[jackconnerbooks]

My narrator is just finishing the audiobook version of "The Atomic Sea: Part One". It's my first audiobook, and I have no idea how to market it, other than the way I normally market my ebooks (freebie promos, etc). I know there's probably an audience of dedicated audiobook "readers" out there, so how do I reach out to them? Are there special promotions/events that can help sell audiobooks?

I skimmed the kboards forum "Let's talk audiobooks" ( http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,191269.0.html ) and found some great info there, but not much on marketing (unless I just missed it--entirely possible--it's a long forum).

Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

[Kathryn Meyer Griffith]

I now have 20 audio books out. What I did was do a Internet search on Facebook for "Audio Book" groups and I found quite a few groups and Joined them. You can do that if you're on Facebook. I advertise my audio books on them...on some I have to offer a FREE AUDIBLE audio code to anyone who will review the audio book because the group is for Free audio books, but I get lots of free codes from Audible just for that.
There are also Audio Review Sites you can submit your audio book to that will review them. Like these:
1. http://audiobookreviewer.com/
2. http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/contact/
3. http://www.eargasmsaudiobookreviews.com/
4. http://audiobookjungle.com/about/review-policy/
5. to http://audiobookjukebox.com
6. audiobookblast.com
I've heard that audio books are still in their infancy...my sales are nothing to brag about except my Dinosaur Lake ones and a few others like my murder mysteries. But if a book is selling well, the audio book should sell well, too. Good luck!

 

[jackconnerbooks]

Kathryn, that's some great advice. Thank you! I will begin looking for Facebook groups to join, and when the audio book is up I'll contact those sites.

 

[69959]

Great info. Bookmarking!

 

[Usedtoposthere]

My tips:
1) Use your mailing list, FB folks, etc. to try to get written reviews using your 25 promo codes. Written reviews will help you a lot. I have a dedicated ARC (well, early-review) group for audio with about 40 people (you can get up to 50 codes).

2) Create an "Audio" page on your website, and include samples using SoundCloud, with links to the books on Audible. Here's my page: http://www.rosalindjames.com/audiobooks/
Audible really likes authors that promote their audio, especially with a link visible from the homepage. (They also like those written reviews.)

3) Announce the audiobook to your mailing list. Give them that Soundcloud sample right there in the newsletter. Here's one of my newsletters that was mostly about audio.
http://us8.campaign-archive1.com/?u=cf5fad3d3d0a1fae9e6d238ad&id=37b6864be1&e=[UNIQID]

4) Link that sample to your Facebook page, tweet it, etc. Get people to listen to it. Make sure you add the link in Soundcloud to where they can buy it!

5) You can get some extra purchases of your audio if your ebook is permafree or free for a short time, especially if the audiobook is Whispersynced. Just something to be aware of. So if you're announcing a free offer or a low-price promo and your audio is WhisperSynced, make sure you MENTION that it's WhisperSynced, and, as in my newsletter above, tell them what that means.

(It's also a good way to earn bounties, which are a nice chunk of extra cash in audio.)

That's what I've got. Good luck!

 

[jackconnerbooks]

Thank you so much, Rosalind! Those are some wonderful tips! 

 

[555aaa]

I agree with everything that everyone else has posted, but want to point out that if you are on the exclusive ACX Audible contract, you actually don't have the rights to market your audiobook. It's in clause 2(a) on this contract:

http://www.acx.com/help/audiobook-license-and-distribution-agreement/201481900

They (Audible) have the exclusive right to market your book, not you.

That wording isn't on the ACX non-exclusive contract, and it's not on the Amazon KDP select or KU contracts. It's an anomaly with Audible for the exclusive contract.

So - if you HAVEN'T actually gone live on Audible yet - if you are doing the DIY deal - you can promo to your heart's content before you click the "submit" button - you haven't actually closed the contract at that point. So you can do giveaways like give away a mp3 player pre-loaded with your audiobook, give away ebook/audio book bundles, give away or sell mp3-CDs, and so forth. Do all that at your release party. Then STOP distributing, and then close the exclusive contract. I am in favor of the release party ( a real actual party with real actual 3D people). It's like a CD release party and so having a stack of disks or players is pretty cool and you can hand-sell, raffle, etc. product and swag at your release party. You can get these cheapo mp3 players for a few bucks, and you can also get "branded" players or memory sticks also.

You can leave the SoundCloud sample and other samples up after you go live. If your narrator is popular, you can also get some traffic off of the narrator's links (in other words, promoting your narrator sells your work).

You can also revert from exclusive to non-exclusive after a year, which lets you sell normally.

 

[daringnovelist]

They (Audible) have the exclusive right to market your book, not you.

That wording isn't on the ACX non-exclusive contract, and it's not on the Amazon KDP select or KU contracts. It's an anomaly with Audible for the exclusive contract.

That's why I'm going to go non-exclusive. (I can do this, though, because I will be narrating my own.)

As for promotion: I hope to do some experimenting with this with regular advertising. I planned to start with my podcast -- using the sidebar advertising on the Audavoxx newsletter -- but haven't got around to it. I did do SOME Project Wonderful ads for the podcast, but not in any real way. (Testing the banner with freebies, etc.)

I'm posting here, partly, to "bookmark" the thread so that when I have some results to report, I can find it.

Camille

 

[jackconnerbooks]

>>>>They (Audible) have the exclusive right to market your book, not you.

That's actually kind of disturbing. But you couldn't actually get in trouble for promoting it . . . could you? Surely they would embrace any attention you drew to the audio book.

Right?

 

[Usedtoposthere]

>>>>They (Audible) have the exclusive right to market your book, not you.

That's actually kind of disturbing. But you couldn't actually get in trouble for promoting it . . . could you? Surely they would embrace any attention you drew to the audio book.

Right?

Right. They encourage you to promote it.
All the tips I gave you above? Those tips came directly from ACX.

 

[Chris Fox]

Goodreads has been a good source of buzz for my audiobooks. There are a number of groups there looking for free books to review, and I netted some sales as a result. I'd also recommend the audiobooks subreddit over on Reddit, though direct promotion is frowned on there unless you're giving away codes.

 

[555aaa]

Audible wants you to market for them, but they also say you don't have the right to.

What they really want you to do is get new members signed up (hence the $50 bonus).

Go figure.

I've not had luck with goodreads code giveaways, but I have had good luck actually giving away real CDs.

 

[Usedtoposthere]

You have every right to promote it. You don't have the right to SELL it. That is what they explicitly mean by "market": offer for sale. They say so. Not, that is, if you've chosen to be exclusive to ACX. That's what "exclusive" means. If you want to sell it, go non-exclusive and Fire away. The terms are pretty clear.

 

[daringnovelist]

You have every right to promote it. You don't have the right to SELL it. That is what they explicitly mean by "market": offer for sale. They say so. Not, that is, if you've chosen to be exclusive to ACX. That's what "exclusive" means. If you want to sell it, go non-exclusive and Fire away. The terms are pretty clear.

Although the language in their agreement about what you can and can't do with excerpts and quotes are horrendous. Basically (whether they enforce this or not) you are in violation if you, say, do a booktrailer with a single line quote from the book. (No audio excerpts except for their sample, and that is HIGHLY restricted as to where you can post it or make it available.)

The restrictions on excerpts and promotions are insane.

As someone said, they really aren't interested in you promoting the book -- they want you to recruit subscribers. It's a kind of multilevel marketing scheme, really.

Camille

 

[Usedtoposthere]

Although the language in their agreement about what you can and can't do with excerpts and quotes are horrendous. Basically (whether they enforce this or not) you are in violation if you, say, do a booktrailer with a single line quote from the book. (No audio excerpts except for their sample, and that is HIGHLY restricted as to where you can post it or make it available.)

The restrictions on excerpts and promotions are insane.

As someone said, they really aren't interested in you promoting the book -- they want you to recruit subscribers. It's a kind of multilevel marketing scheme, really.

Camille

Well, I know for a fact that some higher-ups at ACX have seen the newsletter I linked to, and they loved it, so I don't think they're gonna get all upons if you put up more than the sample on your website. And you betcha they want you to promo your book. If you do a good enough job, THEY'LL promo your book, and those are the golden eggs.

But, yeah, every retailer loves it if you push their site. If you do special FB posts pimping your book at iTunes--iTunes loves that. They love it if you link specifically to your books on iBooks on your site, too. All that stuff helps, and it also helps your readers find your books at those places, so....

 

[jackconnerbooks]

Thank you guys for clarifying the whole marketing versus selling thing. I was worried there for a moment.

 

[daringnovelist]

Well, I know for a fact that some higher-ups at ACX have seen the newsletter I linked to, and they loved it, so I don't think they're gonna get all upons if you put up more than the sample on your website. And you betcha they want you to promo your book. If you do a good enough job, THEY'LL promo your book, and those are the golden eggs.

But, yeah, every retailer loves it if you push their site. If you do special FB posts pimping your book at iTunes--iTunes loves that. They love it if you link specifically to your books on iBooks on your site, too. All that stuff helps, and it also helps your readers find your books at those places, so....

Is the newsletter an AUDIO excerpt? If it is, then great -- that's not what the agreement allows, but it sounds like you could get permission.

However that doesn't sound like what you mean.

You can promo your text all you want. The problem has to do with if you read some lines in an audio promo. Say, get yourself featured on a podcast -- you can't read anything from your book.

Now, that's a big problem, because audio people are audio oriented.

Camille

 

[Usedtoposthere]

Yes. Audio excerpt. I wouldn't personallly worry about a podcast because I'd never read from my book. Reason my narrator reads it and not me! But I dunno. If they objected I'd beg forgiveness and just use the sample. But the sample chapters WORK to sell the audio to avid readers.

 

[daringnovelist]

Yes. Audio excerpt. I wouldn't personallly worry about a podcast because I'd never read from my book. Reason my narrator reads it and not me! But I dunno. If they objected I'd beg forgiveness and just use the sample. But the sample chapters WORK to sell the audio to avid readers.

It does say very explicitly that you are not allowed to use the sample (EVER) except for very specific ways. And if I remember right, the sample cannot be downloadable. (Which would cut podcasts out.) It also says explicitly that the sample is the ONLY excerpt you are supposed to have.

Now, if they are letting you use audio excerpts (even the official sample) in ways beyond that, great -- but it is a violation of the agreement. I wouldn't do it without written explicit information.

Camille

 

[Usedtoposthere]

ACX were the ones who advised me to use soundcloud to put downloadable samples with links onto my website, and linked to examples of authors doing it. That's pretty good written permission.