Choosing audiobooks : Storytel users’ selection of audiobooks

Abstract: The main objective for this study was to explore Storytel users’ selection of audiobooks to examine what search strategies and relevance aspects emerge in the relation to a digital book streaming service mobile application, and to examine how this application aids and influences its users in the search and selection of audiobooks. With the help of previous research on book selection and the concepts of search strategies and tactics, as well as the user-centered perspective on relevance and the concept of the digital paratext, five interviews with audiobook readers were analysed. The two major search approaches were known item search and browsing. The major difference compared to previous research on book selection was the new, additional component of the performing narrator. The narrator did not provide any new relevance aspects to the already identified in earlier studies, but rather, proved to be a component spread out on the already identified relevance aspects. Compared to previous research, the author of this study would, however, like to emphasis the relevance aspect of variation. The fact emerged that the readers used the book(s) read previously as a reference, but not necessarily as something they wanted more of or something similar to, but as something they liked something different from. In this desire for variation, the Storytel’s browsing and recommendations’ functions seemed to fall short and the context of the social world outside the app broke in as a helpful aspect of the audiobook selection.