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If there were English-language audiobooks available for popular light novel series, would people buy them?
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So I'm a Spider, so What? I think would be great as an audiobook, given Kumoko's rambling narration. Only problem of course would be the huge page-length stats/skills every time she appraises something or herself.
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@legitpancake Agreed. I'll love to see (or hear that is) those. I'm not sure how to handle the stats stuff.
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@mwbworld maybe they could do something like have the wall of skills be listed off in the background
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@facelessone said in If there were English-language audiobooks available for popular light novel series, would people buy them?:
@cactus-777 I'd be interested in audiobook adaptions of light novels dependent on what sort of style they go for. Maybe something similar to like what big finish does with Doctor Who audiobooks where they have a full cast to voice the different characters, but that method is probably expensive and not all too cost effective if the market for this sort of thing is small.
I do hope that they go with the Big Finish full cast model but I am not going to hold my breath. Just imagine if they do though, it would be beyond incredible.
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The walls of skills are a problem in text to speech too (I just never get them, sadly, cause of how the TTS groups and reads the stats; I couldn't tell you any of Maple's stats in Bofuri sadly). >_>
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I do a lot of listening to audiobooks when I'm driving or doing repetitive tasks at home or at work, so I'm all for audiobook light novels. In my case since I have so much less time to actually sit and read I'd even buy audiobooks of light novels I wouldn't bother to try otherwise.
I pre-ordered Solo Leveling vol 1, which is out now, and it's pretty decent - about the only negative thing I'd say is that the narrator's sound effects are a bit off, but that's a little thing compared to the rest.
Rising of the Shield Hero vol 1 is also out on Audible, and it's ok. The voice the narrator does for the female lead is...not good, but I'd still listen to the whole series if it was available now.
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@elliemoran I’m about 2/3 through Solo Levelling and enjoying it quite a bit. I personally don’t mind the sound effects, but completely understand that take. I like being able to relax with an app game and listen to the story. I don’t think I’d like the Light Novel enough to read, but it’s good fun to have it read to me.
I started Shield Hero too, but am only a chapter in. I read the first volume 5 years ago, so this is a refresher and not really a priority. I’m bummed to hear that the narrator’s female voices suck. I’ve listened to a lot of audiobooks over the years and that is definitely where a number of readers fall down.
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I bought both of them, but haven't started yet. I'm excited that more on in the works to come out though :).
It is a bummer about the shield hero narration. Sometimes its okay enough to ignore when its like that and other times it's just a turn off.
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@the-green-death you know, if I hadn't read the reviews on audible mentioning the sound effect thing on Solo Leveling I don't know if they'd even have registered so much for me :) I really did like it overall though, I thought the narrator did a good job.
I'm really looking forward to the other ones Yen Audio has listed as coming up - looks like about one a month or so.
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@jdmmis tbh the female voice mostly made me laugh, so it wasn't something that put me off listening to the book. I do hope that they can maybe use a second, female narrator on the rest of the books in the series - especially since more central female characters show up pretty soon - but I'm just so happy to finally have audiobooks of this genre available I'm not gonna be choosy.
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I didn't even realize Shield Hero was out. Grabbing that.
I'm putting the reader on 1.10 speed to start cause his pace seems a little slower. See how it goes as I read and as he does voices.
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@elliemoran Thanks for the info. I agree, it's nice to see more show up.
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I’d only really consider audio books if it was a drama-like and not a simple narration.
Well. I’d love to say that, I used to commute a lot… the love of driving vs the love of reading was always a challenge… (no, not really, but a little LOL). Just how many more books could I read a day.. lol
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I enjoy listening to the SoundBooth Theatre productions of a variety of LitRPG novels. I think some of the Isekai LNs could translate well to an audiobook, going off some of those SBT productions.
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Sword Art Online is out this month, and I gotta say I enjoyed it a lot. My personal favorite audio light novel so far - which is interesting as I never managed to get through reading the actual book. The narrator did a great job.
Overlord comes out in a couple weeks, and I have high hopes. I don't know how successful Yen Audio is finding these, but I hope enough to keep going!
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@elliemoran said in If there were English-language audiobooks available for popular light novel series, would people buy them?:
The narrator did a great job.
Well it is Kirito’s voice actor. Solo was actually pretty well done except for sounding out the ‘sound effects’.
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@elliemoran Yeah SAO was great, I pretty much view that as the gold standard going forward for LN audiobooks.
What impressed me so much with the narrator is that he’s genuinely a good audiobook narrator, which not all voice actors are. He reads text in an engaging manner, does voice differentiation without going overboard (as Shield Hero narrator did) and mixes up his narration pacing to rise and fall with the action. I was genuinely blown away and actually imagine I’ll re-listen to volume one before the years over (it doesn’t hurt that I also love the series).
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@the-green-death said in If there were English-language audiobooks available for popular light novel series, would people buy them?:
@elliemoran Yeah SAO was great, I pretty much view that as the gold standard going forward for LN audiobooks.
What impressed me so much with the narrator is that he’s genuinely a good audiobook narrator, which not all voice actors are. He reads text in an engaging manner, does voice differentiation without going overboard (as Shield Hero narrator did) and mixes up his narration pacing to rise and fall with the action. I was genuinely blown away and actually imagine I’ll re-listen to volume one before the years over (it doesn’t hurt that I also love the series).
indeed the skillset for a good VA and a good audiobook orator are not the same (I imagine that there are some significant overlaps in the Venn diagram however) Wil Wheaton (yes, that Wil Wheaton) pulls off audiobooks quite well (Scalzi's Redshirts or Fuzzy Nation are both a hoot!)
+1 to @Thomask - if you don't have a top grade orator - a dramatic rendition is the only acceptable audible book to me- if narrator/orator is 'off' I can't get into the story, and listening to an audiobook is a chunk of time I can use for something else - I want an audiobook to be at least as good of an experience as reading the book, otherwise why bother? it costs more, takes more time etc. (Yea multitasking etc. but I don't have a commute anymore)
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Yes, Yes, Yes! I actually have already bought all the books Yen Press has been releasing as audiobooks. I'm farther ahead with the physical copies I bought to read but I love listening to the audiobooks too. If you get a good narrator who can do distinctive voices it becomes a whole different and still enjoyable experience. I also have a ton of friends that listen to audiobooks in the car or other transit, while exercising, while doing chores, and sometimes while working. It really makes the day go by quicker, but those same people, who I tell about all the great Japanese light novels (some of my favorites which J Novel publishes), just don't have the time to read a whole book series. They think the stories sound amazing and would love to give them a shot but just don't have the time to dedicate to them. So I know not only would I buy them but I have friends that would also invest in them if they came as audiobooks as opposed to just print/ebook.
If you do start doing audiobooks, please start with Ascendance of a Bookworm. It's my absolute favorite. Even though I got the ebooks so I could read past the print books, but I still preorder the print books because I love it so much.
