If there were English-language audiobooks available for popular light novel series, would people buy them?
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@paul-nebeling Oh yeah the same voice actors for everything. Or the inspired speeches they gave (cough cough Manga Video UK couc cough)
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@canadadesu said in If there were English-language audiobooks available for popular light novel series, would people buy them?:
I have decided to go all in. Doing some sample recordings at a recording studio this weekend. Even if it's only proof of concept I'm tempted to read a whole dang book and hand it to you as a feit accompli.
But I'm planning to record chapters of Realistic Hero, Ragnarok, Smartphone, and a few others.
So, how did the recording go? I am contemplating having a go at recording myself.
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I'd just like to add myself to the list of folks who would gladly purchase audiobook readings.
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I’ve seen some really interesting results with Amazon Polly turning Text-to-Speech that even allows you to define the pronunciation of difficult words. I don’t know if it would be viable from a business perspective or if it would meet what the community wants, but as someone who has Siri read me every page and puts in custom pronunciations, it doesn’t really bother me.
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Has anyone listened to the Kizumonogatari offering on Audible? My family thoroughly enjoyed it on a long drive a few months ago. Christina Vee voiced Tsubaki-san quite well. As best I can tell, it's unique as the only LN offering on Audible currently. I wonder how well it has done and if the other Niseoesin monogatari will be similarly performed?
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Legend of the Galactic Heroes volumes 1-3 (I know they're technically novel novels) and two Attack On Titan LNs (Mistress of the Harsh City?) should be on Audible too still.
Yeah, I enjoyed it. It was entertaining enough that I'd want more, but it doesn't seem it did that well since Vertical hasn't tried again with the other Monogatari and Galactic Heroes volumes.
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An audiobook would be great! I listened to my first audiobook this month on audible and it was so fun.
I heard there was an audiobook for Kizumonogatari at Vertical Inc. and it got really good reception. -
my $.02
Yes - I'm interested in LN audiobooks. I'd like to see J-Novel club (eventually) expand their offerings to include audiobooks, manga, collections of short stories, non -fiction works, whatever. (as long as it doesn't interfere with the 'core competence' of well translated LN's) I would use premium credits for an audiobook. However, I would not pay for a machine generated voice-over of a LN. Well produced audiobooks often have voice actors (or a cast of voice actors) that add to the enjoyment of the work through their delivery (a good audio book is a dramatic delivery, not merely a narration IMHO) it doesn't have to be a radio-play with sound effects etc. but, should have emotion/emphasis. The sound of laughter or crying adds to the story. If there is more than one cast member (or reader is capable of more than one 'voice') a lot of "he said/ she said" can also be deleted. Enhancing the flow of the book.
I guess what I'm saying is: yes, I'd pay for audiobooks, but I have standards.
I'd be interested in some of the titles that JNC already has licensed as audiobooks - I understand that production of a quality audiobooks probably costs more than an ePub- maybe if a volume was broken into parts? or pay two premium credits for an audio volume?
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Personally, I would like to have DRM free audio books of JNC novels as well. However, most likely I'd only buy my most favorite ones since I'd want the ebook either way.
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I would love to purchase audio book light novels!! One of the most disappointing points about reading light novels is not being able to listen to Japanese voice actors from anime made from light novels.
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Honestly I think the idea would be more lost with Audiobooks of Light Novels... unless they had multiple actors that is. If someone did that, like if J Novel Club and Funimation got together and said ‘let’s have the actors of the Isekai Smartphone anime reprise their roles in an audio book with the actor who played the World God as the main Narrator’, than you better send me the link ASAFP! That would be groovy and it would give me something to listen to while I’m at work or while sleeping that isn’t Youtube videos.
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@oathkeeper95 but what would they do with the illustrations? I have an Audible account, and the only picture that is included is the cover art and then there’s the audio. The only light novels so far that have audiobooks are ones that didn’t include insert illustrations anyways (Monogatari, LotGH, etc), so I wouldn’t know how that would be handled.
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I think they'd just lose the artwork. Gotta buy them twice if you want the pictures and the audio.
While not quite the same, Monogatari has redrawn cover art and I believe includes the original JP art as an insert. Kizumonogatari audiobook only has the one piece of art for its icon / cover.
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@legitpancake @Terrence Honestly, and this may reflect badly on me as a fan of light novels; I only really see the Artwork as a way to get how the actors in my head would be designed and interact.
Before the Artwork where Suzu was groping Kaori in Arifureta for instance, I thought of Suzu as twintailed, but now I can read the series knowing that she has moderately short hair tied back.And before anybody says ‘If you don’t like the pictures than read a normal book normie’, first off I’m as far from a ‘Normie’ as you can get without having anime merch plastered everywhere. Second, I’m into the stories and I like the art. I just like the stories way more than the art. Same thing about Monster Musume me despite how much my family says otherwise.
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@oathkeeper95 I understand your opinion, but there’s a difference between ignoring the illustrations that were included in the ebook/paperback that you paid for, and not even including the illustrations in a $20+ audiobook. Some people want everything when they buy a copy, and not including the illustrations may be a deal breaker for some people.
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@legitpancake Other option; why not release a combo of the story with the Audio Book? Add in a bonus where if you buy the combo you get both the special edition of the story and a reading of the contents like side stories? Make it a total of $25-30 and I’m sure people won’t be too beat up over it.
Then they release a bundle a few months down the line of a few volumes where it costs something like $90 for 5 standard or $110 for the specials. I’d buy it.
Hell, I currently own every volume of the translated Smartphone and Arifureta, and I’d still buy these combos just because I wanna have something to listen to.
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For me it depends. I listen to LN text to speech, so I don't always look at the illustrations. And sometimes I like it that way (have a different idea of what a character looks like than the illustrator sometimes, not that mine is the right way to see them or no).
If I got curious about the art, I can at least look at most color inserts legally by using book previews on Amazon or Bookwalker (and a lot of publishers post them to Twitter).
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@terrence Cheater. If you’re gonna do something, go whole hulk or not at all. SUPPORT THE CREATIVE SPIRIT!
Cernous I sound like some sorta zealot... -
Well, as awesome as it might be, getting the official Smartphone anime dub's VAs to record the audiobooks, or any well-established English anime VAs, definitely won't happen. The monetary cost of hiring them would be way too much, and even if it wasn't, trying to arrange the time for them to record the equivalent of multiple seasons of anime in content would be a nightmare.
There's also the fact that, just because someone is a good voice actor doesn't necessarily make them a good audiobook narrator, as that is a very different skill set.
Given all that, I'd say that, rather than trying to record what is basically an "audio drama" (arguably a completely different thing), it's better to get a single good audiobook narrator who can read the entire book in a way that brings it to life, even while voicing all the characters. Ideally, there would be a "director" who would guide said narrator, too. That is all I'd need for an audiobook to be worth double-dipping on.
MAL
Beneath the Tangles (the blog I write for) -
Audiobooks when at there best often have a cast, not just a single reader (although I’ve enjoyed some presented by Wil Wheaton that were excellent, he was able to adopt different ‘voices’ for different characters, and be consistent enough that many “he said, she said,” could be deleted) that being said, most JNC works have both significant numbers of male and female characters, a cast would be preferable.
Paying the VA crew from Funimation or whatever probably wouldn’t be cost effective or practical. I suspect talent could be found who could do the work justice
I like the idea of bundling extra content/art/ whatever with an audiobook. I’d use 4 or 5 premium credits to get a LN/audiobook/bonus content bundle (the equivalent of $35 US)
I read banned books
