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Thursday, March 2, 2023

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: Audie Awards Edition

This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.  

The 2023 Audie Awards Finalists were announced by the Audiobook Publishers Association this week. The Audie Awards is the premier awards program in the United States recognizing distinction in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment. Publishers and rights holders enter titles in various categories for recognition of achievement. Finalists are selected, and then one winner is awarded in each category at the Audies Gala. The ceremony will take place this year on March 28th.

This year there are 26 categories! Broken down in many different different way. You can click here to see all of the finalists including my favorite audiobook of the year.

With so many categories you have a lot of suggestions for your readers. And, you can also look up longer reviews of each title in AudioFile Magazine. Again taking The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones, nominated for best original audiobook, for our example here.

Remember these books are nominated for their format and the reviews focus on how the narration enhances the story. They have to be a great story and have superior narration. The narrator is the one who wins the award.

The APA has set up a very easy to use page with every pass winner and finalist.  Backlist access is available 

With audiobooks reaching new heights of popularity each of the last 6 years, there are many listeners who missed some of the very best titles from just a few years ago. This is your chance to highlight great titles they may have missed. And you can be assured that these titles-- this year's or year's past-- are worth considering, and when you pair it all with an AudioFile Magazine review you can more easily navigate how the narration and story interact in language you can share directly with a potential reader.

Finally, don't forget there are new audiobook readers discovering the genre every day, this is reflected in the multiple years of format growth. So use this announcement of the Audie Finalists to highlight your entire audiobook collection in general-- both in physical copies and digital. Capitalize on the book world's conversation about these awards by showing your patrons that you have many titles for them to try.

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