Doing audiobook research: Local voices, national markets, global contexts

Until recently, the northern-most audiobook recording studio in England was based in Sheffield, until New Writing North announced Sounds Good Audiobooks which runs on site at Northumbria University. Responding to New Writing North’s important intervention in a South-centric sector, this paper collates data from a questionnaire to audiobook listeners, exploring their responses to northern English and working-class voices. Our data reads listeners’ social class against responses, as well as identifying trends across literary genres and the uses of audiobooks. Above all, it is intended as a snapshot of a rapidly evolving sector, and one which will be repeated regularly in the years to come to chart representation of and perceptions towards northern voices in the audiobook industry.