Use your ears to "read" (decoding online trend)
——Micro Observation of Audio Reading Industry
Today, more and more people fall in love with listening to books. The results of the 17th National National Reading Survey show that in 2019, 31.2% of our nationals have the habit of listening to books, and the reading rate of adults and minors is 4.3% and 8.5% higher than the average of the previous year. The audiobook anchor uses the imagination of the sound to make the audience fully feel the value of acting art beyond the book's own value.
Where does this delightful and sweet "reading" experience come from? Which audio books are most popular? The reporter recently interviewed some people in the industry.
New color from text to sound
An audio book needs to go through multiple links such as copyright introduction, audio production, planning operation, and channel distribution from scratch to be finally listened to by users. Due to the high cost of copyright, production, editing, operation, etc., not all books are suitable for launching audio versions. It is understood that original online literature, popular film and television literature and classic works are currently the most popular categories in audio books.
"Generally speaking, the fantasy fantasy, urban legend, and the theme of crossing the sky in the original online texts are more popular, such as "Douluo Continent" and "Australian Nine Heavens" and so on. "Bailuyuan" "solitary city closed" "Qing Yunian" and other popular film and television works The original book is also popular. The head resources market for children’s audiobooks has also responded well.” Song Bin, the founder of Lazy Books.
The production of audio books requires copyright negotiation first. Like the copyright of e-books and paper books, the copyright of audio books is also granted separately. The rights of a single audiobook are also different, and can be divided into "single-play", "male and female double-play", "multi-player", "audio drama adaptation" and so on.
"The audio right usually granted by the copyright party is'single-play", and the text cannot be changed. Therefore, most of the audio books on the market are interpreted by a host and read according to the original text. Rights other than "single-play" need to be re-authorized by the copyright Each additional new right requires the publishing house to bear the corresponding copyright cost." Zhu Lingyun, deputy editor of Shanghai Translation Publishing House, said.
If the adaptation is not authorized, is there less room for the anchor to play?
"The audio production of audiobooks is not a simple conversion from text to sound. The anchor needs to fully understand the entire text. After the actor gets the script, he has to think about the character's personality. But the anchor can't show the character through facial expressions like the actor. State, psychology, and emotion can only be achieved through sound, which puts forward higher requirements for the anchor. In addition, the anchor needs to fine-tune some content that is not suitable for oral expression with permission from the copyright owner." Han Shuangxue, manager of the center's production department, said.
The role of the anchor is more obvious in recording foreign literary translations. "Translation works have a natural distance for domestic listeners, which requires the anchor to have a very strong deductive ability to localize the translation tone." Zhu Lingyun said.
In recent years, some audio reading platforms have not only been satisfied with simply converting literary works into audio, but also adapted scripts into audiobook production to create audiobook "version 2.0"-radio drama.
In December 2019, the "Three Body" radio drama produced by 729 Sound Works was launched in Himalaya. According to the standard TV drama production mode, the production team conducts human analysis, structural disassembly, and develops a detailed outline of diversity, etc., and mobilizes dozens of voice actors to participate in the dubbing. The sound effects specially produced for the radio drama are several times more than the general radio drama, making The "Three Body" radio drama became a "sound blockbuster" with over 24 million views.
Hear literary classics convey the voice of humanity
In 2019, New Classic Culture Co., Ltd. began to get involved in the field of audio books. The first audio book launched was the literary classic with high reading difficulty-Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude". The first day of the book's launch in the Himalayas, the number of broadcasts exceeded 100,000, and the cumulative listening volume of each platform was nearly 10 million. This makes more and more people realize that the original classics can also be heard with ears.
The audiobooks that have achieved success in operation are, on the one hand, due to the inherent value of the classics, on the other hand, they are also inseparable from the intensive cultivation of audio products.
Liu Enfan, editor-in-chief of the audio publishing of New Classic Innovation Lab, said: "During the production of the "Hundred Years of Solitude" audiobook, the planning editor prepared a 20,000-character biographical biography in advance to help the anchor press the intricate relationship between the 7 generations of the book; production During the recording process, the editor stopped from time to time with the anchor to analyze the plot, consult the data, and mark the text in detail so that the sound effects and music can be used to add color to the work later. After the work went online, we also did a lot of promotion work, Help listeners eliminate fear of masterpieces."
Coincidentally, among the 230 audio books published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House, the most popular is also a classic work-"Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas. This book has accumulated more than 3 million listeners on various platforms. Classics such as "Pride and Prejudice", "The Moon and Six Pence", "Gone with the Wind" and "Old Man and the Sea" are also popular.
Zhu Lingyun said: "Because of the early translation, many foreign literary classics have been integrated into the reading history of generations of Chinese people. Today's readers can approach the classics in a new form of listening to books. We also actively promote the vocalization of contemporary foreign literature. , Such as the works of the 2017 Nobel Prize winner Ishiguro Ishiguro and Haruki Murakami's "Assassination of the Knight Commander."
At present, on all major audio book reading platforms, literary classics have become popular. In the Himalayas, Lu Yao's "Ordinary World" has a cumulative listening volume of 133 million, "Life" has reached 8.3 million, "Besieged City" and "Zhang Ailing's Complete Works of Sound Plays" are all popular hits.
"Classic becomes a confectionery for digital development, which is what we expected. What we can do is allow them to realize the lossless transformation of product form, tap the value of content, amplify the value of communication, and reach the audience without obstacles." Liu Enfan Say.
Promote the reading market prospects for all people
The characteristic of audio books is that people can meet their reading needs in a life scene that does not disturb the work at hand, or is inconvenient to use their eyes and hands. Whether you are driving, eating, bringing a baby, standing in line, or having tired eyes, you can listen to books anytime, anywhere, as long as you carry terminal devices such as mobile phones and tablets. Due to the advantages of the full scene, the unique role of audio reading in promoting the reading of the whole people is increasingly valued.
The Himalayan has established more than 5,000 audio libraries across the country, and people can listen to books for free in any place, anywhere, in more than 20 scenes such as squares, parks, and subways. Lazy people initiated the "Book Boat Program", which is dedicated to providing high-quality reading services for mountain students, rural teachers, border guards, and visually impaired people through book donations, the establishment of a book boat reading hall, and the establishment of a brand charity alliance.
"We have specially built audio libraries for specific groups, such as the reading space for the elderly in Shenzhen, the audio library for the disabled in Dalian, and the audio library for the blind in Harbin. For the visually impaired, audio books are opened for them. The new world of'reading' makes up for the regret that they cannot obtain new knowledge with their eyes." Sun Peng, Vice President of Himalayan said.
At the end of 2019, the Times reported that the global audiobook market will grow by 25% in 2020, reaching nearly 4 billion pounds (about 36.3 billion yuan), and sales are expected to exceed e-books, and the audio reading industry has a broad market space.
"Audiobooks can be understood as the third track of publication. The first track is a paper book, and the second track is an e-book. They are suitable for different reading scenarios and are the realization path of high-quality content in different channels. Audio reading will Will become an important segment of the reading market." Liu Enfan said.
More and more publishing houses are moving towards the direction of integrated publishing.
Zhu Lingyun said: "From the beginning of the selection of a paper book, we will fully consider the copyright negotiation of e-books and audio books into the scope of the topic." Zang Yongqing, president of the People's Literature Publishing House, believes that listening to books and other figures The business is mainly to increase the value of paper books. "Adding audio books as a form of paper books can increase added value and promote the sales of paper books."
By exploring the fusion expression of text and sound, audiobooks have realized the value of books again. This new way of reading is increasingly welcomed by people, especially young people, and has become a new force to spread culture.
Zhang Pengyu