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23-456: GraphicAudio began in 2004 as an independent company. GraphicAudio is located in Rockville, Maryland and produces everything in its own production studios, duplication and distribution facility. In March 2020, RBMedia acquired GraphicAudio. The audio production facility has been around since 1971. In addition to producing audiobooks , GraphicAudio has an onsite manufacturing facility and

46-437: 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,

69-471: 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

92-617: 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

115-465: 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. Recorded Books was founded in 1978 by Henry Trentman in Charlotte Hall, Maryland . Trentman

138-683: A sound preservation laboratory. GraphicAudio has produced Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War and The Serrano Legacy series and Elmer Kelton's Texas Ranger Series. In 2007, DC Comics and GraphicAudio released the audio book versions of Infinite Crisis and 52 . In 2008 and 2009, GraphicAudio released a series of Justice League of America audiobooks, followed in May 2009 by an audiobook version of Crisis on Infinite Earths , and that summer by Batman: Dead White and Batman: Inferno . GraphicAudio has since released Countdown , Final Crisis , Batman: No Man's Land , and other titles. The most recent DC release

161-532: Is an audiobook publishing company with sales globally. Headquartered in Landover, Maryland , it claims to be the largest audiobook publisher in the world. The company was founded in 2017 through the acquisition of independent audiobook companies, which now operate as imprints of RBMedia. Among them are: Recorded Books , Tantor Media , HighBridge Audio, ChristianAudio, Gildan Media, W.F. Howes, Wavesound, GraphicAudio . With studios in New York and elsewhere, it

184-579: Is based near the former Recorded Books headquarters. After being assembled by Shamrock Advisors and controlled by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts , it was acquired in September 2023 by H.I.G. Capital and Francisco Partners . Recorded Books (later to be the "RB" in RBMedia) was founded in Maryland in 1978 and was a pioneer in the industry. When it was acquired in December 1999 by Haights Cross Communications,

207-447: 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,

230-718: The Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon and Groot Steal The Galaxy! In 2015, The Death of Captain America , Secret Wars , X-Men: Days of Future Past , Avengers: Everyone Wants to Rule the World , and Ant Man: Natural Enemy were released. GraphicAudio produces USA Today bestselling author William W. Johnstone's Western and Action Adventure series such as Eagles, Blood Bond, The First Mountain Man, The Last Gunfighter, The Mountain Man (Smoke Jensen) and Sidewinders . Some of

253-724: 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

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276-584: 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

299-532: The audiobook self-publisher Author’s Republic, including its traditional audiobook subsidiary Novel Audio. In January 2022, it purchased the German audiobook publisher ABOD, with works to be published under the RBmedia Verlag brand. In 2023, it was announced that KKR sold RBMedia to H.I.G. Capital and Francisco Partners . Recorded Books Recorded Books is an audiobook imprint of RBMedia ,

322-734: The company operated as its division. Eight months after purchasing HighBridge Audio from Workman Publishing , the division announced the acquisition of Tantor Media in January 2015. Later the same year, Recorded Books was sold to Shamrock Advisors, a private equity firm . When it was organized in April 2017 and became known as RBMedia, its imprints included 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, libraries, and resellers such as Audible . In

345-487: The distribution of digital content. RBMedia and OverDrive are both owned by KKR, with KKR's OverDrive purchase concluded in June 2020. The sale of RBMedia's library division to OverDrive represents a merger of KKR's related assets. In March 2021, RBMedia acquired Booka, a Barcelona -based audiobook publishing company rebranded as BookaVivo. In May, the company acquired McGraw-Hill Professional 's audiobook business including

368-470: The entire catalog of previously published titles and exclusive rights to all future titles. In August 2021, RBMedia launched Ascent Audio for business focused books. The catalog includes audiobooks from the previous acquisition of Gildan Media and McGraw-Hill Professional. It claimed to be the world's largest catalog of business audiobooks. In December, a month after announcing that it had sold Audiobooks.com to Storytel for $ 135 million, RBMedia acquired

391-537: 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

414-832: The month that its new name was revealed, the company acquired Audiobooks.com , which would launch in the UK six months later. In September 2017, RBMedia purchased Gildan Media, a business book publisher. In July 2018, Shamrock Advisors sold the company to private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). In March 2020, RBMedia acquired GraphicAudio , a producer of immersive full-cast and sound-effect productions with brands such as Marvel Comics , DC Comics , Dynamite Entertainment , Vault Comics and authors such as Brandon Sanderson , Peter V. Brett , Michael J. Sullivan , R. A. Salvatore , William W. Johnstone , and Brent Weeks . Three months later, it sold its library assets to OverDrive, Inc. ; this includes RBDigital, an app and service for

437-807: The series and titles published are A Town Called Fury, Blood Bond, Blood Valley, Border Empire Trilogy, Dante Valentine, DC Comics , Deathlands , Deathstalker , The Demon Wars Saga , The Destroyer (novel series) , Dragon King Trilogy, Doomsday Warrior , Eagles, Earth Blood, Elantris , Executioner , The First Mountain Man, The Forrest Kingdom Saga, The Gospel of Mark , Jackknife, The Last Gunfighter , The Loner, Mack Bolan , Mark Dalton (series), Mistborn , The Mountain Man, The Night Angel Trilogy , North America's Forgotten Past , Outlanders , The Riyria Revelations , Rogue Angel , The Serrano Legacy , Sidewinders , Sons of Texas , Stony Man , The Survivalist , Texas Rangers, Vampire Earth , Vatta's War , Wayne of Gotham and Warbreaker . RBMedia RBMedia

460-620: Was Its Superman! in March 2014. In 2012, GraphicAudio confirmed they would also be releasing audiobook versions of Marvel Comics Prose Novels from March 2013 onward. These were Civil War and a Marvel Pocket Spider-Man focused novel entitled Drowned In Thunder . Over 2014, the Marvel Pocket novels The Ultimates: Tomorrow Men and The Ultimates: Against All Enemies were released, followed by Iron Man: Extremis , Astonishing X-Men: Gifted , New Avengers: Breakout , and Guardians of

483-474: 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

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506-584: 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

529-665: 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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