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On May 3, 2025, Kasie welcomed Kristen Tiede back into the studio for a discussion on types of books and reasons to select them. Here are the show notes:

Theme for the day

Storytelling Modalities

Agenda

• Introduction of special guest
• Modalities
• What makes a good story
• Ways to access all these modalities

Segment 1

Rex is on his grand tour of the East Coast so today I’ve invited another special guest, Kristen Tiede, my sister who has appeared once before on a Special Episode where we kind of piloted a podcast concept: Did You Know? It was super random and kind of all over the place. We liked it but it could use some refining.

So today we decided to stay on topic for Write On SC and talk about books instead. Specifically, all the different ways to consume books. These are called modalities and they’re more popular than ever as people have access to a number of different outlets. So we’re going to talk about our favorite ways to read and whether or not listening is the same as reading and some other stuff like that.

But first, Kristen, tell us about yourself.

Segment 2

So modalities on stories include:

Genres – like nonfiction, fiction, biography, thriller, romance

Forms – like short story, novella, novel, full-length manuscript, serialized prose

Access – like hardback, paperback, digital (Kindle), audio book

There are advantages and disadvantages to each. For example, you can do other stuff while listening to an audio book, but if you have to hold the book, you’re likely to just be sitting still. Maybe walking on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike, but I wouldn’t suggest trying to read while driving.

Short stories are good because you can get an entire completed work in a small amount of time – waiting in line, having your hair done, walking the neighborhood. But novels are good for the richness of the characters and plot and the anticipation of what will happen tomorrow when you’re finally able to get back to it. Unless you’re a binge reader, and I know some, who will finish a book in one sitting.

Segment 3

We’ll likely fill segments 2 and 3 with talking through our favorites and why certain genres lend themselves to specific modalities.

We’ll also likely call out some specific audio books that we enjoyed for the experience such as:

Green Lights by Matthew McConaughey

Bossypants by Tina Fey

When the author reads their own nonfiction work it can be really engaging.

We’ll also likely talk about the accessibility of books and how making it easier to get – thank you, Audible – has made it more popular to consume. 

Is listening to an audiobook considered reading? For the answer, I went to Google’s AI “Gemini”:

From the Fairfax County library:

The first-ever audio book is as old as the phonograph itself as Edison recited a nursery rhyme to test the device! Fast-forward to today and the Grammy awards now have a “spoken word” category that rewards audiobooks. 

• Comprehension
• Accessibility
• Cognitive Benefits
• Enjoying Literature

Segment 4

So what if you’re a writer with a novel and you want to make it into an audiobook?

You can record and publish your own audiobook. The SCWA virtual conference in August will have a workshop on performing your work, so if you plan to do it yourself, you should take that workshop. You can also hire a narrator. Keep in mind that sound quality matters. Here are some links to tutorials on how to do the audiobook thing yourself:

Kindle’s version

Speechify’s version