With the popularity and proliferation of digital devices like the iPhone and iPad, audiobooks and their close cousin, the podcast, have become uniquely convenient for those multitaskers looking to fill extra time during their commute or workout. This does bring up the question of whether or not this practice of listening rather than reading is a legitimate method of comprehension.
production
Making Casting Decisions for Audiobooks
By Selena Harris
Imagine you are listening to an audiobook. The story takes place in the South, and you’re immersed in a scene of intense action. Suddenly, you hear the voice actor say “you all,” rather than the “y’all” you have been hearing up until this point. You pause, and suddenly you’re not thinking about the story. You’re removed from the world you spent the past half hour in, and now you’re thinking about the actor, maybe picturing them in front of a microphone, watching them as they make the fatal mistake. It takes you a few moments, and maybe a quick rewind, to get back into the story. How do publishers avoid these mishaps in an audiobook recording?
Battle for Books: Texts and Tariff Exemptions
By Hannah Boettcher
The written word only matters insofar as it is made available and accessible—and in this case, insofar as it can be taxed. With the Trump administration dealing with the aftermath of a trade war with China, many consumers and publication producers are licking their wounds. In an unprecedented tariff implementation, almost every form of publication is being exposed to a 10 percent tax increase that started September 1, 2019. A second wave of taxes will come in December 2019.
Audiobook Production: An Interview with Ooligan Author Brian K. Friesen
By Liz Pilcher @pilcher_liz
Ooligan author Brian K. Friesen made an audiobook for At the Waterline, and we got the chance to hear about his process and the exciting results!
Farewell, Three Sides Water: Wrapping Up a Book’s Production Cycle
By Michele Ford @fictionlass
A book’s pub date is always a bittersweet time for us at Ooligan. On one hand, it’s a happy time: we organize a launch party, we hold the fully designed book in our hands, and we pester friends and family to buy this book we worked on!! But a release date also means we have to scale back our involvement with the book and its author, even if we’d rather continue working on it.
Conducting Environmental Audits
By Andrea McDonald
Every year, Ooligan Press publishes a book in our OpenBook Series that is sustainably printed as part of our ongoing commitment to environmentally conscious publishing. One of the components of this process is conducting an environmental audit on the printing, which is then written up and included in the front of the book for readers to see. The importance of sustainable publishing has been frequently expounded upon both by the publishing industry at large and by Ooligan Press itself, so much so that to say “sustainable publishing is crucial to our planet’s future” is a well-known fact. What many may not know, however, is the determination process by which a book is published environmentally. Namely, the audit performed on the printer to ensure the most sustainable practices and resources were used during the printing of the book.