24/04-08   -   Press releases

Crime and thriller bestselling audio books online

Audiobooks Online has published the top 10 audio books in the UK on their website www.audiobooks-online.co.uk. The top spoken word books at the online audio bookshop are mainly crime and thriller books.

Listening to audio books instead of reading books has become more popular in recent years, as technology allows audio books to be listened to while out and about, and you can now download book recordings online.

Audiobooks Online’s most popular spoken word book is Aftermath by Peter Robinson, read by Neil Pearson, which tells the story of the aftermath of catching a serial killer in Yorkshire. The second most downloaded audio book is C is for Corpse one of Sue Grafton’s crime novels.

“Crime and thriller audio books account for 20% of our sales," says Jo Forshaw from Audiobooks Online. “Of the top 10 bestselling audio books, five are crime or thriller book recordings."

On the online audio bookshop people can buy, rent or download audio books.
The top 10 has been compiled by combining the top sales, top audio book rentals, as well as downloads.

Renting audio books online is an increasingly popular option with members of www.audiobooksonline.co.uk .

“Today many more people opt to download audio books online, as people have mp3 players and iPods that they carry around at all times – or they save their audio books on CD to listen at home or in the car.

“Audio books appeal to people with busy lives who don’t have the time to sit down and read a book, but would like to. And many parents buy audio books for their children to listen to before they can read themselves," Jo Forshaw explains.

The dramatised version of Philip Pullmans classic Northern Lights is only children’s book on the top ten audio book list.

The bestselling audio books on Audiobooks-online.co.uk

1. Aftermath - Peter Robinson read by Neil Pearson – crime thriller
2. C is for Corpse - Sue Grafton read by Lorelei King – crime
3. A Patchwork planet - Anne Tyler read by Kerry Shale – fiction
4. Knots and crosses - Ian Rankin read by Ewan Stewart – crime thriller
5. A Darkness more than night - Michael Connolly read by Vincent Marzello – thriller
6. The Quest – by Wilbur Smith read by Clive Mantle – bestseller
7. An audience with Billy Connolly - Billy Connolly – comedy
8. Collectors - David Baldacci read by John Chancer – thriller
9. Northern Lights - Philip Pullman - full cast dramatisation – children’s filmed as Golden Compass
10. War and Peace - Tolstoy read by Neville Jason - the full unabridged version – classic

Audio books are available in abridged and unabridged versions, with average length of an abridged audio book being 3 to 4 hours. There are 13,000 downloadable audio books online, which can be played on a computer, burned to a CD, or saved to a portable audio player.

About Audiobooks Online:

Audiobooks Online is based in North Yorkshire; with ten years of experience in mail order service they now offer an effective online service.

On www.audiobooksonline.co.uk you buy, rent or download audio books. The rental service offered by the online audio bookshop is similar from many internet rental services; for a monthly fee you can rent audio books that will be delivered by post, and returned by post at no extra cost to the customer.