Changing the way we read
Company: Red Planet Audiobooks
Location: Austin, Texas
Website: redplanetaudiobooks.com
Toby Heidel calls himself a futurist. He's also founder and CEO of Red Planet Audiobook, which has gotten a huge boost from iPhone and iPad users.
Indie authors and small presses partner with the company (employing just a dozen people) to offer downloadable audio versions of their manuscripts. These are mostly available through iTunes. Between eight and 15 books are added to its library monthly. Most of those fall into the self-help category or fringe/alternative topics like romance or sci-fi.
"A lot of traditional publishers have not seen the value in it," said Heidel.
Launching in November 2007, just a few months after the first generation iPhone, was no accident. "Apple changed how people listen to books. All of a sudden, people are listening to spoken-word products -- and they are all digital," he said, citing the shared annoyance of shuffling through CDs to listen to "books on tape."
"I can say without a doubt that the success of Apple's products has made our business viable."
He's also a huge fan of Jobs. "The chutzpah that he has shown, the single-mindedness as CEO," said Heidel. "There's a real coherent vision to the company. As a small business person, you get pulled in a lot of directions. But he's a shining example of someone who marches to the beat of his own drum."
