The Children’s Audio Book World

One of the reasons I decided to start an audio publishing company is because I was an enthusiastic consumer first. My daughter and I used to spend a lot of time listening to audio CDs in the car and through that I found out a lot about what kids like and what works well for both parents and kids. What I found is that there are a lot of amazing audio CDs on the market and a number of great companies creating products in this category. I also felt like there were some gaps in the market and that there were CDs we wanted more of that were hard to find, which is what led to the creation of PlainTales. So listening to some of the great children’s audio products available today really increased our interest in children’s audio and encouraged us to jump into the market and make our own unique contribution to the kids audio world.

Some of the companies we really admired include Naxos Audiobooks, Greathall Productions, Rabbit Ears and CSA Word. Some of our favorite titles include:

• Just So Stories read by Geoffrey Palmer and published by Naxos
• The Story Tree read by Hugh Lupton and published by Barefoot Books
• Arabian Nights read by Jim Weiss and published by Greathall Productions
• Rabbit Ears Treasury of Fairy Tales and Other Stories published by Rabbit Ears
• The Unabridged Just William Collection read by Martin Jarvis and published by CSA Word

As I get to know the audiobook industry better I’ve also come to admire some of the leaders in the industry such as Nicolas Soames at Naxos, Nancy Traversy at Barefoot Books, Jim Weiss at Greathall Productions and Clive Stanhope at CSA Word. I still feel like classic audio stories for children are an underrated treasure but its good to know there is a lot of talent in this industry and I’m excited to be part of the industry.