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Sarah's Bookshelves Live

Ep. 126: Behind the Scenes of Producing Audiobooks (with Karen Dziekonski of Penguin Random House Audio) + Audiobook Recommendations

Sarah's Bookshelves Live

Sarah Dickinson

Bookrecommendations, Bookpodcasts, Sarahsbookshelvespodcast, Sarahsbookshelveslivepodcast, Sarahsbookshelveslive, Bookpodcast, Literarypodcast, Whatshouldiread, Arts, Bookreviewpodcast, Reading, Readingpodcast, Books, Sarahsbookshelves

4.9 • 732 Ratings

🗓️ 2 November 2022

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In Episode 126, audiobook producer Karen Dziekonski from Penguin Random House Audio joins me for today’s deep-dive discussion. Karen takes us behind the scenes from the growth of audiobooks in the industry to the ins and outs of how audiobooks are produced. Plus, Karen shares her audiobook recommendations!

This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).

Highlights

  • What it means to be an audiobook producer and Karen’s career progression.
  • How the landscape has changed for audiobooks over the past 20 years.
  • The days of abridged audiobooks and the process of editing down a print book.
  • The types of books today that make it to the audiobook format.
  • The process of auditioning an audiobook narrator, including deciding on celebrities or full-cast recordings.
  • How much the author’s relationship has grown to incorporate production input — especially for books in translation or featuring foreign language text.
  • The decisions behind when the author narrates their own audiobook — fiction vs nonfiction.
  • How producers court celebrities to narrate audiobooks.
  • A bit about post-production editing of audiobook performances and checking for errors.
  • How much the audiobook segment has grown over the past decade and the anticipated continued trajectory.

Karen’s Audiobook Recommendations [38:12]

Two OLD Audiobooks She Loves

Two NEW Audiobooks She Loves

How She Feels About Talking About Books She DOESN’T Love [48:40]

One NEW RELEASE She’s Excited About

Last 5-Star Book Karen Read

Other Books Mentioned

Other Links

About Karen Dziekonski

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Karen Dziekonski, VP, Audio Production for the Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, has been an influential member of the audiobook industry for over twenty years. Starting at Random House in 2000, Karen has produced thousands of audiobooks and forged strong collaborations with bestselling and debut authors, celebrities, and professional narrators. An excellent problem-solver and active collaborator, Karen leads a team of elite, award-winning producers in the day-to-day operation of one of the most successful audio publishers in the United States. She lives on Long Island, New York, with her chef husband and two daughters.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. I'm Sarah of Sarah's Bookshelves. Each week, I talk with a bookish

0:16.8

guest about two old books they love, two new books they love, one book they do not love,

0:22.1

and one new release they're excited about. We're going to get real and sometimes a bit snarky

0:27.2

about all things books. If you like the show, I'd love it if you follow the show in your

0:31.8

podcast player, spread the word to your reader friends, post about it on your social media,

0:37.4

or support the show on

0:39.0

Patreon at patreon.com slash Sarah's bookshelves. Supporting the show on Patreon gets you access to

0:46.5

bonus podcast episodes and lots of other goodies. There's also a link in the show notes and in my

0:52.0

Instagram bio. Let's get rolling. We haven't done a behind

0:55.8

the scenes episode in a while, but we've got one for you today. Over the past few months and in

1:00.8

the survey results that you did this summer, I've gotten a number of requests to hear from an

1:05.7

audiobook producer. So I am thrilled to welcome Karen Jekonski. Karen is a VP audio production for Pinkwin Random House

1:14.4

Audio Publishing Group and has been an influential member of the audiobook industry for over 20 years.

1:20.1

Since starting at Random House in 2000, Karen has produced thousands of audiobooks and forged strong

1:25.4

collaborations with bestselling and debut authors,

1:28.6

celebrities, and professional narrators. She lives on Long Island in New York with her

1:33.1

chef-husband and two daughters, and most recently she produced the audiobook for Our

1:37.8

Missing Hearts by Celeste In, which is narrated by the actress Lucy Lou with a note from the author.

1:43.6

Welcome, Karen.

1:49.4

Hi, Sarah. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for being here. I'm really excited to delve into audiobooks, especially my Patreon supporters, and I have been talking about doing this for quite a while.

1:54.4

Well, I love talking about audiobooks, so I'm really happy to be here with you today.

1:59.4

And y'all, if you are a new listener, I wanted to point you to one of my back catalog episodes as well.

...

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