Recorded Books is an audiobook imprint of RBMedia , a publishing company with operations in countries globally. Recorded Books was formerly an independent audiobook company before being purchased and re-organized under RBMedia, where it is now an imprint. Recorded Books was founded in 1978 by Henry Trentman, one of the pioneers in the audiobook industry.
18-621: Recorded Books was founded in 1978 by Henry Trentman in Charlotte Hall, Maryland . Trentman was a salesman who spent a lot of his time driving and listening to the radio and he believed there was a market for better quality recorded books on cassette tape targeted to commuters. Unlike other audiobooks sold at the time, which were usually abridged to 2–4 hours long, Trentman envisioned unabridged productions of 20 or more tapes which could be rented mail-order, and that would be of high quality sound and professional narrators. The company's first recording
36-434: A 1995 article, it was reported Recorded Books had produced 1,600 books. In 2004, it was reported that of Recorded Books' 800 new unabridged titles per year, 650 are released to libraries/schools/mail order/rental. Fifty of those 650 titles are made available for the retail sales market. Of the 800 new titles, 150 titles are sold only into the U.K. market. First quarter 2004 had more than $ 16 million in net sales. In January 2014,
54-463: A brand established in the truck stop market to tie in with 650 rental kiosks in truck stop centers Recorded Books previously had. In January 2014, it was announced that Haights Cross sold Recorded Books to Wasserstein & Co. , an independent private equity and investment firm in New York and Los Angeles. In May 2014, Recorded Books acquired HighBridge Audio from Workman Publishing . HighBridge Audio
72-604: A deal for Blackstone Audio to exclusively manufacture, sell and distribute their physical media audiobook titles (CD & MP3) to consumers, retail, distribution and libraries in North America. Although Recorded Books is not a public company, they have released some operations and sales figures over the years that provide a sense of the company's growth and size. According to a 2004 article, most of Recorded Books' 330 employees were based in Maryland, with 15 staff in New York, 15 in
90-551: A press release said Recorded Books had over 13,500 audiobook titles. In January 2015, after the acquisition of Tantor Media, Recorded Books a catalog of more than 22,000 titles. In August 2015, after the acquisition by Shamrock Advisors, the company reported publishing 3,000 new books annually with catalog of 25,000 titles. Charlotte Hall, Maryland Charlotte Hall is a census-designated place (CDP) in Charles and St. Mary's counties , Maryland , United States. The population
108-414: Is an audiobook publishing imprint of Random House which emphasizes unabridged audiobook recordings for schools and libraries. It was previously an independent California-based company before its acquisition by Random House, in 2001. The company was founded by Olympic gold medalist Duvall Hecht in 1975 as a direct to consumer mail order rental service for unabridged audiobooks on cassette tape . It
126-495: The 1990s, it created an in-house sales department and a department to focus on schools and education. In 1997, Recorded Books began selling directly to the U.K. and by 1999 the company had launched W.F. Howes Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary in the U.K. Recorded Books was acquired by Haights Cross Communications in December 1999, where Recorded Books operated as a division of that company. In 2002, Haights Cross acquired Audio Adventures,
144-610: The CDP has a total area of 5.1 square miles (13 km ), all land. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,214 people, 317 households, and 239 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 237.8 inhabitants per square mile (91.8/km ). There were 332 housing units at an average density of 65.0 per square mile (25.1/km ). The racial makeup of the CDP was 76.03% White , 20.18% African American , 0.91% Native American , 0.08% Asian , 0.08% Pacific Islander , and 2.72% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.58% of
162-713: The Nightingale Floor . In January 2015, Recorded Books announced its acquisition of Tantor Media Later in 2015, Wasserstein sold Recorded Books to Shamrock Advisors, a private equity firm. In April 2017 the company reorganized. The new company name is RBMedia and its imprints include Recorded Books, HighBridge Audio, Tantor Media, ChristianAudio, Gildan Media, W.F. Howes (UK), and Wavesound (Australia). It would sell or distribute titles directly to customers through audiobooks.com, through libraries and resellers such as Audible . As of 2017, Recorded Books operates as an imprint of RBMedia . In June 2020, Recorded Books announced
180-567: The United Kingdom and a number of sales representatives around the United States. Studio director Claudia Howard who had been with the company since 1984 oversaw operations. In a 1989 newspaper article, it was reported that Recorded Books had about 450 titles in its catalog, versus about 2,500 from its main competitor Books on Tape (BoT), but that Recorded Books focused more on the quality of its sound recordings than BoT did. Six years later in
198-543: The adjacent community of Mechanicsville . A former large sprawling flea market complex was demolished in 2024. A U.S. Veterans Affairs clinic is across the highway from the Veterans Home. Charlotte Hall is located at 38°28′38″N 76°46′35″W / 38.47722°N 76.77639°W / 38.47722; -76.77639 (38.477210, −76.776323). According to the United States Census Bureau ,
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#1732868815480216-403: The average family size was 3.15. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 18.1% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 21.1% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 33.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 50 years. For every 100 females, there were 150.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 170.1 males. The median income for a household in the CDP
234-517: The first six years, Trentman worked at Recorded Books part-time since the company did not generate enough revenue to justify his coming on full-time. Later, as the company grew during the 1980s, it opened a new recording facility in New York City near Times Square . According to The New Yorker (2012): In the 1980s, the company established its headquarters in Prince Frederick, Maryland . In
252-406: The population. There were 317 households, out of which 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.8% were married couples living together, 15.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.3% were non-families. 15.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.82 and
270-410: Was $ 51,111, and the median income for a family was $ 49,167. Males had a median income of $ 33,056 versus $ 21,071 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $ 17,882. About 14.5% of families and 19.2% of the population were below the poverty line , including 33.0% of those under age 18 and 5.6% of those age 65 or over. Books on Tape (company) Books on Tape (sometimes abbreviated BoT )
288-574: Was 1,420 at the 2010 census. The Maryland Veterans Home for disabled veterans, is located on the site of the former Charlotte Hall Military Academy . The Academy site was declared the Charlotte Hall Historic District , and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Since 1940, a sizable Amish farming community has existed nearby, along with numerous strip mall businesses along Maryland Route 5 continuing into
306-579: Was in 1979 as The Sea-Wolf by Jack London narrated by Frank Muller , a local actor at Washington DC's Arena Stage . Muller remembered "this traveling salesman who had a crazy idea about recording books onto cassettes and marketing them to commuters." Muller would remain one of Recorded Books' most prolific and popular narrators over the years. At first, the book titles were in the public domain, such as Jack London. However, after Recorded Books picked professional stage actor Alexander Spencer to narrate books, they began branching out into copyright works. For
324-664: Was initially founded by Minnesota Public Radio in the early 1980s to produce and distribute recordings of Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion . Since then, HighBridge produced approximately 45 titles a year in the forms of spoken word audio cassettes, CDs and downloadable audio books. The company was best known for publishing public-radio related titles, as well as Oprah's Book Club titles. HighBridge made use of two readers in its audio book production for works primarily involving two main characters. Other popular titles published by HighBridge included The Time Traveler's Wife , Water for Elephants , Life of Pi and Across
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