Audio books, a popular concept in the West, is steadily finding a foothold in India with major publishing houses and content developers taking the segment seriously
Words have the power to paint pictures whether they are read or read out to. And what if you enjoy listening to stories as much, or if someone reads them out to you? Or simply what if you love stories but have no time to catch up on reading? A part of the answer probably lies in audio books. In the past couple of years, audio books have seen a steady rise in popularity in India with multiple content developers and major publishing houses now taking the segment seriously. ?Audio books are extremely popular in the West with US alone having a market worth $4.5 billion. And while the segment is still nascent, we expect it to be a $600-million market say in the next five to six years,? says Sumit Suneja, founder and head of Reado, India?s largest audio book brand. Reado works with major publishers and authors to produce audio books in India, apart from distributing and marketing international audio books in the Indian market. The Reado stable has produced more than 130 audio books already, while another 300 are under production, including titles of publishing houses like Penguin and Hachette. Bangalore-based booksTALK audiobooks, which started operations a little over a year ago, has been working with publishers like Harper Collins, Penguin and Westland, and have been focusing on producing and selling audio books of Indian authors. ?We have 32 titles as of now, mostly in English language writing by Indian authors but we have also ventured in Kannada and Bengali books with a few titles,? says Jai Madhukar Zemde, co-founder, booksTALK.
This segment is also considered as particularly useful for people with visual impairments, the elderly and those who are well versed with conversing in a particular language but aren?t comfortable reading or writing in it. Best-selling author Amish Tripathi explains why he feels audio books can be a hugely popular segment in India in the time to come: ?Time has become a big luxury today and audio books give a great option of consuming stories. Indians are particularly used to verbal consumption of stories as a part of our tradition and culture. For an author, what really matters is how many people can access his stories and with changing times new formats like audio books will emerge as supplements to conventional reading.? Tripathi?s book, The Immortals of Meluha, is also available as an audio book.
Business, management and self-help literature, like in the West, is currently the top selling category in audio books in India too. Even before the likes of Reado and booksTALK started producing audio books of Indian titles, international audio books of this category were available to some extent in the country for years, used mainly by organisations, companies and management institutions. But that is changing fast. ?As people are getting more aware of audio books and as they are being made more readily available, fiction and other genres too are becoming popular. Earlier the demand for audio books was very small and limited. We thought why not partly create the market while catering to the already existing market?,? says Ananth Padmnabhan, vice-president, sales, Penguin Books India. He adds that Penguin India already has 25 audio book titles in the market and the aim is to take it to a 100 titles by the end of the year.
?Over the last few months there has been an upsurge in sale of audio books and over last year, our audio book sales have seen almost a 200% increase. Of course, the segment is still nascent, but it seems like a big trend in the making. We have been importing audio books since a decade now but it?s really the entry of Indian players in the segment that has led to more diverse content as well as cost correction. Earlier the cost imperative was huge but now many audio books are almost matching the price of the actual book,? says Rajesh V, spokesperson for bookstore chain Landmark. With technology becoming more accessible and newer formats emerging, audio books are expected to grow in the years to come. Publishers and content developers are excited about digital audio distribution channels like apps and direct downloads. Audiobookindia.com, a portal selling thousands of audio books online, is working towards a digital distribution platform, apart from jumping into content production as well.
?Till now the audio books we sold were physical copies (CDs, MP3 discs, etc). We will soon start selling on the digital platform as well. There are also concrete plans to get into content production for independent authors,? says R Abilash, business development head for Audiobookindia.com. Reado, too, recently launched its e-commerce website dealing exclusively in selling audio books produced by Reado or distributed and marketed by it. All agree that newer formats of consumption can?t actually replace physical books per say. But in a broader sense, the meaning of reading seems to be changing. Are you listening?
Audio tales
* Size of the audio book industry pegged at anywhere between 2-4% of the total book publishing market in the country
* Expected to grow into a $600-million market in the next five to six years
* Reado, India?s largest audio book brand, has more than 130 audio books; another 300 under production
* BooksTALK Audiobooks has 32 audio book titles
* Penguin India has 25 audio book titles, aims to take it to a 100 titles by the end of the year
* Prominent Indian titles as audio books: Night Train at Deoli, The Company of Women, Chanakya Neeti, The Immortals of Meluha, Poor Little Rich Slum, Can Love Happen Twice?, I Too Had A Love Story, Seven Secrets of Shiva
