founded by Brad Rose who has a background in packaged media, including music DVDs. “I’ve kept an eye on the audiobook market for a long time and think there is lots of opportunity for growth,” Rose said. In particular, Rose said he sees a “vibrant” library market. “I’m confident we can gain market share there,” he said. “We’ll look at the library market first and expand into the trade mostly through digital distribution,” Rose added. Dreamscape has partnered with Midwest Tape to handle most of its library distribution and is close to finalizing another agreement, Rose said. Deals are also in place with Audible and OverDrive.
Dreamscape’s launch list includes fiction, nonfiction and young adult titles, a mix that Rose said reflects his plans for Dreamscape’s list moving forward. Among the titles are Married with Zombies, Death of the Liberal Class and three titles by young adult author Lauren Barnholdt. Rose said his focus is on “quality not genre,” and is looking for works that backlist well.
Rose hopes to release over 85 titles in 2011 and while his focus will be on books, he will look for alternative content as well. “Now seems a great time to experiment,” he said. Standard list price for CDs will be $39.99, although different projects will have different price points. Rose said, however, that he has no plans to price CDs at $100. Print runs will be relatively small, but Rose noted since Dreamscape will be doing its own duplication, the company will adopt a “print-on-demand approach.”
