Appeal of Audio and Ebooks

    Different mediums have many of  the same appeals of print books, just interpreted differently.  Visual appeal is pretty standard. Colors appeal to emotion and influence choices. Changing the font and line spacing on the ebooks is not really any different than a reader using large print books. If the reader is no longer squinting and struggling to make words out, they will be able to read at a faster pace. In some cases, this will improve the readers confidence and they will read even more. 

    Audio books have the unique appeal of time. They have become increasingly popular as our society becomes more "go, go, go". Audio books allow the reader to multitask. The enjoyability of  the audio books are affected by other influences though, such as the narrator. Enthusiasm is a must. A dull, monotonous voice would make even a thriller hard to get through. Background sounds also affect the audio books. Just as it is with movies, music and background help set the mood and pull the reader in.

    I do feel that various formats affect the readers knowledge of the genre. Take the Fantasy genre, for example.  Wyatt and Saricks (2019) point out "Authors frequently create unique languages and employ unusual names to help reinforce worldbuilding".  Typically fantasy books have a glossary in the back and sometimes maps on the inside covers. By not being able to physically flip to the glossary or refer to the map, the reader may not fully comprehend the story. 

Reference:

Wyatt, N., & Saricks, J.G. (2019). The readers' advisory guide to genre fiction. ALA edition. 



Comments

  1. Janna McLeanMarch 23, 2024 at 11:45 AM

    Savannah, I agree that sometimes you just need the physical book for things like maps. I was trying to listen to a history book once and it kept referring to people and their genealogies and I was getting lost. I had to put that book down. Sometimes I have gotten the physical copy of the book WHILE I'm listening to is, so I can refer to things like maps and genealogies. That does help.

    I do like to listen to audiobooks while I crochet. But sometimes if I have a difficult stitch to do I have to pause the book! I don't really know how people drive and listen to books - I would either crash my car or miss too much of the book.

    I wonder if that gets to issues of appeal factors like storyline. I wonder if more complex storylines are less suited to audiobooks.

    I agree that it seems like ebooks would have less of an effect on the appeal factors. But now that Prof. Cataldi brought that up I'm going to pay more attention in my reading of those books.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Savannah TrostelMarch 23, 2024 at 2:58 PM

      Comparing the audio and physical books is a great idea!!

      Delete
    2. LorraineMarch 25, 2024 at 12:03 AM

      I'm pretty sure the last physical book I checked out was a cookbook. You make a good point about multitasking with an audiobook. My best friend cleans or folds laundry while listening to one and keeps telling me to try it out. I don't know why I'm so obstinate about sticking to ebooks but I'm more of a visual person. But I keep hearing the readers are what makes them engaging so I'm really curious now and will give them a shot.

      Delete

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