Audio books are a great way to learn or grasp things in mind. These books are gaining popularity specially in the education area. Parents and teachers are increasingly adopting this method to impart education to children. So they are being used in schools as well as homes and other places.

A research shows that knowledge comes easily and conveniently from listening rather than reading. The audio learning devices are an amazing way to make children learn and get education as they do not get bored with them. There are sound effects that add entertainment to them. So it is like a fun activity for children as well as adults. If one is interested in learning a foreign language, these audio books will help him a lot.

An audio book is a recording specially for people who do not like to read. These books are available at most of the bookstores. Blind and illiterate people benefit greatly from these books.

These great learning tools allow you to listen to every word of a book and understand it. They are available on compact disc or MP3 formats and can be easily downloaded online. This real experience allows the user to listen to wonderful stories, literatures, etc. Besides high quality sound, you get a fantastic listening experience with amazing sound effects. These books can be found in various languages and styles. They allow you to make great use of your leisure time. Get a quality listening experience by learning new things which you would have found boring while reading. These books can be instructional and can also serve as an entertainment tool allowing the user to gain some knowledge at the same time. They offer unlimited hours of learning and knowledge.

One can easily order an audio book online. You can also download it online. Find these books on a vast range of subjects like classics, fiction, humour, etc. You can easily get your favourite literature title on the internet. If you are traveling, it is a great way to pass your time. One can easily concentrate while listening rather than while reading. The user can even do several other tasks while listening to these audios. Some of the great titles of audio books include “Fierce Pajamas,” “Boomerang Joy,” “Double Whammy,” etc.

These excellent tools for education and entertainment can be relaxing at times. People prefer listening to these books as they become more efficient in their work. One can purchase cheap audio books online and copy them into their MP3 player, iPod or CD player. These educational, informative and fiction books allow you to make the best use of your time. As we all know that technology has always brought new products, these books are simply a great invention and a boon for all of us. Whether you are driving a car or walking at a beach or doing some household work, these books can be used anywhere. If you are going on a holiday, they can be easily carried along. They can be amazing holiday companions of travellers. These ideal electronic books have large memory capabilities so you do not have to worry about the storage.

These books are a great option for parents as they do not want their children to watch television or play video games for long hours. Children also find these books entertaining and do not make any excuses to listen to them. Parents can also select the books that suit the tastes of their children.

If you want to take full pleasure from the book, just close your eyes, relax your body and focus on the story you are listening to. If you wish to take a break from listening, simply touch a stop button on the player. After that when you would turn on the player, you can listen from the exact place where you left. These must-have books are becoming entertaining and interesting day by day. So browse through the online shops and make your purchase now.

Before buying a new audio book player, figure out your specific needs and select the best player for your lifestyle. You would definitely get your favourite book from the variety of subjects to choose from.

In this post I’m going to try and demystify the ebook publishing process. I’ve been through it and lived to tell the tale. So here goes. Stand by for a fun ride. It’ll be worth the trials and tribulations along the way!

Ingredients:

Book (preferably in.doc format) – see detailed formatting guidelines below Cover picture (in JPG format, max 1200 pixels high) Short book description (400 characters max) Proper book description (up to about 2,500 characters) About the Author summary Book categories (i.e. Young Adult, Fantasy, etc.) Decision on selling price of book

Method:

Do not attempt to publish your book without ALL the above ingredients. Delay or disaster could occur Ensure you have full publishing rights to the book you are publishing (I know this sounds odd, but if you have signed a contract with anyone, check and make sure…) Log in to Smashwords.com and create an author account if you don’t already have one (trust me, there is method in my seeming madness) – complete your author profile Select ‘Publish’ on your dashboard and complete the page, copying and inserting the various ingredients from above as requested Press ‘publish’ and wait while SmashWords processes your book (this could take several hours. SmashWords uses a queue which will update to inform you of its progress) When SmashWords has published your book, go to its page (click on book title) and download it to your PC / iPad / Ebook reader. Look carefully at the results and decide whether anything needs reformatting. If so, reformat and resubmit book to queue. PLEASE NOTE – This step is really important and time spent here will saves hours later) Once book is successfully and satisfactorily published at SmashWords, go to Amazon.com (you will need an account at kdp.amazon.com. You will also need an author account at authorcentral.amazon.com) On your ‘bookshelf’ page (at kdp.amazon.com), select ‘add a new title’ and complete the form as requested (similar to SmashWords) Submit the book to Amazon and wait while it converts it. You will then be taken to a page where you can select royalty rate and book price. Finally select publish and then wait It will take 24 hours or longer for your ebook to appear in the Amazon Kindle store. This is why it is advised to publish at SmashWords first (to ensure format looks correct). You cannot view or correct any publishing errors at Amazon until after the book is completely published Once book is published, attach it to your author profile at Amazon While book is publishing at Amazon you can publish it at Barnes & Noble in much the same way. Go to pubit.barnesandnoble.com and set up an author account Select ‘add a title’ and go through a similar routine as at the other sites. It will take up to 24 hours for the ebook to be available at the Barnes & Noble site Market shamelessly!

Exceptions:

You may receive emails from Amazon or Barnes & Noble if there are problems with publishing. Do not ignore these emails. The quicker and more fully you respond to them, the quicker your book will publish. Each email will delay the publishing process by at least a day If you have previous books published at Amazon that you want linking to your author account you can do that at the authorcentral site If there are also physical copies of the books that you are epublishing you will need to email amazon to ‘merge their entries’. This can take several days Check back regularly for publishing progress (often the books will appear in the bookstore before they are highlighted as ‘published’. Try searching for them on Amazon or B&N)

Detailed Document / Book Formatting:

The best instructions are HERE Seriously, read the guide linked above… In a nutshell, no fonts bigger than 18pt. No multiple lines between paragraphs. Use Word to automatically set up indent and trailing line space on paragraphs. Never use ‘tabs’. Don’t use lots of different fonts. Don’t use odd fonts. Insert all pictures inline. Etc., etc. Seriously, read the guide linked above!!

GOOD LUCK!!

The annual Audies awards for the best audiobook titles took place in the Museum of the City of New York on May 25, 2010. The Audies are sometimes called the Oscars of the audiobook genre, and are the only awards program in the United States which is entirely devoted to the transcription of the written word to the spoken word. The Audies were once called The Spoken Word Awards.The Audies are awarded annually at a gala dinner hosted by The Audio Publishers Association. There were 30 categories this year, which is one less than in 2009, and include, Audiobook of the Year, Literary Fiction, Romance, Biography, and Distinguished Achievement in Production.

AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR.One of the runners up for the Audiobook Of The Year award was the Patrick Swayze biography entitled Time Of My Life  The audiobook, which is 6 hours in length, is narrated by Patrick Swayze and he recounts his life story from his early upbringing in Texas to his successful career as a Hollywood actor. Early in 2008, it was reported that Patrick had contracted cancer of the pancreas and in late 2009, he passed away at the age of 57.The winner of the Audiobook of the Year was Nelson Mandela’s Favourite African Folktales.  DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTIONTwo of the nominations for distinguished achievement awards are:  The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, and The Screwtape Letters by C S Lewis. The Maltese Falcon is performed by a full cast from the award winning Hollywood Theatre. This is a story about a private detective named Sam Spade who has been portrayed by Humphrey Bogart in the film of the same name. The production lasts for three hours and thirty minutes.Ralph Cosham narrates The Screwtape Letters which is a funny story with a spiritual theme running through it. The narration takes three and a half hours. The Audie for the best produced audiobook went to The Help by Kathleen Stockett. 

Audie For Best Fiction AudiobookHollywood has produced movies from two of the nominations in the fiction category. The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe is an American satire about the fall from wealth and prestige of a Wall Street millionaire who tries to cover up a hit and run accident in a New York ghetto. The narration by Joe Barrett, lasts for twenty seven hours.A TV quiz show in India is the backdrop for The Slumdog Millionaire which transforms the life of a young man from rags to riches. This audiobook features a full cast production and lasts for two hours and twenty minutes.The winner of the Fiction category was also The Help by Kathleen Stockett. 

Audie for the Thriller and Suspense Category.

One of the better known nominations in the Thriller category was The Devil’s Punchbowl by Greg Iles. Greg Iles tells the story about a gambling steamboat where strange things are going on.This is quite a long story and the narration lasts for 24 hours.The winner in the Thriller/Suspense category was Darling Jim by Christian Moerk, and narrated by Stephen Hoye and Justine Eyre.

A complete list of Audie winners and nominations is on the website of the Audio Publishers Association.T