findaway voices – Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast

SFFMP 200: Marketing and Selling Audiobooks, Plus Producing and Distributing them through Findaway Voices

September 25, 2018 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

This week, Will Dages from Findaway Voices joined us to talk about producing, marketing, and selling audiobooks and some of the new options out there for indie authors. Findaway handles both production of audiobooks (by connecting you with narrators and producers) and distribution to many stores where you wouldn’t be able to upload direct.

Here are some of the specifics that we discussed:

Where Findaway distributes audiobooks.
Some large players such as Kobo, Google Play, and Walmart that are getting into audiobooks.
Selling to libraries.
How you can distribute audiobooks both through them and with ACX/Audible (by choosing the non-exclusive option on Audible).
Taking advantage of their option to set your own price — 99 cents and free are allowed for short stories, series starters, etc.
How launching everything together (ebook, audiobook, and paperback) tends to help you sell a lot more audiobooks.
Setting up a launch even if you published your ebook and print edition long ago.
The drop-and-drip method for putting out a series of older books that you’re turning into audiobooks.
How Findaway helps set you up with potential narrators if you want to produce your audiobooks through them.
Uploading audiobooks that you produced elsewhere.
How often authors get paid and the $100 minimum threshold before payout.
Some of the challenges of promoting your audiobooks and what works to move the dial.
Subscription and credit-based purchase systems.
Creating audiobook bundles of your series to entice people with more hours.
Audiobook Boom as a promo site where you can basically trade audiobooks for reviews.
Findaway’s new Authors Direct platform where authors will be able to sell their audiobooks for a 70% royalty and direct listeners who want to redeem free books with codes.

If you’re interested, you can find out more at the Findaway Voices website or check them out on Twitter.

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audible, audiobooks, findaway voices, google play, marketing audiobooks

SFFMP 199: Rapid Release, Marketing Serials, and Going Non-Exclusive with Audiobooks

September 18, 2018 SFFpodcast Group Discussion, Podcast

Today, the guys took on a batch of listener questions that ran the gamut from what’s the best schedule for a rapid release of a trilogy to what kind of markets we’ve targeted with Facebook advertising to what to do (and not to do) when choosing a book title.

And in case you missed it last week, we have a 30% off coupon code for Brian Meek’s Amazon Ads course. For those interested in signing up, you can use the code of SFFMP30: Mastering Amazon Ads: An Author’s Course

Here’s a look at the questions the guys answered:

What’s the best lag time between books in a trilogy rapid release? Is it best to dump all at once? 1/week, 1/2-weeks, or longer in between.

In your ideal rapid release schedule, how many days/weeks/months apart would you release each new novel in a science fiction series?

Any tips for marketing epic fantasy novellas/novella serials?

How do you decide when a series and it’s spin-offs should end?

How does (Lindsay) keep romance from overtaking an adventure story?

For Facebook marketing, do you find one demographic marker more useful than it’s counter-parts? Ie: is it effective to target age, income, etc, or are your best results from targeting by interest? Do you still boost posts?

Are you planning your calendar for 2019? will you be at any conferences this year? I missed you at the Sell More Books Show summit this year, but I can go next year. 🙂 Do Jo and Jeff attend anything?

Promos: is there a deeper marketing reason to choose to run them only on selected markets, or does a world-wide one mean a world-wide bucket of headaches? (See: yours and Jo’s Bookbub books being at the same time discounted on .com and full price on .it)

Lindsay, I’d love to hear about how the blog-novel went. Did it impact the launch much? How about blog traffic? Was there a bump in your other books via affiliate blog links?

Which writing craft books help/have helped you?

What does your outlining process look like?

What’s your best advice for picking a novel’s title?

How do you decide what genre to list as if it’s a bit of everything?

How do you guys get a universal link for one of your Amazon books (Amazon only), or did you not bother? Specifically a link that will send UK readers to the UK store, US readers to the US store, etc. Or did you provide links for all the separate countries?

I would love to hear an updated list of which promo sites you use.

A lot of Book Funnel/Instafreebie group promos I see all have the same group of books, even if there is a “theme” to the promo. Have you seen anyone having success doing a more targeted and small group promo?

I’d like to hear how Patreon is going. Any tips or anything you’d do differently? (I’ve just set up Patreon with early release books + other rewards like personalized copies via Ingram.)

If you need something to read this week, check out Jo Lallo’s The Adventures of Rustle and Eddy.

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blogging a novel, boosted posts, Facebook marketing, findaway voices, kdp select, kindle unlimited, picking titles, serials

SFFMP 161: Handling Foreign Rights Yourself, When to Incorporate, and New Audiobook Options

December 12, 2017 SFFpodcast Group Discussion, Podcast

On today’s show, Jo, Jeff, and Lindsay answered some listener questions and shared their notes from the workshop that Jo and Lindsay attended in October, Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Katherine Rusch’s Business Masterclass. It was a week long workshop that covered dealing with Hollywood offers, handling foreign rights offers without an agent, increasing writing productivity, estate planning and tax stuff for authors (including when it makes sense to incorporate and which type of corporation in the US), and updates from Kobo on their plans to add audiobooks to their catalogue, among many other topics.

Here are some of the specifics of what the gang covered today:

Jo and Lindsay jumping into Patreon (right as Patreon changed their pricing structure and left folks in an uproar, of course!)
New podcasts that Lindsay is checking out: Kevin J Anderson’s Creative Futurism and Mark Coker’s Smart Author podcast out of Smashwords.
Whether NetGalley is useful for indie authors or primarily aimed at small presses.
If it’s okay to sell print and audiobooks in other stores if your ebooks are in KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited at Amazon.
Whether a pen name needs a separate social medial platform, website, and Goodreads account.
Whether an author with a new series ready to go should consider self-publishing or traditional publishing right now.
Saving money on taxes as a writer by incorporating.
The importance of getting an accountant that specializes in finances for creative people, such as authors, artists, musicians.
Keeping in mind that all the books you write are pieces of intellectual property and as such have some value.
Tips for hiring a virtual assistant (or nine).
Pricing for libraries if you’re trying to get your ebooks picked up by them.
Kobo to add audiobooks to its store.
Going non-exclusive with ACX or producing an audiobook through Findaway Voices in order to take advantage of some of the other up-and-coming markets besides iTunes/Amazon/Audible. Also being able to choose your price in these other marketplaces.
Why you may want to set up your books at IngramSpark as well as CreateSpace.
Why you don’t need an agent to negotiate on foreign rights deals.
Waiting for publishers in other countries to approach you versus methods of gaining their attention.
What to expect from foreign rights sales in terms of money and reception of your books in other countries.