These readers are all ears

They're coming fast in every format, not just digital MP3s. "Not too many years ago what you would find would be abridgments of bestsellers in a bookstore, and a limited selection," says Robin Whitten, who founded AudioFile magazine in 1992 to review audiobooks. "Six months later you would find the unabridged version in a library. Now, anything making the bestseller list will probably have audio versions [simultaneously], abridged and unabridged."

It was only about 20 years ago that many publishers launched full audiobook divisions, says Ms. Roche.

Today, audiobooks are central to the marketing of hardcovers, she says. "You can play a clip [on the radio] to promote an author's appearance at Borders."

That's assuming the author has read his own work. Publishers often wrestle over whose voice to use. "Sometimes it's obvious," says Roche. "No one but Frank McCourt could read 'Angela's Ashes.' It's such a personal story. Or Bill Clinton. Who else do you want to hear telling that story?"

"Our first request for all of our nonfiction is that the author record," says Ana Maria Allessi, publisher of Harper Audio. "And in cases where the author can't, we try to find a 'generic' voice."

Fiction allows for more creativity. It can also add complexity.

"We struggled with [Tom Wolfe's] 'I Am Charlotte Simmons,' " says Roche, also the publisher of Audio Renaissance. "While the main character is a young woman, there were many men in the book, and they all come together toward the end. Ultimately we went with a man [Dylan Baker] we thought would do a good job with the woman's voice but also convey the variety of male characters." The book has been nominated for an Audie for solo narration (male).

Seeking out a star can create valuable buzz. Ms. Allessi's division hired Tim Curry for the Lemony Snicket, and the team was rewarded with a finalist's berth. Simon & Schuster recently hired Sean Penn to read Bob Dylan's "Chronicles: Vol. 1," the actor's first audiobook.

Sometimes, Ms. Allessi notes, it comes down to which actors are available - coming to New York for a stage performance, for example, and willing to polish their vocal chops on a reading, or work for a day without makeup and memorization.

"If they have any inclination, they don't hold you over a barrel," says Allessi. "You offer them a modest amount of money, and if they want to do it, they'll inform their agent that they are to accept the offer."

But celebrities can be hit or miss. "They often find out that it's quite a bit harder than they thought," says Ms. Whitten, who notes that some of the best work is done by audiobook specialists largely unknown to the public.

Unknown or renowned, the best readers yield to the writer's work, experts say.

"Readers will actually go back to hear again a great reader really convey the art of the storyteller," says Soames. "The actors, in this case, are not the stars. And that's what it's about."

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