Audiobook Stylistics: Comparing print and audio in the bestselling segment

Karl Berglund,Mats Dahllöf

doi:10.22148/001c.29802

Abstract

The paper explores differences between bestsellers in print and the most popular audiobooks in a subscription-based streaming service for books (‘beststreamers’) by means of computational stylistics. The point of departure is the complete set of print bestsellers and digital audiobook beststreamers for the Swedish book market 2015–2019, in total 172 novels. We probed 34 linguistic measures to track differences between subsets at the stylistic level. The results indicate that there are pronounced differences between the formats. Print bestsellers are longer, syntactically more complex and varied, and seem to focus more on depiction. Beststreaming audiobooks, by contrast, are shorter, more straightforwardly written, and appear to highlight plot and dialogue. The results are replicated when the comparison is restricted to crime fiction, the most prominent genre in the commercial top segment. Given these results, it is argued that it is possible to discern a particular audiobook style as one factor affecting book consumption in digital formats, and conversely that the printed format is associated with other stylistic preferences.

Highlights

This article is an investigation of the stylistic differences between works of fiction which are successful in the print format, on the one hand, and those successful as audiobooks, on the other
The present study uses the complete set of print bestsellers and digital audiobook beststreamers for the Swedish book market 2015–2019 as its empirical material
Based on data covering the Swedish book market during a recent five-year period (2015–2019), this study has shown that there are clearly pronounced stylistic differences between bestsellers in print and beststreaming audiobooks

Summary

Introduction

This article is an investigation of the stylistic differences between works of fiction which are successful in the print format, on the one hand, and those successful as audiobooks, on the other This is a highly important issue from the point of view of the sociology of literature as audiobooks in streaming services in recent years have become an increasingly prominent format for consumption of fiction. This is having a profound impact on business models, i.e., on how literature is sold and distributed.

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