We have a top selling audiobook on cdbaby

It's actually quite easy to just upload your audio files and they will get your files up in about 24 hours, as opposed to a couple weeks.  I think I uploaded flac files which are lossless compression.

They will also, if you choose, push your recording to the Amazon mp3 store and the iTunes music mp3 store, but at those sites, your "album" will be very expensive, because of the algo that those sites use to price albums. They think you have a giant album, so I would probably NOT do that. You can also push to a host of smaller sites and streaming sites but I would avoid that as those are all music-oriented.

What can be confusing, if you're doing multiple narrators, are their rules on who is the "primary artist" and who is the "featured artist". This is important in music becuase of how performance royalties are collected for performers in non-interactive online streaming  (spotify and Pandora) - which is via SoundExchange.  If you only have one narrator or a couple per track, then it is pretty simple, and if you're not streaming on those sites, then it's not an issue.  Because I have a hoge-podge, I have "various artists".  If you do want to broadcast stream, be careful that your narrator contracts cover this and it's been a sticky issue with some agents and narrators I've worked with. There's a way forward, which is to have the narrator register as an artist on SoundExchange and then that agency will collect performance royalties.

To make physical CDs is a little more complex so post back if that's what your interest is. For a longer work, these can be made into a mp3-cd on a single disk.

MikeDavidson said:

Hi 555aaa,

I've been contemplating CDbaby for a long time now, I've just been to cautious to step out yet. But your experience is encouraging me to try. How many copies do you sell per day?

I also wanted to know how you made the cd. Ive been struggling to figure out how to do it, and any advice would be awesome!

Click to expand...

So first off, I only sell a few copies a week. Dr. Moreau is new and I did a post on the CD version about two months ago. So I'll go dig that up and re-post in this thread, as it has some product pictures. I realize most of you are selling way more than this...
and here it is, with a nice pretty picture of the 3 CD set for Moreau. Andromache is done in a 2 disk digipak with an 8 page foldout, which looks pretty slick and packages a little better.

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,185027.msg2810416/topicseen.html

I use Disc Makers http://www.discmakers.com to manufacture CDs. I master them using Sony cd architect, which is a CD mastering tool that runs on Windows. All the CDs I have are conventional audio CDs, but there is this other option which is mp3-cds. There's a short video on my youtube channel on cd mastering here (the end stage of mastering, where you have already done EQ and compression, and are making a bit for bit exact disk image for manufacture):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEMrR1b6t0Q

I have a whole video series on the production process on my youtube channel. It's not super-detailed, but I'd be happy to answer questions.

CD architect costs something like $80.

The Dr. Moreau CDs are replicated, by the way, which is just like what you'd do at home. I also have duplicated disks on the other project, which requires a 300 unit minimum. Duplicated disks are actually pressed from a master and will last a lot longer than replicated disks, which are "burned" into a dye layer, but you are paying a larger setup fee to get the glass master made. Once you do that, the unit cost goes way down. You generally blow your CD budget on the packaging anyway, not the disks.

One last thing on cdbaby that I like is that they give you the web tracking stats on the hits to your product page. Very handy when you are running an ad campaign.