Adult Readers Advisory: Week 11 Prompt

This week's prompt: Ebooks and audiobooks are a part of our landscape. What does the change in medium mean for appeal factors? If you can't hold a book and feel the physical weight of it in your hands, how does that affect your knowledge of the genre? How about readers being able to change the font, line spacing, and color of text - how does that affect pacing and tone? How about audiobooks? Track length, narrator choice, is there music?  For this week, I want you to think about how ebooks and audiobooks affect appeal factors - also think about appeals that are unique to both mediums. Please feel free to use your own experience and that of your (anonymous of course) patrons. I look forward to reading these!

At first glace, it doesn't seem like reading a book as an e-book or an audiobook would change the appeal that much. A story is a story, no matter the medium, right?

Not necessarily!

There are some obvious appeal factors. A narrator can do a lot to enhance or detract from an audiobook, for example. The typography or layout of a print novel might be important too, especially for poetry or stories written in verse. When words are made big, or squeezed to fit on a smartphone screen, that can change the way that the layout of the novel looks. Books with footnotes, either informational or as a way for the author to insert funny asides, also do not translate well to e-books - your eye can't just flit to the bottom of the page.

But there are other factors that I hadn't really considered.

A great example from the articles we read was the idea of the length of book, and the physical sensation of going through the book, being different in an e-book. Dunneback writes, "Some e-book reading devices and software programs are able to compensate with indications of page numbers; however, this is not the same as the sensation of less than fifty pages in your right hand and you must absolutely finish the book tonight even if it’s 2:00 a.m. and you must be up at 5:00 a.m. for a critical-to-your-career meeting." I know the exact feeling she's talking about, and I never really considered the way that being able to see and feel the amount of pages left in the book affects whether I keep reading. It does, though - I have gotten to an exciting part in a book and realized I was almost done, then, consciously or unconsciously, decided to keep blazing through.

However, there is a lot of power to e-books, too. They allow any book to be large print, which I think is wonderful. Our library's large print section is getting more diverse, but it has mostly Christian fiction, westerns, mysteries, and a few cozy romances. Somebody who needs large print who likes other genres are well-served by e-books. E-books also have taken off as a place to read certain genres, such as romance and erotica. There's also privacy, because people can't see the cover and know what you're reading.

Audiobooks have their own unique appeal factors. The narrator, as I mentioned above, is obvious, but it's more than just having someone who reads well. Some books are better with multiple narrators - for example, romance novels. Others have things like music. One audiobook I've been listening to (as an e-audiobook, actually) is "Beauty Queens" written and narrated by Libba Bray, which even includes commercials (with jingles and everything) for products by The Corporation, a fictional company in the story. The book has the commercials too, but I can't imagine reading it; the jingles and music are too much fun.

It's important to be aware of the strengths and drawbacks of e-books and audiobooks, and to be prepared to talk about them. Some audiobook listeners might like the production with music; others might not like the extra "fluff." Some readers might enjoy e-books for certain types of books, like erotica, or for certain situations, like going on vacation. Just like with any readers advisory transaction, it's important to know about the books and know how to talk to patrons in their language about the books.

It's also important to know what books translate well into audiobooks and e-books, and, more importantly, what books the patrons think translate well into audiobooks and e-books. Talking to the patrons about what kinds of books they read as audiobooks and e-books, and discovering why they like the books in those genres, are important.

I started listening to audiobooks when I had a 30-minute commute each way to work. I have generally listened to books that I've already read, like the Harry Potter and Hunger Games series, and I found it a great way to re-read books in a new way. They were entertaining to listen to, especially the Harry Potter series because Jim Dale was such a delightful narrator. Even though I had read both series several times, I caught things I had never caught when reading the books. It was exciting! I listen less now because I live very close to work, though I really should start walking and listening to books again. I encourage people who are interested in audiobooks to start with something easy to see if they like the audiobook format as a way of reading.

I've read e-books for many years, and I enjoy the convenience of carrying around one device with many items. I also really like to shop the deals for cheap and free romance novels. (I rarely pay more than $2 for an e-book.) I also like being able to find a book day or night, whether the library or bookstore is open. Our library uses OverDrive and has a really nice mix of books - and many books not in the physical book collection.

The most important thing is not your personal opinions on audiobooks and e-books - they're not for everyone - but to be able to talk intelligently with patrons about what makes audiobooks and e-books work for them!

References

Dunneback, K. (2011). E-books and readers' advisory. Reference and User Services Quarterly 50(4), 325-329.