I want you to get and enjoy it because this is a book I loved writing. Well, I’ve loved writing all my books, but this one has a certain echo that strikes me particularly as a singer, a creative. It’s not my story, but it is one about “sidelined dreams and second chances” (Kirkus Reviews), the pain and passion of creativity, even a feisty mother/cranky daughter plot line some have found both hilarious and familiar. I don’t have one of those, the cranky daughter, but I do know about the rest, and hearing that those topics resonated with many readers in many walks of life has been gratifying. Now I want listeners to have the same experience.

And, hey, it’s all the trend, audiobooks. According to the New York Book Forum: “Audiobooks are the fastest-growing format in book publishing, with market revenue recently surging past $2 billion. More than 50% of Americans have now listened to an audiobook.”

But, still, oddly, and even with that burgeoning statistic, there remains debate about how imbibing audiobooks compares to the act of reading them. Amongst various articles I’ve read on the topic, I recently came upon an online thread that took it on with vehemence—because apparently we humans have to argue about everything. In it, I was informed that there’s a BIG difference between reading a book and listening to one. In fact, one sniffing arbiter of (clearly 🙄) all things literary remarked, “People brag about ‘reading’ tons of books when really what they’re talking about is audiobooks. Not the same thing at all. Reading requires active involvement; listening is passive; it can be done while doing other things.”

And?? This is a problem? Sometimes when I’m on the phone I clip my houseplants, no less engaged and interested in the conversation as my ficus springs to life. If, say, I’m driving while listening to a book (as I often listen to NPR/LAist’s storytelling segments while stuck on the freeway), my enjoyment of said story is no less than when I’m curled in bed with my Kindle.

But the greater point is, why must we argue about this? Isn’t it enough that we’ve got the Reflecting Pool, Caitlin Clark, and debate over whether to wet your toothbrush before or after applying toothpaste?

And here’s the thing: OF COURSE LISTENING TO AUDIOBOOKS IS DIFFERENT THAN READING THEM! There is no debate there. But what does it matter? Who cares? Certainly I as an author don’t. A story is a story. How it’s told, the format with which it’s conveyed; the medium used by the consumer to avail themselves of that story is irrelevant to the merit and emotional impact of what has been written. Or imagined. Or passed down through families and cultures. Consider the history of storytelling …

Oral storytelling dates back over 40,000 years, long preceding written language. Early humans used spoken myths, rituals, and chants around fires to share survival strategies, preserve genealogies, and build community. It remains a vital living archive across indigenous and global cultures.

Given that, I’d say audiobooks actually hold stature over written books, yet there remains condescension to the discussion. The sense that—as some assert emailed “thank you” notes aren’t on a par with handwritten ones (I am not of that school; a “thank you” is a “thank you,” regardless of transmission)—reading is simply a higher, more intellectual form of literary consumption than listening.

A New York Times opinion piece by Brian Bannon, which analyzes the different ways in which the brain is engaged while reading or listening, supports that point:

As a librarian, I get a lot of questions. One I am hearing more often is: Do audiobooks qualify as reading?

Many people don’t think so. There is a pride — even a snobbishness — to being well read. Telling someone that you have only listened to a certain book usually comes out sounding like an apology. A recent NPR-Ipsos poll found that 41 percent of adults don’t believe audiobooks qualify as reading. One friend of mine, who argues with his husband over this, once memorably told me that listening to a book felt like seeing a musical in New Jersey instead of on a Broadway stage. Close, but not the real thing.…

… maybe, even as the traditional way of reading books is in decline, the destigmatizing of audiobooks offers a path toward a more nuanced way of thinking about literacy.

Odd that we’d even have to “destigmatize” audiobooks, given the aforementioned tradition of oral storytelling, but that’s just the way of the online “let’s debate everything” world we live in these days, isn’t it?

As for my own “oral story,” some of you asked if I narrate the book myself, and though I wanted to—pitched myself for the job, hoping my acting bona fides, union status, and background in the music biz gave me a foot in—but Tantor Media (the audiobook publisher) wanted someone with specific experience in the arena of book narration, as well as a following and draw of her own. A fabulous artist named Natasha Soudek was picked to bring the Chick Singer to life.

Natasha Soudek is an Audie-nominated, multiple Earphones Award-winning actress and narrator who has been featured in more than 200 audiobooks and television commercials. Star Trek fans may recognize her as the first blond Vulcan in Trekkie history, Lt. Soudek, from the movie Star Trek Voyages: Phase 2.

Clearly, I’m in good hands.

Let me know what you think. Get your copy, listen, enjoy, and don’t hesitate to send me your feedback. This is my first audiobook, so I’m intrigued to learn how it strikes those listening.

Because, ultimately, Brian Bannon’s summation in his article is mine as well, the perfect answer to all the book curmudgeons caught up in the debate about how books, stories, should be consumed.

“However we read — by eye, by ear or both — it all counts. What matters is that the words get in, the brain makes meaning and the identity of being a reader takes hold. We need more readers, however they get there.”

I could not agree more.

Audiobook links for your convenience… thank you and enjoy!

Amazon. Barnes & Noble. Apple Books. Rakuten Kobo