Audible has released an 11 hour and 43 minute audiobook edition of Granta‘s Best of Young British Novelists list.

We also collected free samples of the Best of Young British Novelists list, 20 different novels to explore. Here’s more about the Audible production:

Every 10 years, Granta Magazine dedicates a special issue celebrating the 20 best British novelists under the age of 40 … Audible invited all these young novelists to read their work – some of them did, and some of them chose to have their stories professionally narrated – and the result is an exciting blend of literary talent and spoken-word: These distinctive voices and the sense of place that permeate every story create a listening experience you will not soon forget.

Audible and The Center for Fiction have established the Christopher Doheny Award, honoring the memory of an employee who died of cystic fibrosis.

The winner will receive $10,000, publication and promotion of their book both in print and audio formats. This award recognizes writers whose fiction or nonfiction manuscripts that focus on the topic of serious illness. You can email DohenyAward [at] audible [dot] com for more information.

Here’s more from the release: “The winner of the Christopher Doheny Award will demonstrate high literary standards while exploring the impact of illness on the patient, family and friends, and others. In recognition that authors frequently need support during the writing process, both manuscripts in process and completed manuscripts will be eligible.”

According to the Audio Publishers Association, audiobooks are now a billion dollar part of the publishing industry.

Taking results from two studies of the audiobook industry, the association noted that 3.8 million more audiobooks were sold in 2011 compared to the year before–generating a 2.6 percent rise in revenues. Here’s more from the report:

The total number of titles published in the audio format has doubled over the past seven years and publishers continue to increase their output to ensure that the most popular trade books are available in audio at the time the print book is released. Adding to the positive outlook is a 3.2% decrease in returns of audiobooks from 14% last year to just 10.8% this year. Returns as a percentage of overall gross sales have never been this low … The study shows that for audiobooks, the digital download format has eclipsed the CD format with slightly more than 60% of all audiobooks sold today being digital.

Audible, the audiobooks platform owned by Amazon, has released its first iPad app. The company also redesigned its iPhone app.

AppNewser has all the details:

According to Audible, more than 20 percent of the company’s customers already use Audible’s iPhone app on the iPad. The new iPad app is designed for the tablet’s large screen. The app has large images and makes it easy to browse the library browsing and listen to audiobooks. The iPhone app has been redesigned to improve the listening experience. In addition, the app’s new layout highlights cover art. It lets you browse multiple titles at the same time, while accessing the app’s library management features.

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Musician Janis Ian beat out First Lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, political commentator Rachel Maddow and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres for the “Best Spoken Word Album” Grammy award.

Ian narrated her own book for the win.

Audible released the audiobook edition of her nonfiction book, Society’s Child: My Autobiography, in June 2012. The hardcover print version of this book actually came out back in July 2008.

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Digital publisher Atavist now offers a Whispersync connection between its Kindle eBook editions and the audiobook editions. You can read your digital book copy and switch to the same place in the audiobook while reading.

All Atavist titles on Amazon with audio accompaniment can make use of this new feature. Generally, if you purchased a $1.99 eBook edition of an Atavist digital book through Amazon, you can buy the audio version using Whispersync for $1.99.

Atavist developed an audiobook syncing tool for its multimedia editions in 2010. While they still maintain the proprietary tool for their apps and on the web, they took the audio tracks and joined Amazon’s new program.

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Self-published authors can create their own audiobooks with the help of a growing community at Audiobook Creation Exchange.

AppNewser has more details about the service:

Writers using Audible.com’s Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), an online audiobook rights marketplace and production platform, created ten times as many audiobooks in 2012 as they did in 2011, the year the platform launched. The tool helps writers, publishers and literary agents to create and publish audio versions of their books. Authors can record their own readings using the platform, or they can work with actors and voice over professionals, who also have profiles in the market place. It is used by a variety of types of writers. Self-published authors and authors who have publishers but manage the audio rights themselves use the site. In addition, agents and publishers can use the tool to produce work.

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Do you want to share your audiobook with the 20 million users listening to streaming music on Spotify?

Author Craig Seymour self-funded an audiobook edition of his memoir, All I Could Bear: My Life in the Strip Clubs of Gay Washington D.C. earlier this year. Inspired by a GalleyCat article with SoundCloud advice for writers, he decided to upload the audiobook to both SoundCloud and Spotify.

Follow this link to listen to his book on Spotify. Spotify has very few audiobooks, so we conducted an email interview with Seymour to find out how he added his book to the music service. He provided some step-by-step instructions.

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Audible has released a new audio short story from author Neil Gaiman called Click-Clack the Rattlebag and is running a charitable promotion to help promote the work.

To encourage downloads, through Halloween Audible will donate $1 per download from Audible.com to DonorsChoose.org up to $100,000, and 50p per download from Audible.co.uk to Booktrust. Both charities promote literacy.

The audio book is free and is read by Gaiman himself. Here is more about the story: ”

‘What kind of story would you like me to tell you?’ ‘Well,’ he said, thoughtfully, ‘I don’t think it should be too scary, because then when I go up to bed, I will just be thinking about monsters the whole time. But if it isn’t just a little bit scary, then I won’t be interested. And you make up scary stories, don’t you?’”

To help spread the word, Gaiman is encouraging readers to tweet the hashtag #ScareUs after downloading the story.

An unabridged audiobook version of J.R.R. Tolkien‘s Lord of the Rings trilogy will be distributed by Audible, a set that clocks a staggering 54 hours and nine minutes of listening time.

The series is published by Recorded Books and read by Rob Inglis, the actor who also narrated audiobooks for Ursula K. Le Guin‘s The Earthsea Cycle. Inglis also narrated the unabridged audiobook for Tolkien’s The Hobbit, an 11-hour listening experience.

Here’s more from the release: “Each of these audiobooks is also Whispersync for Voice-ready, which means that if you buy or already own the Kindle version of The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers or The Return of the King, you can now effortlessly switch back and forth between reading and listening to the series that has captivated millions of readers and moviegoers—without losing your place.”

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