In another post, many mentioned that, while they've always been avid readers, for whatever reason, they just don't read much anymore. I find myself in the same situation and download books to listen to on my iPod. I wonder how many of our authors have checked into having their books made available for purchase and download online. I don't know what is involved or if it's a huge process, but I wondered if anybody had checked into it, if anybody in fact does it, and if anybody had checked into it and isn't doing it, why not?

There is quite an audience, I think, who would gladly purchase and download books to listen to.

The authors either narrate the books themselves or have somebody else narrate them (hey... I'd be a happy little narrater for authors). The place I download is www.audible.com, but I'm sure there are many others.

Thanks for your time.

I haven't done this because the authentication of my "humor" stories would have to be done by me. While that's not a problem, I simply don't have the time. Right now.

Also, in polling my reader's, I found that they do NOT want to listen to the book on tape. They prefer to hold it in their hands.

I'm sure this is just a matter of preference and for every person who says they don't want it, you could find someone who says they do. So that's not the weighing factor for me, time is.

I will say for my own perference, I cannot stand to listen to books on tape. My mind wanders and I've yet to find one that held my attention. I think it is because reading is a luxury for me. When I read a book, I've stolen time from somewhere else and it's almost like a bonus, a gift. Does that make sense?

Anyway, I'm sure there is a great market out there for this and I probably should get on the bandwagon. I'm a toad.

I haven't checked into doing this for my own work, but I will say that when it comes to listening to books, I find that it works best (for me) if the book is nonfiction or if it's a story that I'm already familiar with. Listening to fresh fiction doesn't seem to work so well for me - I mostly listen in the car and can't concentrate on the story.

On the other hand, my husband travels a lot and he listens to fiction quite often when he has long trips. So definitely, a case of personal preference.

We listen to them on long trips. I'd have to be in agreement with my publisher and do it through them if I chose this form. It doesn't appeal to me that much but that could change in the future.

I'm planning on making a CD out of my book, "Who Am I?" I did a lot of commuting and always listened to books on tape. Now, that I'm incorporating a lot of walking into my life, I find that listening to deeper stuff (like The Secret) works really well. I'm also going to get myself an MP3 player one of these days. It's a lot lighter! And I can download my CDs to my computer and upload them to the MP3 player.

I think it depends on your audience. JJ is right -- know your audience and what they want.