Summer isn't even in full swing yet, but audio publishers and retailers are already looking ahead to what's in store for fall. BookExpo America again played its traditional role this year as the venue where buzz for the coming season's top titles gets generated. Here's a look at some of the new audiobooks that convention exhibitors and attendees were talking up.
Random House serves up a trio of heavy hitting memoirists in Worth the Fighting For by John McCain, A Long Way from Home: Growing up in the American Heartland by Tom Brokaw, which is the book he began writing before The Greatest Generation, and My Losing Season, Pat Conroy's first venture into nonfiction, about his high school basketball team. Other titles of note include The One Minute Millionaire, a financial guide by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame. In the children's corner, Random imprint Listening Library will release Hoot by Carl Hiaasen, the author's first book for young readers, and Double Fudge a new title about a favorite character from children's book icon Judy Blume.
Memoir is also a strong genre for Hyperion Audiobooks this fall. Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life by Queen Noor received lots of BEA attention fueled by the queen's appearance at the convention. In the book Noor details her American childhood as well as her time on the throne as wife of the late King Hussein of Jordan. Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York City, spoke at BEA as well, which served as an interest-builder for his audiobook Leadership. Waving the flag this season Hyperion publishes A Patriot's Handbook: Songs, Poems, and Speeches Every American Should Know, edited and introduced by Caroline Kennedy, and In Search of America by Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster, read by Jennings, new from the authors of The Century. This title ties into an ABC-TV multi-part documentary.
At the Audio Partners booth, retailers were very interested in Touch the Top of the World by Erik Weihenmayer, read by Nick Sullivan. In this adventure-story/ memoir the author, a world-class mountain climber and athlete, blind since the age of 13, chronicles his 2001 ascent of Mt. Everest. Also joining the fall frenzy are Rumpole Rests His Case by John Mortimer, read by Tony Britton, the first new Rumpole title in five years, and Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, performed by Patrick Fraley, Edward Asner and a cast of 50.
Though HighBridge Audio did not exhibit at BEA (its titles are distributed by Penguin Putnam), representatives from the company noted that fall audiobooks In the Hand of Dante, a thriller set in the Middle Ages by Nick Tosches, read by Johnny Depp, and Summerland, a baseball-themed fantasy and debut children's book by Pulitzer Prize—winning author Michael Chabon, were garnering enthusiasm.
Highlights from the Simon & Schuster Audio fall list run the gamut in terms of genre and theme. The company launches the newest Pimsleur Method foreign language series, the Pimsleur Instant Conversation program, which features a $150 consumer rebate off the Pimsleur Comprehensive Program. Also riding the autumn wave is the audiobook version of Riding the Bullet, the bestselling e-book by Stephen King, Hollywood Hulk Hogan, the debut title published in a new partnership with World Wrestling Entertainment (formerly WWF), and Writer Ferrets Chasing the Muse, third in the Ferret Chronicles animal fable series by Jonathan Livingston Seagull author Richard Bach.
Time Warner AudioBooks offers a fall filled with follow-ups to bestsellers, among them fiction titles Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks, Chasing the Dime by Michael Connelly and Four Blind Mice by James Patterson, as well as Rich Dad's Prophecy, the latest book of financial advice by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter.
Janet Evanovich, who spoke at the BEA Audiobook and Author Tea, no doubt whipped up some additional interest for Full House and Visions of Sugar Plums, her two fall titles from Audio Renaissance. Other buzz-worthy entries from the publisher include The Jansen Directive by Robert Ludlum, Joined at the Heart by Al and Tipper Gore (who also appeared at BEA) and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, a follow-up to his Virgin Suicides.
Listen & Live Audio will be bolstering the support of two recently launched imprints this fall, the Defiance Audio imprint of action-oriented novels and the Appleseed Audio imprint which is home to original, full-cast audio programs for kids (mainly classics and historical titles). Both imprints have new Web sites (www.appleseedaudio.com, www.defianceaudio.com) designed by the Cutting Corporation.
Students will be cheering Penton Overseas' fall introduction of CliffsNotes MP3 audio series, featuring the full text of the famous review guides. The first five releases are classics Hamlet, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, The Odyssey and The Scarlet Letter.
Brilliance Audio received a flurry of BEA attention over its spring release of Jean Auel's long-awaited Shelters of Stone. For fall Brilliance is bringing out Killjoy by Julie Garwood, humorist Dave Barry's novel Tricky Business, the follow-up to his Big Trouble, and Chesapeake Blue by Nora Roberts.
Actor Ethan Hawke reads the audiobook version of his novel Ash Wednesday, a big fall release for New Millennium Audio. Other projected front-runners on the fall list include Clash of the Titans, a look at media honchos Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch by Richard Hack, read by Scott Brick, and Shrink Rap by Robert Parker. From the company's Publishing Mills division comes Frida Kahlo, a biography by Hayden Herrera released as a tie-in to the feature film of the same name starring Salma Hayek.
Judging from this peek into the near future, it looks like publishers and retailers are in for a busy fall season (hopefully with brisk sales). For a more complete list of audio publishers' autumn offerings see the Audio Announcements in the August 5, 2002 issue of PW.
