Audio Publishers Association

Last updated

Audio Publishers Association
FormationMay 1986;39 years ago (1986-05)
Type Nonprofit trade association
13-3614862
Legal status 501(c)(6) organization
Location
Field Audiobook industry
President
Sean McManus
Executive director
Jim Dinegar
RevenueUS$949,090 (2024)
ExpensesUS$875,087 (2024)
Website www.audiopub.org
[1] [2]

The Audio Publishers Association (APA) is a not-for-profit trade association for the audiobook industry. [3] Founded in the United States in 1986, its stated mission is to "advocate the common, collective business interests of audio publishers." [4] Membership is open to "audio publishing companies and allied suppliers, distributors, and retailers of spoken word products and allied fields related to the production, distribution and sale of audiobooks." [4] Activities include national consumer surveys, gathering of industry statistics, trade-show exhibits, a newsletter and an annual conference. [4]

Contents

History

The APA was founded in May 1986, [5] [6] when somewhere between five to nine audiobook publishers joined to form the organization, initially to address the need for industry statistics, such as sales and member numbers. [7] [8] The founders met for the first time in New Orleans at BookExpo America. [9] They included Newman Communications, Warner Bros. Audio, Simon & Schuster, Bantam Doubleday Dell, and Random House. [10] The first APA president was Seth Gershel who was also Simon & Schuster's director of sales. [10]

In 1994, the APA officially established the term "audiobook" as the industry standard. [11] In 1996, APA founded the Audie Awards, which AudioFile magazine called the "Oscars of the audiobook industry". [12] In addition to the awards, other events include an annual Audio Publishers Association Conference (APAC), and an International Summit of Audio Publishers (ISAP).

References

  1. ↑ "APA Board of Directors". Audio Publishers Association. Retrieved January 28, 2026.
  2. ↑ "Audio Publishers Association". Nonprofit Explorer. ProPublica. Retrieved January 28, 2026.
  3. ↑ Moyer, Jessica E. (2010). The Readers' Advisory Handbook. American Library Association. p.  20. ISBN   9780838910429.
  4. 1 2 3 "About APA". Audiobook Publishers Association. Archived from the original on February 9, 2014. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
  5. ↑ Hoffman, Preston Jones (November 1988). "An Evaluative Directory to Producers and Distributors of Unabridged Books on Cassette Tape". University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Archived from the original on July 2, 2010. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
  6. ↑ Spain, Tom (1986). "Progress Report: The Audio Publishers Association". Publishers Weekly . 230: 27–28.
  7. ↑ Watson, Irene (2008). Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors and Publishers. Loving Healing Press. p.  200. ISBN   9781932690989.
  8. ↑ Hughes, Margaret J., ed. (1994). A.V. in Public and School Libraries: Selection and Policy Issues. Haworth Press. p.  55. ISBN   9781560244615.
  9. ↑ Kanfer, Stefan (July 21, 1986). "Books: Heard Any Good Books Lately?". Time . 128: 72. But recently, at the convention of the American Booksellers Association in New Orleans, efforts were made to create the Audio Publishers Association. Eight firms have ...
  10. 1 2 Scott, Aurelia C. (June–July 2011). "Twenty Years and Counting: Robin Whitten's take on it all" (PDF). AudioFile . Archived from the original (PDF) on December 8, 2012.
  11. ↑ Rubery, Matthew, ed. (2011). "Introduction". Audiobooks, Literature, and Sound Studies. Routledge. ISBN   978-0-415-88352-8.
  12. ↑ "The Audies Finalists 2008" (PDF). AudioFile . 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 6, 2008.
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