marketing audiobooks – Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast

SFFMP 223: Marketing Audiobooks, Pen Names, Differences in Distributors, and What to Do When You Just Have One Book

March 12, 2019 SFFpodcast Group Discussion, Podcast

The guys are taking a break from the podcast (if you have comments or suggestions for what you’d like to see if we bring it back in a couple of months, please leave them!), but we answered another pile of listener questions today amid a few doggie interruptions, ahem.

Here are the specific questions we addressed:

How do you approach marketing an audiobook? Advertising specifically to audiobook listeners? Or reliance on general traffic to your product page combined with having the audiobook simultaneously with ebook release?
Would any of you consider doing another “start from scratch” pen name experiment?
Let’s say an indie author has exactly one (1) book out. Let’s also say they didn’t do the rapid release thing at *all*, nor much in the way of ads. Is the best practice still “finish the series and build a backlist”? Or should they try some ads?
1. Is $2.99 too much to ask for a 60k urban fantasy as a new writer? 2. Do you guys have any tips on what you would do if you were starting out as a new author?
What is the difference between Draft to Digital and Publish Drive? (Joanna Penn’s episode with the founder of Publish Drive.)
Do any of you use photos of yourself in the “about the author” section of your books like trade pub does?
ISBNs – Should we get our own or just use the free ones provided by Amazon, etc? What’s the difference? Pros and cons of each?
Affiliate links – What do they do? Where do we get them? Proper usage?
Writing workshops – How can writers find them? Is there a way to see if they are good/worth the money? Are there online options?
Top 100 – What does it mean to be in the top 100? What can be learned by looking at the top 100 in genres we might be writing in?
What kind of checklist of things do each of you do when preparing to release a book? IE Reviewing editorial notes, getting a copyright…
You mentioned in the most recent episode that you thought Also Boughts on Amazon might be on the way out. Does that mean pen names aren’t important anymore? If they are, is it worth republishing books under pen names if they aren’t the same genres?

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affiliate links, also-boughts, amazon, distributors, draft 2 digital, isbns, marketing audiobooks, pen names, pricing, publish drive, urban fantasy

SFFMP 219: Launching a New Pen Name and Getting an Audiobook Deal with Audible

February 5, 2019 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

For this week’s show, sci-fi/fantasy/horror author Chris Philbrook joined us to talk about the success he’s had with ebooks and audiobooks (he’s had several deals with Audible for production), as well as a new YA-writing pen name that he’s starting up.

Here are some of the specifics that we discussed:

Publishing fiction to your website and building a readership before starting to publish.
Some of the challenges with publishing series in several different sub-genres.
How Chris was originally picked up by Audible and how audiobooks have become a substantial part of his income.
His experiences with an audiobook publisher and also DIY-ing it through ACX.
What marketing he’s done to help his audiobooks sell.
Chris’s experience with paying for Kirkus reviews and if it’s worth it.
His experience with Amazon exclusivity and Kindle Unlimited versus taking some of his books wide.
Why he decided to start a pen name for his YA fiction even though he’s already written in numerous genres under his regular name.
Some of the challenges of starting again from scratch and creating a second internet presence.
Experimenting with Instagram to attract younger readers.
The advantage of a simultaneous release for the ebook, paperback, and audiobook.
When it makes sense for a newer author to invest in audiobook production.

You can find Chris on his website or check out his books on Amazon. You can also follow what he’s doing with his pen name by looking up W. J. Orion. The first book, The Phone, comes out in March.

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audible, chris philbrook, marketing audiobooks, pen names, zombies

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 31: Producing and Marketing Audiobooks with Simon Whistler

May 19, 2015 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

We got up early to chat with Simon Whistler (who’s currently living in Prague) today. He’s the host of The Rocking Self Publishing Podcast and also the author of Bootstrapping for Indies (Self Publishing on a Budget) and Audiobooks for Indies (The One-Stop Guide for Authors Looking to Make More Money Selling Audiobooks). It’s because of that last book and because of his experience with narrating audiobooks that we wanted to have him on the show. We hadn’t covered marketing (or producing) audiobooks yet, and Simon knows a ton!

The first half of the show is all about finding a narrator and getting your audiobook produced using Amazon’s ACX platform (we also covered equipment and potential pitfalls you should be aware of if you want to do it yourself). In the second half of the show, we got into the marketing side of things.

Here’s some of what we covered related to production:

What is ACX and how does it work to connect authors to narrators/producers?
The royalty-splitting option, for those doing it on a budget, versus the flat-fee-per-finished-hour option
How to get a $100/hour stipend from ACX to make your royalty split option more appealing to narrators
What equipment and software authors need if they’re going to produce their own audiobook (Simon uses a Rode Podcaster USB Dynamic Microphone and has also heard good things about the less expensive Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB Cardioid Dynamic USB/XLR Microphone. For software, he uses the free Audacity).
Hours verses finished hours and just how much work really goes into producing an audiobook (not to mention doing all those different character voices!)

Here’s what we talked about related to marketing:

Which genres seem to do best in audiobook form (hint: longer books are often more appealing, because most Audible customers pay for credits that get them a book a month, so the longer, higher priced books seem to be better deals).
Making use of the 25 review copies that Audible gives you (and how to make sure the people you give those codes to buy your book instead of someone else’s!). Make sure to check out Simon’s video on Making Better Use of Audible’s Promotional Codes. You can also pick up his Audiobooks for Indies ebook for even more information.
How ACX allows you to share a fifteen minute sample on YouTube, your site, social media, etc. Simon recommends grabbing a scintillating few minutes from the middle rather than the title, acknowledgements, etc.
AudaVoxx, a site where you can list audiobook giveaways.
Taking advantage of Audible’s free-first-book-with-a-subscription policy to entice your mailing list subscribers to grab your book, even if they’ve never been Audible members before and don’t usually buy audiobooks.
The importance of reviews (yes, the ones that are specifically for the audiobook are what you need here)
If there are any sites out there like Bookbub that can help authors sell their audiobooks (alas, the answer is not yet, largely because authors can’t control pricing on their audiobooks and put them on sale)