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Inspired by Chris Fox's money... :)

8K views 26 replies 16 participants last post by  Mark E. Cooper 
#1 ·
Well sort of. My income is low 6 figures. I'm not going to share dollar amounts as my accountant might be watching, but I feel okay showing the vendor split. Bearing in mind my new book was only just released and those sales won't appear yet, I'm expecting a major upswing in Amazon and Audible sales when the Zon let's me have that cash.

 
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#6 ·
My Dog's Servant said:
Fantastic! And thanks for sharing. Hope that audio share means you've recovered from the damage done by Whispersync.
Whispersync did scare me when I started out, but it actually increased sales while lowering royalties a little. Overall I earned more because of it. What impeded my audio income the most was the loss of visibility when Amazon moved the free list and introduced KU 1.0 That halved my audio income at a stroke. I released boxed sets to counter it, and regained my mojo, but then KU 2.0 came along and halved my audio income again.

I know free boosts my audio because I recently reset my book 1s to free for the hols. I had 100s of DLs a day for a week or so, and my audio sales shot back up to the good ol' days' levels. Also when I have a bookbub I get 100s of "extra" audio sales, so price/visibility IS a huge issue with audio.

There still aren't enough promo opportunities for audiobooks. Without price control there's little I can do outside of promoting the ebooks linked to them. I often get asked about audio. To save time I have a swipe file I copy and paste, so here it is:

Congratulations on getting audiobooks done. The hard bit is marketing these things, but the rewards can be epic. Can be. The problem is, there aren't any Bookbubs for audio. The closest is www.audiobookboom.com (used to be audiobookblast) This is the site run by our own Jeffrey Kafer, who posts here quite a bit. He's an ACX narrator.

So reviews are important for audio.
When the book goes live, ACX will send you 25 free codes to give to reviewers. If you're a UK author, the codes are for UK. If you're a US author, the codes are for USA store. There are no codes for the iTunes store. So about a week after the book goes live, the codes arrive. DO NOT WAIT. The moment it goes live, email support@acx.com using the same email address you use in your acx account and be nice. Say "My new book xyz has just gone live. I'm so excited. I have all kinds of promo scheduled. Can I have 25 codes for the UK store, and 25 codes of the US store please?"

The codes will arrive within a few hours, when used, you get full royalty. Don't worry. First, ask your mailing list for help. Offer a free audio book if they will send you an email with a valid email address. If they do, send them a code with ACX's instructions. (I used to gift the book rather than give codes, but Audible is cracking down -- Ask Amanda)

ALSO, those codes are used with audiobookboom.com. Get people interested. Audiobookboom sends you details, you can send the promo code to their emails. Facebook ads work well for me. DO them the way Mark Dawson tells you to do Kindle books. Series do best in audio as they do in kindle. Boxed sets are big on audio too, but DO NOT do one until your individual sales have slowed. Give it around 9 months. Then bundle, and it's like a new book. All the Facebook ads go on it, now.

Last of all is a brand new thing called Send This Book. It's US only, and accessed from within the US audible app. Call up your book, click the 3 dots top right, click Send This Book, and choose your own email address. You'll get an email and a link. Save that link, and use it with a boosted post on Facebook. The BIG WARNING here is that Audible say they honour the first 10 copies of a book (was 100). So you only get royalties for those. Any other copies sent out, are like a free promo. This is quite new. I did this the moment it went live and made a LOT of money, but Audible have gotten wise and changed the numbers of books allowed. I made over $8000 in a few days, before they changed it.

To get the special link, it's long winded process if you're in the UK like me. If you're in the US though: buy your own book at audible US store. download it via the audible app.
Play the book and pause.
Click the 3 dots at the top left.
Choose "share this book" enter a friend's email address and send.
Your friend will receive a special link. The first 10 (was 100) friends to claim a book, can claim it and Audible pay the writer a royalty, and a bounty if the friend later becomes an Audible member.
We are allowed to use text, email, social media, but NOT mailing lists.

For Audio reviews:
http://audiobookboom.com/
https://www.facebook.com/audiobookboom/?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/groups/freeaudiobookgiveways/?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/audiobookjungle

ACX questions

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,208923.0.html
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,212160.0.html
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,207665.0.html
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,208701.0.html
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,203324.0.html
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,207695.0.html
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,206773.0.html
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,205897.0.html
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,201918.0.html
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,205417.0.html
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,198098.0.html
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,223304.0.html <==ACX 6 weeks on
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,173413.0.html <==Joe Nobody's Non-US Author workaround
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,196018.0.html <==Good audition practice
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,195751.0.html <==Mikael Naramore narrator
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,189148.0.html <==Why you should try ACX, I mean really

Mark, do you create your own boxed sets?
Yes I use ACX. You need to bundle the entire series, OR the first 3/4 books. You can't do both. Audible allows only ONE audio boxed set per series, so choose wisely. Once done, it can't be undone.

Go to your ACX creation section. Got to each book you want in your boxset. Download each chapter and one of the samples. You won't need the intros or outros.
Find the boxed set on kindle in the create new audiobook tab. Claim it. Fill in the details and the DIY agreement.

The upload tab will be waiting for you.
Upload a new intro names 000 intro
Upload all the chapters of book one making sure they are numbered right Chapter 01, Chapter 02 etc
Upload a linking file to introduce book 2 it will be numbered Chapter 041 if the last chapter of book 1 was Chapter 40
Upload all the chapters of book 2 keeping the numbers sequential
Upload a linking file to intro book 3
Upload all the chapters of book 3 keeping the numbers sequential
Upload an outro file ending the boxed set, and asking people to subscribe to your newsletter.
Upload your sample
Upload your cover
Click done when you are SURE all the files are there and numbered correctly.

QC begins

NEW FILE SCRIPTS
Intro is like this:
"Merkiaari Wars books 1-3 written by Mark E. Cooper. Narrated by Mikael Narramore" {pause} "Book 1: Hard Duty" {pause}

Linking files
"Book 2: What Price Honour written by Mark E. Cooper. Narrated by Mikael Narramore" {pause}

"Book 3: Operation Oracle written by Mark E. Cooper. Narrated by Mikael Narramore" {pause}

Outro file:
"Thank you for listening to the Merkiaari Wars books 1-3 written by Mark E. Cooper. Narrated by Mikael Narramore"
Copyright Impulse Books UK. For more titles by Mark, please subscribe to his newsletter at
www.impulsebooks.co.uk"

NUMBERING:
Intro = 000
book 1 = 001 to 041
segue file intro book 2 = 042
book 2 043 to 080
segue file intro book 3 = 081
book 3 082 to 110
outro = 111
 
#9 ·
Face4Audio said:
What is this "cracking down" of which you speak? I'm still gifting books(as of at least a couple days ago). I did see that the youtube Rocking Self-Publishing video(on how to gift the books) went away recently.
This is hearsay evidence at most, but some have had their accounts frozen for using the codes the way we all prefer. Amanda confirmed this to me not long ago, so I no longer recommend "cheating" the ACX codes. I admit it will mean a lot of codes lost, but as they're free I guess we can't complain too hard.
 
#12 ·
How do your sales break down across Genre's? Several of your books appear to lean more towards 'romance' and are definitely pursuing the woman readers demographic. How much of your sales market does that make up?
 
#13 ·
Hey, Mark -- thanks for posting. In that spirit, here is my graph. Sorry about the tiny font for the titles but I had a difficult time getting it right.



I made almost $250,000 this year so you can do the maths if anyone wants. Amazon dominates. Print is miniscule.
 
#16 ·
John Van Stry said:
How do your sales break down across Genre's? Several of your books appear to lean more towards 'romance' and are definitely pursuing the woman readers demographic. How much of your sales market does that make up?
None are romance. I write sci-fi, epic fantasy, urban fantasy (shifters no man chest), and supernatural suspense (that's Rune Gate, psychics/ghosts) Roughly 80% of sales are my sci-fi.
 
#17 ·
Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake' said:
Mark, when you say we're not allowed to use mailing lists, what exactly does that mean? I was planning on using the codes to revive my mailing list by offering them to anyone who confirms their interest by email so I would be sending them out individually.
Not allowed to use the "Send this book" special link in a mail blast so thousands can use the same one. The codes are 1 code per person. You can ask for volunteers from your list to review an audio book and send them a code, and you SHOULD do that.
 
#19 ·
So now we're doing pie charts? Oh boy, I'm sunk. I have no idea how to do that. In fact, it a new year and I'm still trying to figure out how to keep track of which books are selling where. Do you download all the reports monthly and then put them in a spreadsheet? If so, can you give me an example of how the spreadsheet is set up (Headers, etc.). I know how to work with spreadsheets, just not how to enter the information correctly so the data is useful. I have over 40 titles and its a nightmare.

Marti
 
#20 ·
Martitalbott said:
So now we're doing pie charts? Oh boy, I'm sunk. I have no idea how to do that. In fact, it a new year and I'm still trying to figure out how to keep track of which books are selling where. Do you download all the reports monthly and then put them in a spreadsheet? If so, can you give me an example of how the spreadsheet is set up (Headers, etc.). I know how to work with spreadsheets, just not how to enter the information correctly so the data is useful. I have over 40 titles and its a nightmare.

Marti
You should have tried making a chart in Lotus years ago. That was so much fun ... not.
 
#21 ·
Mark E. Cooper said:
This is hearsay evidence at most, but some have had their accounts frozen for using the codes the way we all prefer. Amanda confirmed this to me not long ago, so I no longer recommend "cheating" the ACX codes. I admit it will mean a lot of codes lost, but as they're free I guess we can't complain too hard.
Sorry, I don't know Amanda. Maybe she will chime in here...? I emailed support @ acx & got this:
"ACX is not aware of any action that Audible will take to prevent Producers and Rights Holders from using promo codes to gift audiobooks.
However, Audible already has Terms and Conditions in place, regarding the use of promo codes to gift audiobooks. Please see the link below from the ACX Help Center.
Can I use my promo codes to send my book as a gift?
http://audible-acx.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6965/kw/promo%20codes "

<<....and what that link says is, no you CAN NOT use your codes that way. The editor in me wants to change that to "MAY not..." because clearly one CAN...but that would be wrong, very wrong... }:)

(sorry, this may be a side point on this thread, but it's got me buggin')
 
#23 ·
Martitalbott said:
So now we're doing pie charts? Oh boy, I'm sunk. I have no idea how to do that. In fact, it a new year and I'm still trying to figure out how to keep track of which books are selling where. Do you download all the reports monthly and then put them in a spreadsheet? If so, can you give me an example of how the spreadsheet is set up (Headers, etc.). I know how to work with spreadsheets, just not how to enter the information correctly so the data is useful. I have over 40 titles and its a nightmare.

Marti
I created my own excel sheets by trial and error. I gradually added more and more stuff until they have everything I want. I would give you a copy, but it wouldn't work very well because they are linked together using previous year's sheets to make year trend graphs. If I took out all the linking code it would be a bit pants and not worth it to you.

I hear that the online thing that collates all dashboards into one dash is good, but I'm too scared to put all my passwords in anyone else's hands. I am CERTAIN they are trustworthy, but any website can be hacked. If I'm hacked, 1 account might be compromised. If they are hacked, ALL my accounts will be.
 
#24 ·
Mark E. Cooper said:
I created my own excel sheets by trial and error. I gradually added more and more stuff until they have everything I want. I would give you a copy, but it wouldn't work very well because they are linked together using previous year's sheets to make year trend graphs. If I took out all the linking code it would be a bit pants and not worth it to you.

I hear that the online thing that collates all dashboards into one dash is good, but I'm too scared to put all my passwords in anyone else's hands. I am CERTAIN they are trustworthy, but any website can be hacked. If I'm hacked, 1 account might be compromised. If they are hacked, ALL my accounts will be.
Can you describe the types of data you've captured and any calculations/links you've found worthwhile?
 
#25 ·
Chrissy said:
Can you describe the types of data you've captured and any calculations/links you've found worthwhile?
Imagine 2 excel sheets in one document. One has a small currency conversion table linked to the net to stay current. The other sheet has a table of all vendors on the vertical axis and the 12 months along the horizontal axis. At the end of each month I use the number added to my bank to fill in that table. At the bottom of each month there is the simple calculation to add the dollar amounts together. And below that is a conversion to sterling using the currency conversion table to stay current. Meanwhile, the totals of that table are the data source for bar graphs and pie charts. The graphs are updated automatically as each cell is filled in.

My ACX spreadsheets are WAY more complicated. I have 6 sheets plus the currency conversion sheet. A seventh sheet is the results page. Each sheet belongs to 1 book series (that's 4) and 2 spare for series I planned to write but didn't yet. Each sheet has a table for each book. Each table has the name, the month, and the 3 columns for each TYPE of audible sale, the total of sales, and a multiplication of royalty and sales to give a dollar earned amount.

Now do that for every book and audio box (16 and counting) and send the series totals to a table where each book is combined to give series totals. THOSE tables are used in graphs.

If you want to I can send you the excel, but as I said they are linked with previous years. I have no idea how you would find all those broken connections and replace them. I built my sheets slowly over many weeks until I had one working. Then I duplicated it for each series. Then at year end, I duplicate the entire thing, set sales on each sheet back to 0 and change the year part of the links to link to the new "last year" sheet.
 
#26 ·
First off, sorry to be late to this. Thanks for all of the great info and sharing. I really appreciate it. I have been using the "send this book" function to send books to subscribers through a Facebook ad (it has been time consuming, but has paid for the ads).

I have a somewhat technical question:

Mark E. Cooper said:
Call up your book, click the 3 dots top right, click Send This Book, and choose your own email address. You'll get an email and a link. Save that link, and use it with a boosted post on Facebook.
When I do this, it is always the same short link. How does Audible differentiate between giving away the link? Or is is the source of where they click the link (say Facebook).

My somewhat techie brain in mystified.
Art
 
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