Are audiobooks responsible for a return to an “oral tradition,” due to the “unbridled power of the spoken word” and our evolving culture of multi-tasking? Or, as a narrator, am I simply paying more attention to the industry than before? I think the numbers speak volumes. The audiobook boom is a thing.

“…Despite the forces fostering the audio-storytelling boom, Susan Shipley of Dorchester, who often listens while she knits, sees the rise more as a return than a digital-age innovation.

‘Storytelling was originally an oral tradition,’ Shipley said. ‘When the scribes came along, I imagine the bards thought that was really new.’

D’Acierno of Penguin Random House Audio said she thinks the boom is pretty easy to explain. She believes that there is something natural in the attraction.

‘All of us love to hear stories,’ she said. ‘This is a way to get in touch with that again.’

Source: Interest in audiobooks rockets, along with other digital storytelling – The Boston Globe