Association of American Publishers announce audiobook extension to reading campaign

Recognizing the significant and growing impact of books in audio format, the Association of American Publishers today announced the launch of a new audiobook extension to its highly successful Get Caught Reading ™ public awareness reading campaign. “Get Caught Listening” ™, the trade association’s newest public awareness initiative, extols the particular pleasures of listening to books in audiobook format. The campaign will be celebrated during audiobook events at BookExpo America 2008 in Los Angeles, and lead into National Audiobooks Month in June.

A newly formed Audiobook “Get Caught Listening” subcommittee comprising the industry’s leading trade audiobook publishers, including BBC Audiobooks America, Hachette Book Group USA, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan, Random House, Simon & Schuster, along with representatives from the Audiobook Publishers Association, has been created within the organization to spearhead the launch, development, and implementation of the new campaign,.

The cornerstone of Get Caught Listening incorporates both pre-recorded audio voiceovers of traditional and celebrity authors sharing their passion for audiobooks, complemented by a print campaign of those authors “getting caught” listening to their favorite book in audio format. As it does for the Get Caught Reading campaign, AAP will be enlisting pro bono support for the program from radio and print media and Internet outlets. XM Radio has already demonstrated its support by airing the voiceovers on Sonic Theater, XM’s book and contemporary theater channel. Videos of selected authors recording their voiceovers will be available for viewing on the Get Caught Reading web site and elsewhere. Members of the American Booksellers Association’s Booksense program will receive kits with posters and other materials to aid them in enlisting the support of their local radio stations and encouraging them to run the PSA’s, and in expanding publicity for their stores.

Authors who have endorsed the campaign and have committed to providing either voiceovers, photographs, or video include:

Valerie Bertinelli, author of Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time, from Simon & Schuster
L.L. Cool J, author of Platinum Workout, from Rodale
Chelsea Handler, author of Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, from Simon & Schuster
Jackie Collins, bestselling author of Married Lovers, from Macmillan Audio
Pearl Cleage, bestselling author of Seen It All and Done the Rest, from BBC Audiobooks America
Garrison Keillor, host of A Prairie Home Companion and author/narrator of Pontoon, HighBridge Audio (voiceover forthcoming)
Frank McCourt, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angela’s Ashes, for Simon & Schuster
Brad Meltzer, author of the forthcoming The Book of Lies from Hachette Audio, Hachette Book Group USA
Lisa Scottoline, author of 14 novels including Daddy’s Girl and Dirty Blonde from HarperCollins
Marci Shimoff, secret teacher and author of Happy for No Reason, from Simon & Schuster
And licensed character “Horton” of the Dr. Seuss series Horton Hears a Who and Other Sounds of Dr. Seuss, from Random House

Video or audio recordings of the authors recording their voiceovers will also air on the AAP’s Get Caught Reading web site, which will have a placemark for the AAP’s Get Caught Listening program at www.getcaughtreading.org/listening.

The newly created Get Caught Listening brand extension will be an added attraction for the thousands of booksellers, librarians, and educators who currently visit the Get Caught Reading site each year for tips on utilizing the campaign in school reading programs. Posters of all Get Caught Reading/Get Caught Listening materials are available for download or order at no charge. Also included on the Get Caught Listening web site is useful information for educators on the value of audiobooks and programs as educational resources to serve as complementary learning tools for the elementary and middle-school grades.

Audiobooks: An Educational Learning Tool
The Milken Family Foundation has investigated the effects of listening to audiobooks on children’s reading ability and found that programs that included the use of audiobooks improved children’s reading proficiency more than programs that did not use them. (Audiobooks and Literacy: An Educator’s Guide to Utilizing Audiobooks in the Classroom © Listening Library, a division of Random House, Inc.) by Dr. Frank Serafini. “Audiobooks help children become better readers and develop a desire to read for themselves…” Teachers and parents are encouraged to use audiobooks because they: Expose readers to new vocabulary; provide demonstrations of fluent reading and appropriate phrasing, intonation, and articulation; expand access to materials for readers; and for struggling readers hey provide decoding, as they listen to stories well beyond their independent reading levels, enabling them to comprehend more complex literature.

Suggestions for classroom use of audiobooks can also be found on the Get Caught Listening tab of the Get Caught Reading web site at www.getcaughtreading.com/listening.

The Association of American Publishers launched Get Caught Reading in May of 1999 with the goal of reminding people how much fun it is to read. The centerpiece of the campaign is a series of photographs of celebrities and public figures who have been “caught reading” their favorite books, including Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robin Williams, and many others. The images are used on posters and in print ads, and major magazines and newspapers including TV Guide, People, The New York Times, USA Today, and many, many others have donated full-page ad space for the celebrity photographs. The photographs are available as posters to booksellers, libraries, and teachers to complement book and reading events throughout the country. The Get Caught Reading web site is visited by thousands of book lovers – booksellers, educators, and librarians from all around the world, with requests for posters to accompany grassroots reading campaigns across the globe. All Get Caught Listening PSAs will available for download and use at any event at www.getcaughtreading.org/listening.

The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies—small and large. AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software, and electronic products and services. The protection of intellectual property rights in all media, the defense of the freedom to read and the freedom to publish at home and abroad, and the promotion of reading and literacy are among the Association’s highest priorities.