Who Still Listens to Books?

by June Shaw How many people still listen to books? When my mom lived with me during her last few years, she listened to books on tape for the blind because macular degeneration had snatched most of her vision. Of course that was the reason she eventually, at the age of 98, agreed to leave her home and stay with me. I had lots of room. She had little vision--her only problem (which led me to write a book about her--at the prompting of many others. It was great of the company to send her a recorder and any cassettes she wanted me to order for her. The only problem was she couldn't see any part of the machine enough to know how to start or stop it. Or if she fell asleep while it played--what in the world was going on with that novel? She had no idea of what was taking place, so she lost interest. Of course she was happy that the company had provided it. Audio books for everyone else--who listens to them? I've seen them in Cracker Barrel stores and have been tempted to buy or rent them. But I'm not in my car enough to listen to taped books in it, and I surely wouldn't keep still enough to listen to one at my home. Who does, I wondered, until the youngest of my two daughters told me her eyes gave her trouble when reading, so she couldn't do it for long. She preferred books on tape. Ah, and today I received a contract for just that--Books in Motion wants to put the second book of my humorous mystery series on tape. Right when it seems most people are debating paper or e-books, I receive this reminder--many people still enjoy listening to books. RELATIVE DANGER, the first book in my humorous mystery series, has three very different covers created for each venue in which it is released. Here you'll find the covers for the hardcover version from Five Star, the paperback cover put out by Harlequin when they bought reprint rights, and the cover created by Books in Motion for the audio edition. http://www.juneshaw.com. You can also find there the cover for the hardcover edition. I wonder what the Books in Motion cover will look like. Have you ever had different covers for your books--or do you like to see them for the books others write?