Goose Lane Editions Relaunches BTC Audiobooks Brand
FREDERICTON— This September, Goose Lane Editions is releasing a series of audiobooks under the name Between the Covers, or BTC, Audiobooks. Seven unabridged productions of nonfiction and fiction titles will come out in digital form.
But this is not Goose Lane’s first foray into the world of audiobooks.
About 20 years ago they partnered with CBC Radio to launch the first stretch of BTC Audiobooks.
“At the time we published, if you can imagine, in audio cassette form and CD,” said Goose Lane publisher Susanne Alexander. “Although audio cassette wasn’t a popular music format, it had already been eclipsed by the CD, for audiobooks it was still a popular format.”
Things changed when the world went digital. When CBC wanted to retain digital rights, BTC Audiobooks halted production. Before shutting down in 2007, they won a number of awards, worked with world-renowned authors and distributed audiobooks in Canada and the US.
Now audiobooks are making a comeback.
“We began to think, ‘Okay, is there a way that we can dip our toe back in the water here?’ We have all this experience, we have a lot of knowledge about how to produce audiobooks, we have very high standards,” said Alexander.
Their only concern was if they would be able to reach the standards they set in the past. But still, they began.
They did two series of productions with CNIB Toronto and ECW Press respectively. For any production not done with CNIB, Goose Lane still donated a copy of the masters to the non-profit. This way, all of BTC Audiobooks will be adapted to the DAISY format and available for anyone who requires accessible formats.
“We were able to work with great narrators for this particular collection, good sound technicians, good directors, and we think that we’ve been able to achieve some audio standards that meet our very best,” said Alexander.
All audiobooks coming out this launch were recorded and produced during the pandemic. Going back to audiobooks gave Goose Lane something fresh to explore during a challenging time for business.
“COVID has actually opened some very interesting opportunities,” said Alexander. “It has been very difficult in so many ways, but it has also allowed some of us as businesses to take a step back and look at our business model. And if we are a production house, which is partly what we are, to look at the range of productions which we could do.”
Introducing audiobooks will open up another stream of revenue for Goose Lane. For many publishing companies, the days of only producing a physical copy of a book are over.
“Now we produce books in print and hardcover, we produce Ebooks, we produce audiobooks all in the same literary property,” said Alexander. “So you just layer one thing on top of the other.”
The production profit is different for each version. Alexander said it is easier to put on a successful audio production if you can sell it to a larger, international audience.
“We won’t be doing it for every book simply because audio production is very expensive,” said Alexander. “So we have to be very careful about which books we choose to produce.”
With the fall collection set to release, they are now looking at the spring list in which they hope to involve production partners in Atlantic Canada. They also are thinking about reissuing some of their original productions from BTC in the future.
For now, customers can buy BTC Audiobooks from vendors like Amazon and Kobo to be able to listen on September 7th.
“We are doing a big push to libraries throughout Canada, so it’s most likely you will actually be able to find them at your local library,” said Alexander.
To read more stories like this in Huddle, sign up to receive our free daily newsletter.
Rachel Smith is a summer intern for Huddle. Send her story suggestions: [email protected].