Hear Ye, Hear Ye -- Book Sense Branded Audio Series From Recorded Books

At BookExpo America 2003, Recorded Books, LLC, a premier producer of audiobooks, will launch the Book Sense Audio Series, a joint effort between the American Booksellers Association and Recorded Books. The series of unabridged audiobooks bearing the licensed Book Sense name will be available exclusively to ABA member stores. Ordering information for the initial 10 titles, a combination of contemporary and classic literature, will be included in the May white box mailing to stores with Book Sense. Samples and ordering information will be presented at BEA.

The titles are being repackaged, including new audio intros and outros, with Book Sense-specific descriptions. Pricing for the Book Sense Audio Series may vary from the original Recorded Books audiobooks.

Two titles in the series will feature two shorter works by the same authors, with different narrators. The initial 10 titles, which will consist of an average of seven cassettes each, are The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Odyssey, The Iliad, Call of the Wild/White Fang, Bee Season, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, 1984/Animal Farm, Tale of Two Cities, The Great Gatsby, and Pride and Prejudice. All will be in original packaging designed by ABA art director Christine Babcock.

All orders for the Book Sense Audio Series will be handled directly by Recorded Books.

According to Grace Ridgeway, retail sales director of Recorded Books, "Recorded Books has set the price to the stores for all titles in the Book Sense Audio Series, at $9, with a suggested retail price of $19.99. This offers stores bestselling classic titles at an excellent value to both stores and customers." -- Nomi Schwartz