BOOK OF THE YEAR AUDIOBOOK
OVERVIEW Audiobooks saw a rise in popularity last year, with audiences seeking out the best titles to listen to on their one hour of permitted daily exercise. This shortlist sees Penguin Random House Audio secure two spots, but ultimately the list was varied, with the remaining seven spots going to different publishers. A-list actors and Hollywood stars narrate the titles across the board, with publishers often adding exclusive audio content to draw listeners to the format.
A PROMISED LAND Barack Obama’s memoir saw Penguin Random House’s biggest campaign for a single audiobook. The team used an influencer-driven word- of-mouth campaign to target “entertainment seekers”; those who don’t often buy books but would listen to the former president. Obama is no novice narrator, either: his previous two audiobooks are Grammy Award-winning.
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PUBLISHERS 1 PRH AUDIO 2 HEADLINE 3 W F HOWES 4 BLOOMSBURY 5 CANONGATE 6 AUDIBLE ORIGINAL 7 PRH AUDIO 8 HARPERCOLLINS 9 HACHETTE AUDIO
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PIRANESI Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004) author Susanna Clarke made an unexpected return last year with the more compact Piranesi, the story of a man uncovering a mystery in a flooded house. To honour the half-Ghanaian protagonist in the novel, Bloomsbury wanted a Black British narrator for the audiobook: they landed Oscar- nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor for the role.
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB Richard Osman worked closely with PRH Audio to find the prefect narrator for his début, and his first choice, Lesley Manville, came aboard for the series. Understanding Osman’s popularity and core fans, the publisher brought his voice into the audiobook edition with an exclusive Q&A with Marian Keyes, a fellow shortlisted author on this list.
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GREENLIGHTS On acquisition of Matthew McConaughey’s autobiography, Headline agreed with the actor that he should narrate the audiobook. The print edition featured pictures, footnotes and affirmations which needed to be adapted for audio and McConaughey unabashedly ad libbed asides during the recording. According to Headline, Greenlights’ audio edition is its top-selling format.
THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY Launched simultaneously with the hardback, Matt Haig’s latest was narrated by actress Carey Mulligan, who recorded the audiobook from her home studio in lockdown. Canongate capitalised on Haig’s previous success to make this a noisy publication: it was selected by the Sunday Times as a “perfect audiobook for lockdown” and was one of Audible’s five top sellers for four weeks running.
THINK LIKE A MONK In a tough year, Jay Shetty showed readers how to clear roadblocks to power, drawing on his time as a monk in the Vedic tradition. Shetty narrates the audiobook himself and HarperCollins added audio-exclusive content, from meditations to an author Q&A. The result satisfied the author’s podcast listeners and significant online following, as well as drawing in new fans.
GROWN UPS Marian Keyes’ 14th title follows the three Casey broth- ers and their wives, Jessie, Cara and Nell. For the first time in her career, the author narrated her own audiobook, bringing her characters and personality closer to audiences than ever before. W F Howes targeted Keyes’ legion of loyal fans and garnered spots on several audiobook round-ups highlighting excellence.
THE SANDMAN Dirk Maggs adapted this Audible Original from Neil Gaiman’s classic comics series, The Sandman. Maggs directed an all-star 68-person cast which included Gaiman along- side Riz Ahmed, Kat Dennings, Taron Egerton, James McAvoy, Bebe Neuwirth, Andy Serkis and Michael Sheen. An original score from Bafta-winning composer James Hannigan was also commissioned.
TROUBLED BLOOD Robert Galbraith’s latest Cormoran Strike novel saw fan favourite Robert Glenister return to narrate the audio- book for the fifth time in the series. The popularity of the books has only grown since the publication of The Cuckoo’s Calling in 2014, and book five was no exception: it was Hachette UK’s biggest ever audio pre-order for a single title, up 76.9% on book four.
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