In the past, we haven’t paid much attention to the Audie Awards. Those “romances” that made it to finalist status weren’t always categorized as romance while winners tended to be the same big name authors year after year. The entire awards process seemed out of touch with romance listeners. 2012 proved to be a more promising year with five of the six finalists actually categorized as romance and those finalists were titles familiar to our listeners. There was hope.
Yesterday, the 2013 Audie finalists were announced by the Audio Publishers Association (APA). Out of 140 finalists, only five titles were included in the romance category but at least all were romance – no slipping in a women’s fiction title or, yes, a Nicholas Sparks. Still, there are many categories other than romance wherein a romance title can place as a finalist – none were found elsewhere leaving romance titles with 4% of the finalists titles. Hmm – wonder how that equates with the percentage of romance sales in the audio industry. I guess that’s a discussion best left for another day.
We hope the inclusion of Ilona Andrews’ Gunmetal Magic as a finalist in the Paranormal category means we have scored another romance finalist but we see it categorized as Speculative Fiction and Urban Fantasy at FictionDB. However, Tantor includes it in several categories – romance, general fiction, fantasy, occult. We’re taking that as a sign that another romance may have made it to the finalists.
Now to the fun part…
we’ve decided to go all out for the 2013 Audie Romance finalists. Not only do all three Gals plan to listen to all five of the finalist titles, but we’ll be taking it a step further in the next few months leading up to the May 30th awards ceremony. We plan on nominating a few romance titles of our own! You know a sort of People’s Choice for romance audio?!
We’ll also be referring you to Literate Housewife’s Armchair Audies where bloggers volunteer to listen to all categories and predict the winners. Jennifer Conner, the Literate Housewife, will join us within the next couple of weeks as our first official Blog Friend and, at that time, tell us more about the Armchair Audies.
And now….
The 2013 Audie Romance Finalists
Don’t Cry for Me – Sharon Sala Narrated by Kathe Mazur Audible Inc.
The Witness – Nora Roberts Narrated by Julia Whelan Brilliance Audio
Scandalous Desires – Elizabeth Hoyt Narrated by Ashford MacNab Hachette Audio
Never Seduce a Scot – Maya Banks Narrated by Kristen Potter Tantor Audio
The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie – Jennifer Ashley Narrated by Angela Dawe Tantor Audio
Stay tuned for lots of Audies romance fun and awards of our own!
Lea Hensley
I am excited to see how your People’s Choice plays out. This is an excellent idea. I was thinking about something similar for Audiobook of the Year. I am also so thrilled to be your first Blog Friend. I’m looking forward to the interview. Thank you so much for the Armchair Audies shout out.
I love that Literate Housewife and AudioGals are attempting to inject the listeners choices into the overall Audies. It makes the awards ceremony come alive for audio enthusiasts while giving us a chance to cheer on our favorite narrators.
Look forward to talking with you Jennifer!
We have found three more romance titles tucked away in Inspirational Faith Fiction – Tracie Peterson’s TOUCHING THE SKY narrated by Renee Raudman, Beth Wiseman’s HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER narrated by Kirsten Potter, and Karen Kingsbury’s COMING HOME narrated by Stefan Rudnicki and Gabrielle de Cuir.
Love how you take the reins into your own hands, ladies! And that you’re supporting the Armchair Audies! Let the Listeners’ voices be heard!
Glad to see that romance is getting decent genre recognition in the Audies this year!