I'm excited to announce that our collaborative book (myself and 15 other contributors) called Practicing Lean is now available as an audio book!
About the Audio Book
In the audio book version, I'm the one reading Chapters 1 and 2, as the author of those chapters.
Here's a short sample of Chapter 1 (which runs about 19 minutes in total, unabridged):
Hear Mark read this post — subscribe to Lean Blog Audio
Chapter 5 is also read by its author, Paul Akers.
He posted the entire chapter's audio on YouTube, with some photos. You can also listen to the chapter here:
Other chapters have been professionally read by a volunteer, Samantha Leigh). I thank her for initiating the audio book effort. This wouldn't have ever gotten started without her. Samantha is the daughter of Mike Leigh, who wrote Chapter 15. She is currently working on her undergraduate degree in neuroscience and psychology. Samantha enjoys recording professional voice over work and hopes to continue this interest in the future.
Here is Samantha reading part of Michael Lombard‘s chapter:
I hope you enjoy the book. Best wishes to you as you begin, or continue, “Practicing Lean.”
Update: The full book has been released as of August 29.
Innovative In-Progress Publishing
As with many LeanPub.com publications, the Practicing Lean book was originally published and made available for sale through their platform when the book consisted of just a few chapters. Chapters were added and early buyers received updates. Listen to my podcasts with the LeanPub co-founders about their concept of “Lean publishing.”
Now that the book is complete (and also available through Amazon as a paperback and in Kindle format), the audio book is being initially released as “in-progress” — the audio book today contains just half the book. Samantha is a busy student and she's doing this as a volunteer, so new chapters will be made available over time – for no additional charge to those of you who buy early.
A rep from LeanPub told me that he thinks this is first time somebody has made a partial, in-progress audio book available through their platform.
How to Buy
Right now, the only option is to buy the audio book through LeanPub.com.
Click here and select the option that says “The Book + MP3 Audio Book.”
As per LeanPub.com style, you can “choose your price” within certain ranges (or click to enter a price). Remember, all proceeds from the book (and this audio book) are being donated to the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation. Learn more and visit their website at www.louisebatz.org. As of 5/1/17, $1700 has been raised and donated through the sale of eBooks and paperback copies.
You'll be able to download the MP3 files and you'll get an email with those links.
If you bought the eBook already, I sent a reader/buyer update that included a discount code that you could use on the audio book if you wanted to add that.
If you're not happy with it, LeanPub.com has a really customer-friendly return policy.
Again, if you buy the audio book now, you'll get updates when new files are available for download, at no additional charge.
I'm also considering making this available through Audible.com or selling the files directly through my website.
Or, if you donate $20 or more directly to the Batz Foundation, contact me and send a copy of the donation receipt and I'll give you a digital coupon that allows you to download this for free.
This is my first time creating an audio book. It's an experiment. I'm learning a lot in the process. I've had a few buyers already (thank you!) and the LeanPub.com platform makes it easy for me to tweak or improve the audio book in many ways.
About the Book, In General
To learn more about this book and its contributors, visit www.practicinglean.com. See also some past blog posts about the project, including some chapter excerpts from the other 15 authors.
Audio Book Credits:
Intro music is courtesy of bensound.com
“Thinking Music” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
What do you think? Please scroll down (or click) to post a comment. Or please share the post with your thoughts on LinkedIn – and follow me or connect with me there.
Did you like this post? Make sure you don't miss a post or podcast — Subscribe to get notified about posts via email daily or weekly.
Check out my latest book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation:
I got a question earlier… yes, currently the only way to buy the audio book is to buy a “bundle” of the eBook plus the audio book.
I can explore other ways to make “just the audio book” available in the future. LeanPub.com was the quickest and easiest way to “get to market” and probably the best place to have half the book.
Once it’s fully completed, I’ll look at other platforms for selling it, etc.