Simply Audiobooks Inc.

September 27 – October 4 is Support Banned Books Week.

Chip Gibson, President & Publisher of Random House Children’s Books, reminds us that “[Today] the fundamental right to read what we want is facing more challenges than ever. Children’s books, in particular, are constant targets of book-banning efforts in school systems and public libraries.”

Plus, isn’t it more fun to do something when you’re ‘not allowed’ to?

Click here for a complete list of books for children and adults that dare to disturb the universe.

Time is running out to participate in the Simply Audiobooks review contest. We know a lot of you have been writing reviews this month– but you need to post yours in the comments section on the contest blog post for your chance to win!

We’ll be choosing three winners– first, second and third– who will receive a $100, $50 and $25 gift card respectively. Best of all, these gift cards can be redeemed for audiobook sales or Simply Audiobooks memberships.

Hurry! The contest closes September 30, 2008.

Candace Bushnell, the fabled author behind Sex and the City, is on fire this week. Like, lick-your-finger-touch-her-shoulder-hear-the-sizzle HOT.

Yesterday she released a new book, One Fifth Avenue.

Today, the Sex and the City movie dvd is released.

Tomorrow marks the start of the second season of Lipstick Jungle – yet another hit show based on one of her books, and one that she co-produces.

And she just signed a deal to write The Carrie Diaries, a 2 book young adult series about famed Sex and the City lead Carrie Bradshaw’s teen years.

Yeah. ON FIRE.

I really wanted to finish this post off all Candace Bushnell like – something feisty, sexy, provocative. But we try to keep the Simply Audioblog PG. Plus, my mom reads this.

Listen to the books of the feisty provocateur herself is you’re looking for a little spice.

Its appears that the New Facebook is the New Coke of this generation.  This “upgrade” on the popular social networking site is widely reviled among the social app community and may be the winner of the “If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It” Award of 2008 (don’t bother Googling it – it doesn’t actually exist).

Even the Simply Audiobooks fan page is looking a wee bit discombobulated in the New Facebook. Don’t like it? Join the Petition Against the New Facebook group… right after becoming a Fan of Simply Audiobooks, of course!

For the first time, Simply Audiobooks cannot offer the audio version of Oprah’s book club pick. [Insert sad face, crying over our keyboards, and mass company revolt, here.]

Without going into audiobook legal mumbo jumbo, that basically means that you, unfortunately, can’t rent, buy or download the audiobook from us. We’re terribly sorry for all the Oprah fans out there!

However, if you want to catch up on Oprah’s picks, you can browse our, “Oprah’s Book Selection” section of the website and see her choices up until this current book.

If you’re stuck on reading “The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle” and can’t get your hands on the book, you could listen to a copy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare. IMHO it’s essentially the same story, just Hamlet isn’t mute and his family doesn’t raise dogs. But both want to kill their Uncle after he killed their father and married their mother! So that’s the same, seeeeee?! Ugh, I know. But you can’t blame a girl for trying.

Btw, if you’ve read the book, let me know how it is!

For those of you who checked out the O Power blog from last week, we have the scoop!

Associated Press reports that several top book retailers are confirming that David Wroblewski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is going to be the latest Oprah Book Club pick!

I was going to write this blog on Tuesday, but unfortunately, I never got around to it. Then, in an ironic twist of fate, we decided to delay the ‘Procrastination Post’ again in favour of the writing about Tatum O’Neal‘s autobiography, A Paper Life. I swear!

Apparently the whole marketing department should read, The Now Habit, by Neil Fiore. His book offers the first comprehensive strategy to overcome the causes of procrastination and to eliminate its deleterious effects. Like, if only you knew about this book sooner, you could have gotten WAY more things done today. I know, on behalf of the Simply Audiobooks marketing department, I’m sorry. We totally take the heat on this one. And, we promise we’ll listen to the book. We’ll start tomorrow.

Only days after Oscar-winning actress Tatum O’Neal appeared on Oprah to talk about her recent drug bust, People.com is reporting that her father and brother have also just been arrested for drug possession.

Hollywood drug busts normally have little, if anything, to do with audio books, but the O’Neal family saga is of particular interest because of Tatum’s candid and captivativing 2004 autobiography A Paper Life about growing up amid hollywood parties, drugs, and abuse.

The New York Times once called this book O’Neal’s “slash-and-burn family album about… oh, go read it. You know you want to.”

And it’s true. You do.

From scenes with a 5 year old Tatum fighting with her mom’s 15 year old boyfriend (yes – 1-5), to her father Ryan telling her to shove packets of drugs in her boots at the airport, A Paper Life is definitely a title you want to add to your rental shelf.

If you love audiobooks, you’re not alone. It seems the days of explaining, “It’s a book on CD, so you can listen to it in the car” are going the way of the cassette tape. According to an article published yesterday by Publisher’s Weekly, sales of audiobooks rose 12% to just over $1 billion in 2007. They also report that young listeners are the fastest-growing segment of the market, with 53% of teens having listened to an audiobook. OMG!

Most of you love audiobooks for the multi-tasking factor. Just under a quarter of consumers agree that listening to audiobooks is a good use of time while doing other activities. The car is specifically the place where you listen most, with 40% of consumers reporting they use audiobooks during long drives and another 18% listen on their commute to work.

Join our rental club and get unlimited audiobooks delivered straight to your door!

It seems that the entire literary world is breathlessly awaiting the latest Oprah’s Book Club Pick #62, to be announced next week.

We don’t know if its going to be fiction or non fiction, old or new… we don’t even know if its a title that’s going to be available on audio book! All we know is that, judging from past Oprah Book Club picks, O Power will push this title to the top of the best seller lists.

In anticipation, Simply Audiobooks Rental subscribers can pre-order this book for their Rental Shelves, getting a jump on the rest of the public.