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This Week’s Best Selling Audio Books – 11-13-2009

Friday, November 13th, 2009

This Week in Audio Books – This Week’s Best Sellers

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1. Kindred in Death: In Death, Book 29 (Unabridged)

Kindred-death-death-book-29-unabridgedSummary: In this novel from number-one New York Times -best-selling author J. D. Robb, the newly promoted captain of the NYPSD and his wife return a day early from their vacation, looking forward to spending time with their bright and vivacious 16-year-old daughter, who stayed behind. Not even their worst nightmares could have prepared them for the crime scene that awaits them inside. Deena has been brutally murdered in her bedroom, and her body shows signs of trauma that horrify even the toughest of…

Click to hear an audio sample of Kindred in Death: In Death, Book 29 (Unabridged) audiobook

2. The Copper Bracelet (Unabridged)

Copper-bracelet-unabridgedSummary: LIMITED-TIME OFFER: The Copper Bracelet is on sale for only $9.95 till November 24, 2009. A peaceful picnic in the French countryside explodes in violence. A mysterious assassin hisses a deadly threat. And events are set in motion that could propel India and Pakistan down the road to nuclear confrontation. Two years after the events of the Audiobook of the Year – The Chopin Manuscript – former war crimes investigator Harold Middleton and his Volunteers once again must crack a secreti…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Copper Bracelet (Unabridged) audiobook

3. The Lost Symbol (Unabridged)

Lost-symbol-unabridgedSummary: The Lost Symbol is Dan Brown’s follow-up to The Da Vinci Code. Dan Brown’s writing shows us why he is the one of the world’s most popular author of thrillers. Just like the Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol is thrilling race to find the secret. Harvard Symbologist Robert Langdon is once again needed to meet the challenge. He must search the hidden codes, unravel the secrets while avoiding the bad guys.

Set within the underground of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol races through a t…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Lost Symbol (Unabridged) audiobook

4. Ford County: Stories (Unabridged)

Ford-county-stories-unabridgedSummary: John Grisham returns to Ford County, Mississippi, the setting of his immensely popular first novel, A Time to Kill . This wholly surprising collection of stories reminds us once again why Grisham is America’s favorite storyteller.

Click to hear an audio sample of Ford County: Stories (Unabridged) audiobook

5. The Gathering Storm: Book Twelve of the Wheel of Time (Unabridged)

Gathering-storm-book-twelve-wheel-time-unabridgedSummary: Tarmon Gai’don, the Last Battle, looms. And mankind is not ready.The final volume of the Wheel of Time, A Memory of Light , was partially written by Robert Jordan before his untimely passing in 2007. Brandon Sanderson, New York Times best-selling author of the Mistborn books, was chosen by Jordan’s editor – his wife, Harriet McDougal – to complete the final book. The scope and size of the volume was such that it could not be contained in a single book, and so Tor proudly presents The Gath…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Gathering Storm: Book Twelve of the Wheel of Time (Unabridged) audiobook

6. True Blue (Unabridged)

True-blue-unabridgedSummary: A mysterious high-profile homicide in the nation’s capital collides with the dark side of national security in David Baldacci’s new, heart-stopping thriller. Mason "Mace" Perry was a firebrand cop on the D.C. police force until she was kidnapped and framed for a crime. She lost everything – her badge, her career, her freedom-and spent two years in prison. Now she’s back on the outside and focused on one mission: to be a cop once more. Her only shot to be a true blue again is to solve a major …

Click to hear an audio sample of True Blue (Unabridged) audiobook

7. Nine Dragons: Harry Bosch, Book 15 (Unabridged)

Dragons-harry-bosch-book-15-unabridgedSummary: LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is off the chain in the fastest, fiercest, and highest-stakes case of his life. Fortune Liquors is a small shop in a tough South L.A. neighborhood, a store Bosch has known for years. The murder of John Li, the store’s owner, hits Bosch hard, and he promises Li’s family that he’ll find the killer. The world Bosch steps into next is unknown territory. He brings in a detective from the Asian Gang Unit for help with translation–not just of languages but also of the cul…

Click to hear an audio sample of Nine Dragons: Harry Bosch, Book 15 (Unabridged) audiobook

8. The Chopin Manuscript: A Serial Thriller (Unabridged)

Chopin-manuscript-serial-thriller-unabridgedSummary: 15 thriller masters. 1 masterful thriller. Former war crimes investigator Harold Middleton possesses a previously unknown score by Frederic Chopin. But he is unaware that, locked within its handwritten notes, lies a secret that now threatens the lives of thousands of Americans. As he races from Poland to America to uncover the mystery of the manuscript, Middleton will be accused of murder, pursued by federal agents, and targeted by assassins. But the greatest threat will come from a shadowy f…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Chopin Manuscript: A Serial Thriller (Unabridged) audiobook

9. Under the Dome: A Novel (Unabridged)

Dome-novel-unabridgedSummary: On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester’s Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener’s hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when–or if–it will go awa…

Click to hear an audio sample of Under the Dome: A Novel (Unabridged) audiobook

10. Pursuit of Honor: Mitch Rapp Series (Unabridged)

Pursuit-honor-mitch-rapp-unabridgedSummary: The action begins six days after a series of explosions devastated Washington, D.C., targeting the National Counterterrorism Center and killing 185 people, including public officials and CIA employees. It was a bizarre act of extreme violence that called for extreme measures on the part of elite counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp and his trusted team member, Mike Nash. Now that the initial shock of the catastrophe is over, key Washington officials are up in arms over whether to make friend…

Click to hear an audio sample of Pursuit of Honor: Mitch Rapp Series (Unabridged) audiobook

11. SuperFreakonomics (Unabridged)

Superfreakonomics-unabridgedSummary: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance The New York Times best-selling Freakonomics was a worldwide sensation, selling more than four million copies in 35 languages and changing the way we look at the world. Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return with Superfreakonomics , and fans and newcomers alike will find that the freakquel is even bolder, funnier, and more surprising than the first. SuperFreakonomics challenges the way we…

Click to hear an audio sample of SuperFreakonomics (Unabridged) audiobook

12. The Lacuna (Unabridged)

Lacuna-unabridgedSummary: From the Mexico City of Frida Kahlo to the America of J. Edgar Hoover, The Lacuna tells the poignant story of a man pulled between two nations. Born in the United States, but reared in Mexico, Harrison Shepherd finds precarious shelter but no sense of home on his thrilling odyssey. Life is whatever he learns from housekeepers and, one fateful day, by mixing plaster for famed muralist Diego Rivera. When he goes to work for Rivera, his wife, exotic artist Kahlo, and exiled leader Lev Trotsky…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Lacuna (Unabridged) audiobook

13. More Information Than You Require (Unabridged)

Information-require-unabridgedSummary: Welcome to the paperless (or "audiobook") edition of More Information Than You Require , a further compendium of COMPLETE WORLD KNOWLEDGE assembled and illumined by John Hodgman, a Famous Minor Television Personality. It contains all of the half-truths, fake trivia, amazing made-up facts, and molemanic lore as the paper edition, narrated here almost entirely by Resident Expert John Hodgman, occasionally interrupted by this veritable extravaganza of illustrious and sometimes presumptuous gues…

Click to hear an audio sample of More Information Than You Require (Unabridged) audiobook

14. What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (Unabridged)

Dog-adventures-unabridgedSummary: Over the past decade, Malcolm Gladwell has become the most gifted and influential journalist in America. In The New Yorker, his writings are such must-reads that the magazine charges advertisers significantly more money for ads that run within his articles. With his #1 best sellers, The Tipping Point , Blink and Outliers , he has reached millions of readers. And now the very best and most famous of his New Yorker pieces are collected in a brilliant and provocative anthology. Among th…

Click to hear an audio sample of What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (Unabridged) audiobook

15. The Help (Unabridged)

Help-unabridgedSummary: Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step. Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid, Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone. Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman rai…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Help (Unabridged) audiobook

16. The Scarpetta Factor (Unabridged)

Scarpetta-factor-unabridgedSummary: It is the week before Christmas. A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta – despite her busy schedule and her continuing work as the senior forensic analyst for CNN – to offer her services pro bono to New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events. She is asked live on the air about the sensational case of Hannah Starr, who has vanished and is presumed dead. Moments…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Scarpetta Factor (Unabridged) audiobook

17. An Echo in the Bone: A Novel (Unabridged)

Echo-bone-novel-unabridgedSummary: Diana Gabaldon’s immensely popular Outlander saga soars to new heights with this seventh novel, which takes listeners on a breathtaking journey to 1777 America. Jamie Fraser knows from his time-traveling wife Claire that, no matter how unlikely it seems, America will win the Revolutionary War. But that truth offers little solace, since Jamie realizes he might find himself pointing a weapon directly at his own son – a young officer in the British army. And Jamie isn’t the only one with a torme…

Click to hear an audio sample of An Echo in the Bone: A Novel (Unabridged) audiobook

18. Too Big to Fail (Unabridged)

Big-fail-unabridgedSummary: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System – and Themselves A real-life thriller about the most tumultuous period in America’s financial history by an acclaimed New York Times reporter. Andrew Ross Sorkin delivers the first true, behind-the-scenes, moment-by-moment account of how the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression developed into a global tsunami. From inside the corner office at Lehman Brothers to secret meetings in South K…

Click to hear an audio sample of Too Big to Fail (Unabridged) audiobook

19. The Girl Who Played with Fire (Unabridged)

Girl-played-fire-unabridgedSummary: The electrifying follow-up to the phenomenal best seller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ("An intelligent, ingeniously plotted, utterly engrossing thriller" The Washington Post ), and this time it is Lisbeth Salander, the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker, who is the focus and fierce heart of the story. Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium , has decided to publish a story exposing an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Girl Who Played with Fire (Unabridged) audiobook

20. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Unabridged)

Girl-dragon-tattoo-unabridgedSummary: A spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue…. It’s about the disappearance 40 years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden…and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder. It’s about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance…and about Lisbeth Salander, a…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Unabridged) audiobook

Find more best selling audio books at Castlibrary.com

NY Times

Business Week

Publisher’s Weekly

Oprah’s Book Club

Subscribe to the podcast – http://feeds.feedburner.com/BestSellingAudioBooks

This Week In Audio Books -11-06-09

Friday, November 6th, 2009

This Week in Audio Books – This Week’s Best Sellers

Subscribe to the podcast – http://feeds.feedburner.com/BestSellingAudioBooks

1. The Gathering Storm: Book Twelve of the Wheel of Time (Unabridged)

Gathering-storm-book-twelve-wheel-time-unabridgedSummary: Tarmon Gai’don, the Last Battle, looms. And mankind is not ready.The final volume of the Wheel of Time, A Memory of Light , was partially written by Robert Jordan before his untimely passing in 2007. Brandon Sanderson, New York Times best-selling author of the Mistborn books, was chosen by Jordan’s editor – his wife, Harriet McDougal – to complete the final book. The scope and size of the volume was such that it could not be contained in a single book, and so Tor proudly presents The Gath…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Gathering Storm: Book Twelve of the Wheel of Time (Unabridged) audiobook

2. The Copper Bracelet (Unabridged)

Copper-bracelet-unabridgedSummary: LIMITED-TIME OFFER: The Copper Bracelet is on sale for only $9.95 till November 24, 2009. A peaceful picnic in the French countryside explodes in violence. A mysterious assassin hisses a deadly threat. And events are set in motion that could propel India and Pakistan down the road to nuclear confrontation. Two years after the events of the Audiobook of the Year – The Chopin Manuscript – former war crimes investigator Harold Middleton and his Volunteers once again must crack a secreti…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Copper Bracelet (Unabridged) audiobook

3. True Blue (Unabridged)

True-blue-unabridgedSummary: A mysterious high-profile homicide in the nation’s capital collides with the dark side of national security in David Baldacci’s new, heart-stopping thriller. Mason “Mace” Perry was a firebrand cop on the D.C. police force until she was kidnapped and framed for a crime. She lost everything – her badge, her career, her freedom-and spent two years in prison. Now she’s back on the outside and focused on one mission: to be a cop once more. Her only shot to be a true blue again is to solve a major …

Click to hear an audio sample of True Blue (Unabridged) audiobook

4. The Lost Symbol (Unabridged)

Lost-symbol-unabridgedSummary: The Lost Symbol is Dan Brown’s follow-up to The Da Vinci Code. Dan Brown’s writing shows us why he is the one of the world’s most popular author of thrillers. Just like the Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol is thrilling race to find the secret. Harvard Symbologist Robert Langdon is once again needed to meet the challenge. He must search the hidden codes, unravel the secrets while avoiding the bad guys.

Set within the underground of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol races through a t…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Lost Symbol (Unabridged) audiobook

5. Nine Dragons: Harry Bosch, Book 15 (Unabridged)

Dragons-harry-bosch-book-15-unabridgedSummary: LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is off the chain in the fastest, fiercest, and highest-stakes case of his life. Fortune Liquors is a small shop in a tough South L.A. neighborhood, a store Bosch has known for years. The murder of John Li, the store’s owner, hits Bosch hard, and he promises Li’s family that he’ll find the killer. The world Bosch steps into next is unknown territory. He brings in a detective from the Asian Gang Unit for help with translation–not just of languages but also of the cul…

Click to hear an audio sample of Nine Dragons: Harry Bosch, Book 15 (Unabridged) audiobook

6. SuperFreakonomics (Unabridged)

Superfreakonomics-unabridgedSummary: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance The New York Times best-selling Freakonomics was a worldwide sensation, selling more than four million copies in 35 languages and changing the way we look at the world. Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return with Superfreakonomics , and fans and newcomers alike will find that the freakquel is even bolder, funnier, and more surprising than the first. SuperFreakonomics challenges the way we…

Click to hear an audio sample of SuperFreakonomics (Unabridged) audiobook

7. The Chopin Manuscript: A Serial Thriller (Unabridged)

Chopin-manuscript-serial-thriller-unabridgedSummary: 15 thriller masters. 1 masterful thriller. Former war crimes investigator Harold Middleton possesses a previously unknown score by Frederic Chopin. But he is unaware that, locked within its handwritten notes, lies a secret that now threatens the lives of thousands of Americans. As he races from Poland to America to uncover the mystery of the manuscript, Middleton will be accused of murder, pursued by federal agents, and targeted by assassins. But the greatest threat will come from a shadowy f…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Chopin Manuscript: A Serial Thriller (Unabridged) audiobook

8. Pursuit of Honor: Mitch Rapp Series (Unabridged)

Pursuit-honor-mitch-rapp-unabridgedSummary: The action begins six days after a series of explosions devastated Washington, D.C., targeting the National Counterterrorism Center and killing 185 people, including public officials and CIA employees. It was a bizarre act of extreme violence that called for extreme measures on the part of elite counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp and his trusted team member, Mike Nash. Now that the initial shock of the catastrophe is over, key Washington officials are up in arms over whether to make friend…

Click to hear an audio sample of Pursuit of Honor: Mitch Rapp Series (Unabridged) audiobook

9. Kindred in Death: In Death, Book 29 (Unabridged)

Kindred-death-death-book-29-unabridgedSummary: In this novel from number-one New York Times -best-selling author J. D. Robb, the newly promoted captain of the NYPSD and his wife return a day early from their vacation, looking forward to spending time with their bright and vivacious 16-year-old daughter, who stayed behind. Not even their worst nightmares could have prepared them for the crime scene that awaits them inside. Deena has been brutally murdered in her bedroom, and her body shows signs of trauma that horrify even the toughest of…

Click to hear an audio sample of Kindred in Death: In Death, Book 29 (Unabridged) audiobook

10. What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (Unabridged)

Dog-adventures-unabridgedSummary: Over the past decade, Malcolm Gladwell has become the most gifted and influential journalist in America. In The New Yorker, his writings are such must-reads that the magazine charges advertisers significantly more money for ads that run within his articles. With his #1 best sellers, The Tipping Point , Blink and Outliers , he has reached millions of readers. And now the very best and most famous of his New Yorker pieces are collected in a brilliant and provocative anthology. Among th…

Click to hear an audio sample of What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (Unabridged) audiobook

11. The Scarpetta Factor (Unabridged)

Scarpetta-factor-unabridgedSummary: It is the week before Christmas. A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta – despite her busy schedule and her continuing work as the senior forensic analyst for CNN – to offer her services pro bono to New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events. She is asked live on the air about the sensational case of Hannah Starr, who has vanished and is presumed dead. Moments…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Scarpetta Factor (Unabridged) audiobook

12. An Echo in the Bone: A Novel (Unabridged)

Echo-bone-novel-unabridgedSummary: Diana Gabaldon’s immensely popular Outlander saga soars to new heights with this seventh novel, which takes listeners on a breathtaking journey to 1777 America. Jamie Fraser knows from his time-traveling wife Claire that, no matter how unlikely it seems, America will win the Revolutionary War. But that truth offers little solace, since Jamie realizes he might find himself pointing a weapon directly at his own son – a young officer in the British army. And Jamie isn’t the only one with a torme…

Click to hear an audio sample of An Echo in the Bone: A Novel (Unabridged) audiobook

13. The Help (Unabridged)

Help-unabridgedSummary: Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step. Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid, Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone. Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman rai…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Help (Unabridged) audiobook

14. House of Night: Tempted (Unabridged)

House-night-tempted-unabridgedSummary: So…you’d think after banishing an immortal being and a fallen High Priestess, saving Stark’s life, biting Heath, getting a headache from Erik, and almost dying, Zoey Redbird would catch a break. Sadly, a break is not in the House of Night school forecast for the High Priestess in training and her gang. Juggling three guys is anything but a stress reliever, especially when one of them is a sexy Warrior who is so into protecting Zoey that he can sense her emotions. Speaking of stress, the dar…

Click to hear an audio sample of House of Night: Tempted (Unabridged) audiobook

15. Grave Secret: Harper Connelly Mysteries, Book 4 (Unabridged)

Grave-secret-harper-connelly-mysteries-book-4-unabridgedSummary: Lightning-struck sleuth Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver take a break from looking for the dead to visit the two little girls they both think of as sisters. But, as always happens when they travel to Texas, memories of their horrible childhood resurface. To make matters worse, Tolliver learns from his older brother that their father is out of jail and trying to reestablish contact with other family members. Tolliver wants no part of the man- but he may not have a choice in the mat…

Click to hear an audio sample of Grave Secret: Harper Connelly Mysteries, Book 4 (Unabridged) audiobook

16. Bed of Roses: The Bride Quartet, Book 2 (Unabridged)

Bed-roses-bride-quartet-book-2-unabridgedSummary: Since she was a little girl, Emma Grant has always loved romance. So it’s really no surprise that she has found her calling as a wedding florist at Vows. She gets to play with flowers every day and work with her three best friends in the process. She couldn’t ask for a better job…. And on the surface, Emma’s love life seems to be thriving. Slim and sultry, she brings color into every room she enters, just like the arrangements she creates. Though men swarm around her, she still hasn’t found…

Click to hear an audio sample of Bed of Roses: The Bride Quartet, Book 2 (Unabridged) audiobook

17. The Girl Who Played with Fire (Unabridged)

Girl-played-fire-unabridgedSummary: The electrifying follow-up to the phenomenal best seller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (”An intelligent, ingeniously plotted, utterly engrossing thriller” The Washington Post ), and this time it is Lisbeth Salander, the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker, who is the focus and fierce heart of the story. Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium , has decided to publish a story exposing an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Girl Who Played with Fire (Unabridged) audiobook

18. The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution (Unabridged)

Greatest-show-earth-evidence-evolution-unabridgedSummary: In 2008, a Gallup poll showed that 44 percent of Americans believed God had created man in his present form within the last 10,000 years. In a Pew Forum poll in the same year, 42 percent believed that all life on earth has existed in its present form since the beginning of time. In 1859 Charles Darwin’s masterpiece, On the Origin of Species , shook society to its core. Darwin was only too aware of the storm his theory of evolution would provoke. But he surely would have raised an incredulous…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution (Unabridged) audiobook

19. Heat Wave (Unabridged)

Heat-wave-unabridgedSummary: Best-selling romance author Jill Marie Landis writes from the heart. Her sexy, warm, compelling novels resonate with readers long after their conclusions. In Heat Wave , California P.I. Kat Vargas has promised herself to steer clear of intimacy ever since her dream life with her first love and fiance came to a tragic end. One day, an attractive man named Ty Chandler walks into Kat’s office desperate to find the child he gave up years ago. So begins a passionate love story of the mending of t…

Click to hear an audio sample of Heat Wave (Unabridged) audiobook

20. Evidence: An Alex Delaware Novel (Unabridged)

Evidence-alex-delaware-novel-unabridgedSummary: Number-one New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Kellerman writes unforgettable tales of crime and detection that expose the shadowy side of glittering Los Angeles. And in Evidence , listeners are once again in the dexterous grip of a master storyteller and stylist equally skilled at teasing your brain and taking your breath away. In the half-built skeleton of a monstrously vulgar mansion in one of L.A.’s toniest neighborhoods, a watchman stumbles on the bodies of a young couple – mu…

Click to hear an audio sample of Evidence: An Alex Delaware Novel (Unabridged) audiobook

Find more best selling audio books at Castlibrary.com

NY Times

Business Week

Publisher’s Weekly

Oprah’s Book Club

Subscribe to the podcast – http://feeds.feedburner.com/BestSellingAudioBooks

This Week in Audiobooks -10-30-2009

Friday, October 30th, 2009

This Week in Audio Books – This Week’s Best Sellers

Subscribe to the podcast – http://feeds.feedburner.com/BestSellingAudioBooks

1. SuperFreakonomics (Unabridged)

Superfreakonomics-unabridgedSummary: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance The New York Times best-selling Freakonomics was a worldwide sensation, selling more than four million copies in 35 languages and changing the way we look at the world. Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return with Superfreakonomics , and fans and newcomers alike will find that the freakquel is even bolder, funnier, and more surprising than the first. SuperFreakonomics challenges the way we…

Click to hear an audio sample of SuperFreakonomics (Unabridged) audiobook

2. The Lost Symbol (Unabridged)

Lost-symbol-unabridgedSummary: The Lost Symbol is Dan Brown’s follow-up to The Da Vinci Code. Dan Brown’s writing shows us why he is the one of the world’s most popular author of thrillers. Just like the Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol is thrilling race to find the secret. Harvard Symbologist Robert Langdon is once again needed to meet the challenge. He must search the hidden codes, unravel the secrets while avoiding the bad guys.

Set within the underground of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol races through a t…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Lost Symbol (Unabridged) audiobook

3. Nine Dragons: Harry Bosch, Book 15 (Unabridged)

Dragons-harry-bosch-book-15-unabridgedSummary: LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is off the chain in the fastest, fiercest, and highest-stakes case of his life. Fortune Liquors is a small shop in a tough South L.A. neighborhood, a store Bosch has known for years. The murder of John Li, the store’s owner, hits Bosch hard, and he promises Li’s family that he’ll find the killer. The world Bosch steps into next is unknown territory. He brings in a detective from the Asian Gang Unit for help with translation–not just of languages but also of the cul…

Click to hear an audio sample of Nine Dragons: Harry Bosch, Book 15 (Unabridged) audiobook

4. What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (Unabridged)

Dog-adventures-unabridgedSummary: Over the past decade, Malcolm Gladwell has become the most gifted and influential journalist in America. In The New Yorker, his writings are such must-reads that the magazine charges advertisers significantly more money for ads that run within his articles. With his #1 best sellers, The Tipping Point , Blink and Outliers , he has reached millions of readers. And now the very best and most famous of his New Yorker pieces are collected in a brilliant and provocative anthology. Among th…

Click to hear an audio sample of What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (Unabridged) audiobook

5. The Scarpetta Factor (Unabridged)

Scarpetta-factor-unabridgedSummary: It is the week before Christmas. A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta – despite her busy schedule and her continuing work as the senior forensic analyst for CNN – to offer her services pro bono to New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events. She is asked live on the air about the sensational case of Hannah Starr, who has vanished and is presumed dead. Moments…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Scarpetta Factor (Unabridged) audiobook

6. Pursuit of Honor: Mitch Rapp Series (Unabridged)

Pursuit-honor-mitch-rapp-unabridgedSummary: The action begins six days after a series of explosions devastated Washington, D.C., targeting the National Counterterrorism Center and killing 185 people, including public officials and CIA employees. It was a bizarre act of extreme violence that called for extreme measures on the part of elite counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp and his trusted team member, Mike Nash. Now that the initial shock of the catastrophe is over, key Washington officials are up in arms over whether to make friend…

Click to hear an audio sample of Pursuit of Honor: Mitch Rapp Series (Unabridged) audiobook

7. The Gathering Storm: Book Twelve of the Wheel of Time (Unabridged)

Gathering-storm-book-twelve-wheel-time-unabridgedSummary: Tarmon Gai’don, the Last Battle, looms. And mankind is not ready.The final volume of the Wheel of Time, A Memory of Light , was partially written by Robert Jordan before his untimely passing in 2007. Brandon Sanderson, New York Times best-selling author of the Mistborn books, was chosen by Jordan’s editor – his wife, Harriet McDougal – to complete the final book. The scope and size of the volume was such that it could not be contained in a single book, and so Tor proudly presents The Gath…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Gathering Storm: Book Twelve of the Wheel of Time (Unabridged) audiobook

8. An Echo in the Bone: A Novel (Unabridged)

Echo-bone-novel-unabridgedSummary: Diana Gabaldon’s immensely popular Outlander saga soars to new heights with this seventh novel, which takes listeners on a breathtaking journey to 1777 America. Jamie Fraser knows from his time-traveling wife Claire that, no matter how unlikely it seems, America will win the Revolutionary War. But that truth offers little solace, since Jamie realizes he might find himself pointing a weapon directly at his own son – a young officer in the British army. And Jamie isn’t the only one with a torme…

Click to hear an audio sample of An Echo in the Bone: A Novel (Unabridged) audiobook

9. The Help (Unabridged)

Help-unabridgedSummary: Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step. Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid, Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone. Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman rai…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Help (Unabridged) audiobook

10. True Blue (Unabridged)

True-blue-unabridgedSummary: A mysterious high-profile homicide in the nation’s capital collides with the dark side of national security in David Baldacci’s new, heart-stopping thriller. Mason "Mace" Perry was a firebrand cop on the D.C. police force until she was kidnapped and framed for a crime. She lost everything – her badge, her career, her freedom-and spent two years in prison. Now she’s back on the outside and focused on one mission: to be a cop once more. Her only shot to be a true blue again is to solve a major …

Click to hear an audio sample of True Blue (Unabridged) audiobook

11. The Ghosts of Belfast (Unabridged)

Ghosts-belfast-unabridgedSummary: Fegan has been a "hard man" – an IRA killer in Northern Ireland. Now that peace has come, he is being haunted day and night by 12 ghosts: a mother and infant, a schoolboy, a butcher, an RUC constable, and seven other of his innocent victims. In order to appease them, he’s going to have to kill the men who gave him orders. As he’s working his way down the list, he encounters a woman who may offer him redemption; she has borne a child to an RUC officer and is an outsider too. Now he has given F…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Ghosts of Belfast (Unabridged) audiobook

12. The Girl Who Played with Fire (Unabridged)

Girl-played-fire-unabridgedSummary: The electrifying follow-up to the phenomenal best seller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ("An intelligent, ingeniously plotted, utterly engrossing thriller" The Washington Post ), and this time it is Lisbeth Salander, the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker, who is the focus and fierce heart of the story. Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium , has decided to publish a story exposing an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Girl Who Played with Fire (Unabridged) audiobook

13. The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution (Unabridged)

Greatest-show-earth-evidence-evolution-unabridgedSummary: In 2008, a Gallup poll showed that 44 percent of Americans believed God had created man in his present form within the last 10,000 years. In a Pew Forum poll in the same year, 42 percent believed that all life on earth has existed in its present form since the beginning of time. In 1859 Charles Darwin’s masterpiece, On the Origin of Species , shook society to its core. Darwin was only too aware of the storm his theory of evolution would provoke. But he surely would have raised an incredulous…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution (Unabridged) audiobook

14. Evidence: An Alex Delaware Novel (Unabridged)

Evidence-alex-delaware-novel-unabridgedSummary: Number-one New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Kellerman writes unforgettable tales of crime and detection that expose the shadowy side of glittering Los Angeles. And in Evidence , listeners are once again in the dexterous grip of a master storyteller and stylist equally skilled at teasing your brain and taking your breath away. In the half-built skeleton of a monstrously vulgar mansion in one of L.A.’s toniest neighborhoods, a watchman stumbles on the bodies of a young couple – mu…

Click to hear an audio sample of Evidence: An Alex Delaware Novel (Unabridged) audiobook

15. Rough Country: A Virgil Flowers Novel (Unabridged)

Rough-country-virgil-flowers-novel-unabridgedSummary: Virgil’s always been known for having a somewhat active, er, social life, but he’s probably not going to be getting too many opportunities for that during his new case. While competing in a fishing tournament in a remote area of northern Minnesota, he gets a call from Lucas Davenport to investigate a murder at a nearby resort, where a woman has been shot while kayaking. The resort is for women only, a place to relax, get fit, recover from plastic surgery, commune with nature, and while it did…

Click to hear an audio sample of Rough Country: A Virgil Flowers Novel (Unabridged) audiobook

16. The Charm School (Unabridged)

Charm-school-unabridgedSummary: Something very strange — and sinister — is going on in the Russian woods at Borodino. In a place called Mrs. Ivanova’s Charm School, young KGB agents are being taught by American POW’s how to be model citizens of the USA. The Soviet goal — to infiltrate the United States undetected. When an unsuspecting American tourist stumbles upon this secret, he sets in motion a CIA investigation that will reveal horrifying police state savagery and superpower treachery.

Click to hear an audio sample of The Charm School (Unabridged) audiobook

17. Southern Lights (Unabridged)

Southern-lights-unabridgedSummary: Eleven years have passed since Alexa Hamilton left the South behind, fleeing the pain of her ex-husband’s betrayal and the cruelty of his prominent Charleston family. Now an assistant D.A. in Manhattan, Alexa has made a name for herself as a top prosecutor while juggling her role as devoted single mom to a teenage daughter. But everything changes when Alexa is handed her latest case: the trial of accused serial killer Luke Quentin. Alexa prepares for a high-stakes trial…until threatening l…

Click to hear an audio sample of Southern Lights (Unabridged) audiobook

18. Spartan Gold: A Fargo Adventure (Unabridged)

Spartan-gold-fargo-adventure-unabridgedSummary: The debut of a brand-new, action-packed series from the number-one New York Times best-selling master of "pure entertainment" ( People ). Thousands of years ago, the Persian king Xerxes the Great was said to have raided the Treasury at Delphi, carrying away two solid gold pillars as tribute. In 1800 Napoleon Bonaparte and his army stumble across the pillars in the Pennine Alps. Unable to transport them, Napoleon creates a map on the labels of 12 bottles of rare wine. And when Napoleon dies,…

Click to hear an audio sample of Spartan Gold: A Fargo Adventure (Unabridged) audiobook

19. Outlander (Unabridged)

Outlander-unabridgedSummary: This stunning blend of historical romance and time traveling adventure has captured the hearts of millions of readers around the world and catapulted author Diana Gabaldon to the top of the New York Times best seller list. Outlander introduces an exhilarating world of heroism and breathtaking thrills as one woman is torn between past and present, passion and love. In 1945, former combat nurse Claire Randall returns from World War II and joins her husband for a second honeymoon. Their blis…

Click to hear an audio sample of Outlander (Unabridged) audiobook

20. Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government

Arguing-idiots-stop-small-minds-big-governmentSummary: It happens to all of us: You’re minding your own business, when some idiot informs you that guns are evil, the Prius will save the planet, or the rich have to finally start paying their fair share of taxes. Just go away! you think to yourself — but they only become more obnoxious. Your heart rate quickens. You start to sweat. You can’t get away. Your only hope is this book. Glenn Beck, author of the number-one New York Times best sellers An Inconvenient Book and Glenn Beck’s Common Se…

Click to hear an audio sample of Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government audiobook

Find more best selling audio books at Castlibrary.com

NY Times

Business Week

Publisher’s Weekly

Oprah’s Book Club

Subscribe to the podcast – http://feeds.feedburner.com/BestSellingAudioBooks

BlogWorld Documentary – The New Dial Tone – #bwe09

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

I found this video on Robert Scoble’s blog. I thought it was a great overview of the Blogworld event. They do a great job of bringing the life of the event to everyone who couldn’t be there.

This Week in Audio Books – 10-23-2009

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

From our audio book service CastLibrary.com, here are this week’s best selling and most downloaded audio books. I hope you find one you enjoy.

Subscribe to the podcast – http://feeds.feedburner.com/BestSellingAudioBooks

1. Nine Dragons: Harry Bosch, Book 15 (Unabridged)
Dragons-harry-bosch-book-15-unabridgedSummary: LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is off the chain in the fastest, fiercest, and highest-stakes case of his life. Fortune Liquors is a small shop in a tough South L.A. neighborhood, a store Bosch has known for years. The murder of John Li, the store’s owner, hits Bosch hard, and he promises Li’s family that he’ll find the killer. The world Bosch steps into next is unknown territory. He brings in a detective from the Asian Gang Unit for help with translation–not just of languages but also of the cul…

Click to hear an audio sample…

2. Pursuit of Honor: Mitch Rapp Series (Unabridged)
Pursuit-honor-mitch-rapp-unabridgedSummary: The action begins six days after a series of explosions devastated Washington, D.C., targeting the National Counterterrorism Center and killing 185 people, including public officials and CIA employees. It was a bizarre act of extreme violence that called for extreme measures on the part of elite counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp and his trusted team member, Mike Nash. Now that the initial shock of the catastrophe is over, key Washington officials are up in arms over whether to make friend…
Click to hear an audio sample…

3. An Echo in the Bone: A Novel (Unabridged)

Echo-bone-novel-unabridgedSummary: Diana Gabaldon’s immensely popular Outlander saga soars to new heights with this seventh novel, which takes listeners on a breathtaking journey to 1777 America. Jamie Fraser knows from his time-traveling wife Claire that, no matter how unlikely it seems, America will win the Revolutionary War. But that truth offers little solace, since Jamie realizes he might find himself pointing a weapon directly at his own son – a young officer in the British army. And Jamie isn’t the only one with a torme…
Click to hear an audio sample…

4. And Another Thing…: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Book 6 (Unabridged)
Hitchhiker-guide-galaxy-book-6-unabridgedSummary: An Englishman’s continuing search through space and time for a decent cup of tea Arthur Dent’s accidental association with that wholly remarkable book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy , has not been entirely without incident. Arthur has traveled the length, breadth, and depth of known, and unknown, space. He has stumbled forward and backward through time. He has been blown up, reassembled, cruelly imprisoned, horribly released, and colorfully insulted more than is strictly necessary. An…
Click to hear an audio sample…

5. Evidence: An Alex Delaware Novel (Unabridged)
Evidence-alex-delaware-novel-unabridgedSummary: Number-one New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Kellerman writes unforgettable tales of crime and detection that expose the shadowy side of glittering Los Angeles. And in Evidence , listeners are once again in the dexterous grip of a master storyteller and stylist equally skilled at teasing your brain and taking your breath away. In the half-built skeleton of a monstrously vulgar mansion in one of L.A.’s toniest neighborhoods, a watchman stumbles on the bodies of a young couple – mu…
Click to hear an audio sample…

6. Spartan Gold: A Fargo Adventure (Unabridged)
Spartan-gold-fargo-adventure-unabridgedSummary: The debut of a brand-new, action-packed series from the number-one New York Times best-selling master of "pure entertainment" ( People ). Thousands of years ago, the Persian king Xerxes the Great was said to have raided the Treasury at Delphi, carrying away two solid gold pillars as tribute. In 1800 Napoleon Bonaparte and his army stumble across the pillars in the Pennine Alps. Unable to transport them, Napoleon creates a map on the labels of 12 bottles of rare wine. And when Napoleon dies,…

Click to hear an audio sample…

7. The Girl Who Played with Fire (Unabridged)
Girl-played-fire-unabridgedSummary: The electrifying follow-up to the phenomenal best seller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ("An intelligent, ingeniously plotted, utterly engrossing thriller" The Washington Post ), and this time it is Lisbeth Salander, the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker, who is the focus and fierce heart of the story. Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium , has decided to publish a story exposing an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern…
Click to hear an audio sample…

8. The Help (Unabridged)
Help-unabridgedSummary: Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step. Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid, Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone. Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman rai…
Click to hear an audio sample…

9. The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution (Unabridged)
Greatest-show-earth-evidence-evolution-unabridgedSummary: In 2008, a Gallup poll showed that 44 percent of Americans believed God had created man in his present form within the last 10,000 years. In a Pew Forum poll in the same year, 42 percent believed that all life on earth has existed in its present form since the beginning of time. In 1859 Charles Darwin’s masterpiece, On the Origin of Species , shook society to its core. Darwin was only too aware of the storm his theory of evolution would provoke. But he surely would have raised an incredulous…
Click to hear an audio sample…

10. The Charm School (Unabridged)
Charm-school-unabridgedSummary: Something very strange — and sinister — is going on in the Russian woods at Borodino. In a place called Mrs. Ivanova’s Charm School, young KGB agents are being taught by American POW’s how to be model citizens of the USA. The Soviet goal — to infiltrate the United States undetected. When an unsuspecting American tourist stumbles upon this secret, he sets in motion a CIA investigation that will reveal horrifying police state savagery and superpower treachery.
Click to hear an audio sample…

11. Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government
Arguing-idiots-stop-small-minds-big-governmentSummary: It happens to all of us: You’re minding your own business, when some idiot informs you that guns are evil, the Prius will save the planet, or the rich have to finally start paying their fair share of taxes. Just go away! you think to yourself — but they only become more obnoxious. Your heart rate quickens. You start to sweat. You can’t get away. Your only hope is this book. Glenn Beck, author of the number-one New York Times best sellers An Inconvenient Book and Glenn Beck’s Common Se…

Click to hear an audio sample…

12. Rough Country: A Virgil Flowers Novel (Unabridged)
Rough-country-virgil-flowers-novel-unabridgedSummary: Virgil’s always been known for having a somewhat active, er, social life, but he’s probably not going to be getting too many opportunities for that during his new case. While competing in a fishing tournament in a remote area of northern Minnesota, he gets a call from Lucas Davenport to investigate a murder at a nearby resort, where a woman has been shot while kayaking. The resort is for women only, a place to relax, get fit, recover from plastic surgery, commune with nature, and while it did…
Click to hear an audio sample…

13. Unseen Academicals: Discworld #37 (Unabridged)

Unseen-academicals-discworld-37-unabridgedSummary: Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork – not the old-fashioned, grubby pushing and shoving, but the new, fast football with pointy hats for goalposts and balls that go glowing when you drop them. And now, the wizards of Unseen University must win a football match, without using magic, so they’re in the mood for trying everything else. The prospect of the Big Match draws in a street urchin with a wonderful talent for kicking a tin can, a maker of jolly good pies, a dim but beaut…
Click to hear an audio sample…

14. Outlander (Unabridged)
Outlander-unabridgedSummary: This stunning blend of historical romance and time traveling adventure has captured the hearts of millions of readers around the world and catapulted author Diana Gabaldon to the top of the New York Times best seller list. Outlander introduces an exhilarating world of heroism and breathtaking thrills as one woman is torn between past and present, passion and love. In 1945, former combat nurse Claire Randall returns from World War II and joins her husband for a second honeymoon. Their blis…
Click to hear an audio sample…

15. A Touch of Dead: Sookie Stackhouse: The Complete Stories (Unabridged)
Touch-dead-sookie-stackhouse-complete-stories-unabridgedSummary: New York Times best-selling author Charlaine Harris has re-imagined the supernatural world with her "spunky" ( Tampa Tribune ) Southern Vampire novels, starring telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse. Now, for the first time, here is every Sookie Stackhouse short story ever written – together in one volume. The stories include "Fairy Dust", "One Word Answer", "Dracula Night", "Lucky" and "Giftwrap".

Click to hear an audio sample…

16. Her Fearful Symmetry: A Novel (Unabridged)
Fearful-symmetry-novel-unabridgedSummary: When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she leaves her London apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These two American girls never met their English aunt; they only knew that their mother, too, was a twin, and Elspeth her sister. Julia and Valentina are semi-normal American teenagers – with seemingly little interest in college, finding jobs, or anything outside their cozy home in the suburbs of Chicago, and with an abnormally intense attachment to one another. The girls move to Elspe…
Click to hear an audio sample…

17. Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel (Unabridged)

Broke-horses-true-life-novel-unabridgedSummary: Jeannette Walls’s memoir The Glass Castle was "nothing short of spectacular" ( Entertainment Weekly ). Now, in Half Broke Horses , she brings us the story of her grandmother, told in a first-person voice that is authentic, irresistible, and triumphant. "Those old cows knew trouble was coming before we did." So begins the story of Lily Casey Smith, Jeannette Walls’s no nonsense, resourceful, and spectacularly compelling grandmother. By age six, Lily was helping her father break horses. At 1…
Click to hear an audio sample…

18. Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America (Unabridged)
Bright-sided-relentless-promotion-positive-thinking-undermined-americaSummary: A sharp-witted knockdown of America’s love affair with positive thinking and an urgent call for a new commitment to realism. Americans are a "positive" people – cheerful, optimistic, and upbeat: this is our reputation as well as our self-image. But more than a temperament, being positive, we are told, is the key to success and prosperity. In this utterly original take on the American frame of mind, Barbara Ehrenreich traces the strange career of our sunny outlook from its origins as a margin…

Click to hear an audio sample…

19. SuperFreakonomics (Unabridged)
Superfreakonomics-unabridgedSummary: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance The New York Times best-selling Freakonomics was a worldwide sensation, selling more than four million copies in 35 languages and changing the way we look at the world. Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return with Superfreakonomics , and fans and newcomers alike will find that the freakquel is even bolder, funnier, and more surprising than the first. SuperFreakonomics challenges the way we…
Click to hear an audio sample…

20. The Scarpetta Factor (Unabridged)

Scarpetta-factor-unabridgedSummary: It is the week before Christmas. A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta – despite her busy schedule and her continuing work as the senior forensic analyst for CNN – to offer her services pro bono to New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events. She is asked live on the air about the sensational case of Hannah Starr, who has vanished and is presumed dead. Moments…
Click to hear an audio sample…

Find more best selling audio books at Castlibrary.com

NY Times
Business Week

Publisher’s Weekly
Oprah’s Book Club

Subscribe to the podcast – http://feeds.feedburner.com/BestSellingAudioBooks

New Media Business Models

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

Back in June, I wrote a post about “10 Great Ways to Make Money Podcasting“. I thought it was worth revisiting given a recent post by David Sparks titled “9 Successful Techniques for Making Money from Podcasting“. David’s post is great because he provides good examples of people following the 9 business models he outlines.

To start, let’s compare the lists.

My List included

  1. Sell you content
  2. Donations
  3. Run ads within the podcast
  4. Promote a sponsor within your podcast
  5. Run ads on your webpage
  6. Sell your own product
  7. Sell professional services
  8. Sell training
  9. Affiliate sales
  10. Affiliate lead generation

David’s list included:

  1. Use a podcast network to get sponsors
  2. Get your own sponsors
  3. Beg for donations
  4. Give some away, sell the rest
  5. Partial show free, full show paid
  6. Build a network of programming and sell advertising
  7. Build your brand to sell your services
  8. Sell an iPhone app
  9. Integrate sponsorship with the show’s editorial

While number nine and two on the list seem to be the same thing, David’s list does add a few ideas to my list. I particularly like the addition of selling an iPhone app.

On the flip side, I think his list is pretty focused on advertising related business models and is really missing the most important opportunities for podcasters who want to make money – selling products and generating leads.

It was clear from the takeaways at the Blogworld Expo that this is the most successful way to make money, unless you have a really huge audience.

If you have other ideas for monetizing new media let me know.

Ning Launches Virtual Goods – #DH09

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

At Digital Hollywood, I caught up with Julie Supan, VP of Marketing for Ning. Ning, a site that lets you set up your own custom social network, has just announced the launch of a virtual gifts platform that allows users to buy and sell virtual goods using Ning’s virtual currency.

I thought it was an exciting announcement as I have written a lot about how to make social networking profitable by turning communities into economies.

Julie describes how Ning’s 1.6 million social networks can now start making money by selling virtual gifts. The net revenue(after Paypal fees) from the gifts is split between Ning and the social network.

Ning’s virtual currency called credits, converts into US funds at a rate of approximately 1 credit to $.02. To help get users started with virtual gifting, Ning will give 100 complimentary credits to all users. All Ning virtual gifts will be priced at 75 credits each, so Ning hopes that each user will get to send one virtual gift as a way to try out the feature.

I hope Ning finds more ways to extend how social networks can use the currency to pay users to take surveys or other actions that will help the networks make some real money.

Here’s the interview with Julie:

 
icon for podpress  Digital Podast 64 - Ning Launches Virtual Goods [4:22m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Podcasts Everywhere – #bwe09

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

At BlogWorld Expo, Leo Laporte announced in his keynote some exciting news. You can now get his podcasts on your TV using a Roku box, all thanks to a new service from Mediafly which aims to put podcasts onto every device you have. No more subscribing in iTunes messiness, just find the show and press the play button.

Brent Mitchell, MediaFly’s Chief Technology Officer, explains how the system works in this video interview from BlogWorld Expo.

 
icon for podpress  Digital Podcast 63 - Podcasts Everywhere [5:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The US Army Gets Social – #BWE09

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

One of the more interesting booths on the BlogWorld show floor was the US Army booth. You might be asking what’s the Army doing at a blog conference. Well, the US Army seems to get it. They need young men and women to join them and help protect our country, and they know that these young people are spending their time on the social web.

So how is the US Army dealing with the messy, distributed, un-controllable social web? It’s doing what it does best. It’s developing processes, tools, roadmaps and training to deal with ambiguity. I don’t think there’s any one better at taking potentially complicated, almost always ambiguous, and frequently dangerous situations and preparing its people to perform at consistently high levels.

In another social track, Social Web Analyst Jeremiah Owyang answered my question about who is putting processes around social web and he points quickly to the military. In his case, he pointed to the US Air Force’s response roadmap. (BTW, The US Army has one too.)

The star of the Army’s social media efforts on display at BlogWorld was ArmyStrongStories.com, a blogging system that lets anyone in the Army post to the blog. It can be used to help recruits see what it’s like from first hand accounts by people like themselves and to bring the soldiers’ voice to life for all of us.

Major Mary Constantino was kind enough to share a few minutes explaining ArmyStrongStories.com.

Here’s the video:

Go Army! Follow the US Army.
Blog: http://ArmyStrongStories.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/goarmy.com
Myspace: http://myspace.com/usarmy
Twitter: http://twitter.com/armystories
YouTube: http://youtube.com/armystrongstories
Press: http://armyaccessionsnewsroom.com

icon for podpress  The US Army Gets Social [4:45m]: Download

The $816 CPM Story – #BWE09

Monday, October 19th, 2009

At the BlogWorld Expo, Jason Van Orden talked about achieving an effective $816 CPM for his downloads, as compared to the average podcaster getting $15-40 CPM. He got my attention.

Here’s the quick video version of how he did it. The longer post summarizes the rest of his presentation about how to grow your audience on the web. He has some excellent advice, which may be one of the reasons he has been able to realize such a return on his efforts.

Jason is an expert in new media and internet marketing. He is also the author of Promoting Your Podcast.

Jason starts out by discussing goals. The end goal is an action, something we want the audience to do because of our efforts. But we have some work to do to earn the action.

We need influence to make the action happen, and we don’t get influence instantly. We have to bank influence overtime and then we can make the withdrawel.

Before influence, comes engagement. We need an audience that this active and engaged with the content and the subject.

Before engagement, comes permission. We need the audience to opt-in in some way, to sign up for our email list, subscribe to our podcast or blog, or follow us on Twitter or Facebook. We need them to take a step to give us permission to send them stuff.

Finally, before permission, comes attention. We need to get their attention to get the process started.

Jason describes these steps as the New Media Money Map:

  1. Attention
  2. Permission
  3. Engagement
  4. Influence
  5. Action

Jason then dove into the subject of attention in more detail.

He pointed out that we live in an attention economy and that competing for attention is the focus on new media marketers.

Jason went on to describe the components of new media magnetism that can help you gain more attention.

He described the components as relevance, reciprocity, authority, trust, convenience and desire (either urgent pain or rational passion). Building these components into your content and behavior will help you gain more attention.

He went on to describe what he called the preeminence principle. This is all about making sure you are the expert everywhere your users go. This ubiquitous expertise helps reinforce your position in the users mind.

Jason provided some great tips on how to be ubiquitous. He described how high rankings in search engines is essential and how it’s not just Google, but also iTunes and Youtube. He described how all search engines use relevance and authority to drive their rankings. In iTunes, he has found that keywords are what drives relevance and subscriptions, ratings and reviews help to drive authority.

Some other tools to use include Feedburner and Tubemogul to help with distribution. He also suggested Webcam Max and Camtasia as software tools to help generate content.

Moving on to permission, he described how your email list is still your most important list, but now you have Twitter followers, RSS followers, Facebook fans etc. Don’t overlook building those lists as well. He pointed out that you should make your opt-in one of the most prominent parts of your web page and make sure it’s above the fold. Aweber and iContact were his two suggestions for mailing list management.

He suggested GotoWebinar as one of his key tools to convert people on Twitter and Facebook into email lists and conversion opportunities. Don’t sell on Twitter, use it for sending invitations.

Jason then described his thoughts on engagement. The drivers of engagement are knowing you, liking you and trusting you.

You want your audience to resonate with you. He also said that telling stories is a method that works exceptionally well.

He suggested The Story Factor by Annette Simmons as a great resource for improving your story telling.

At this point, we started running out to time, but you can get more information from Jason at his blog.

icon for podpress  Digital Podcast 61 - The $816 CPM Story [3:22m]: Download


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