[TromboneAl]

ACX no longer pays royalties on promo code units redeemed. Before they changed this policy (on 3/26/2020), I distributed as many codes as I could to my subscribers.

There's much less incentive to do that now, and it's a bit of a bother to send out individual emails each with a unique code (and to have to determine the correct marketplace). I may just send out 10-20 to listeners who have reviewed one of my other audiobooks.

What is your current strategy for distributing ACX promo codes?

Thanks.

 

[Nicole Simon]

Could you maybe explain why it is a bother? Mailmerges f.e. from gmail are easy to do and asking the potential recipient to tell you their marketplace is a simple form as well. For the codes, are these codes or full urls you need to send?

 

[TromboneAl]

Well, that's a good point, Nicole. Here's how I've done it in the past: In a newsletter, I'd write, "Respond if you'd like a audiobook review copy," and the requests would come in piecemeal. I never thought of setting up a mailmerge for just the 10-20 responses I'd get. Looking into it (https://developers.google.com/gsuite/solutions/mail-merge), I see that it's easily done. Maybe I'll try that, but the incentive is lower than it used to be.

The bother was copy/pasting boilerplate, copy/pasting email address and salutation, copy/pasting the promo code.

The way I did it, I sent each requester an email like:

(UK) Hi, xxx,

Please enjoy one free audio review copy of Forgotten Evidence: A Novel (Goodlove and Shek Book 4), now available on Audible. Redeem the one-time use code below at https://www.audible.co.uk/acx-promo

472AKWZP7BBYX

or

(Other markets) Hi, xxx,

Please enjoy one free audio review copy of Forgotten Evidence: A Novel (Goodlove and Shek Book 4), now available on Audible. Redeem the one-time use code below at https://www.audible.com/acx-promo

CK8NCJD32CUPT

Those are valid codes, by the way, good for one redemption each.

Another thing I tried was putting ten codes in a newsletter and telling the subscribers they could try one, and if it's already been redeemed, go to the next. That wasn't real popular.

 

[Trioxin 245]

I would suggest running a contest. When you throw out links and give the impression you want to get rid of them, it devalues your brand and the value of the audiobooks imo.

So here is what I would do. Run a contest, maybe a trivia (about your books?) with three levels of prizes. 1st prize being a 20 buck giftcard to Zon. 2. Paperback (signed) 3. A free audiobook of "insert title here".  On prize 3, the audiobook, just keep emailing people who got the answers right telling them they won.Dont let the list know there was ten third place winners.
The audiobook people will  feel like a winner and you get rid of codes

 

[Nicole Simon]

You could also make a simple google form for people to respond and leave their mail address as well as the market place from a drop down. People will understand the extra work because of the market place

Depending on your mail program for the newsletter, you can prewrite the email address into the google form link. This might require a bit of tweaking to get their mail address field from it, but it is doable (and will encourage participation).
https://www.labnol.org/prefilled-google-forms-200601 has more info

For the mailing, you dont need the google mail merge there, I recommend the free version of streak which will also allow you to follow up / and has text expander mails as well as a mail merge.

You add the codes to the google form (either by hand or there is a more expert version where vlookup is involved, but this should be fine) export the csv and import it into a pipeline in streak. Them you mailmerge the content from that fields.

A simplified version: use a streak pipeliine, when somebody comes into this add them to the pipeline, fill the field for the audio code and url from your masterlist and run the mail merge.

It depends a bit how often you do that - if you do it monthly or have more than 10 at a time, I would optimize it a bit more.
https://www.streak.com/for/mail-merge-using-gmail shows you how the mail merge looks. Simple Recipient Selection shows the table where you can copy and paste the codes into for your acx. hth.

ps: if there is interest, I could write up a simple guide how to use streak to use for such a purpose. It also works well for things like tracking submissions and following beta reader communication.

 

[nightwork]

ACX no longer pays royalties on promo code units redeemed. Before they changed this policy (on 3/26/2020), I distributed as many codes as I could to my subscribers.

There's much less incentive to do that now, and it's a bit of a bother to send out individual emails each with a unique code (and to have to determine the correct marketplace). I may just send out 10-20 to listeners who have reviewed one of my other audiobooks.

What is your current strategy for distributing ACX promo codes?

Thanks.

not important to distribute ACX codes for books where i don't get paid for it, send out a few to trusted reviewers from the mailing list & don't bother with the rest, we are doing this to get paid after all, not to run a charity service

be aware if you have still have codes for books published to Audible before March 26, they're still paying you for every one used (or at least they're still paying me), the usual giveaway sites like Jeffery Kafer's are working well enough, i had one of my bigger months in August when i found all of my books published pre-March 26 that still had codes to give away & i pushed them hard

 

[jmb3]

Now that I have an established following at Audible, I use mine for Facebook takeovers or when I drop into an audiobook only group. Instead of focusing on reviews, I use them to build my fan base in audiobooks-sort of like the 'first in series free' approach. The hope is the free audiobook will hook them and they'll go on to listen to the rest of the series. I do ask if they like the audiobook to consider reviewing it but I don't make it a requirement. 

 

[KevinH]

First, you still get paid for promo codes for titles released before the March 26 announcement.  So if you have an audiobook that was released in, say, February 2020 and you just generated 25 codes for it yesterday, you will still be paid when those codes are redeemed.

Next, you don't get paid for codes on titles released after 3/26, but those redemptions still count for ranking purposes.  Ergo, even though you aren't paid, you can still get visibility (and perhaps additional sales) from those codes.

With those two things understood, here is how my promo code strategy usually works these days:


1) I use one of the promo code services and upload my codes so that listeners can simply grab a code if they're interested. (It's a lot more efficient than when I used to send them out individually.)  Typically, I make the listing "private" at first so that only those with the proper link can see it and redeem codes.  I then send said link to my Patreon supporters, letting them know I have a new audiobook and giving them exclusive access to the link for 24 hours.

2) I have an audiobook newsletter (separate and distinct form my "regular" newsletter), and - after my Patreon supporters have had a chance to redeem codes - I inform my audio subscribers and send them the link. I also announce it on my website and Facebook page.

3) At this point, I've made the link public and continue to promote it via social media.


Typically, US codes vanish at a lightning-fast pace; the first batch is usually gobbled up within 30 minutes of #2 above, and the second set will disappear on whatever day I generate/upload them.  UK codes are a little slower, but the first batch is usually gone within a day, while the second set may linger, depending on various factors.  All in all, however, this has been a successful strategy for me.

 

[TromboneAl]

Thanks, guys.

> I use one of the promo code services and upload my codes so that listeners can simply grab a code if they're interested. (It's a lot more efficient than when I used to send them out individually.)

Which service do you use?

 

[KevinH]

Thanks, guys.

> I use one of the promo code services and upload my codes so that listeners can simply grab a code if they're interested. (It's a lot more efficient than when I used to send them out individually.)

Which service do you use?

I use freeaudiobookcodes[dot]com. It's one of Jeffrey Kafer's sites and is the sister service to Audiobook Boom (which I've also used in the past). The difference between the two is that the former is more hands-off in that you upload codes and interested listeners can simply grab one; with the latter, you email the codes individually to those who request them.

I've also used audiofreebies[dot]com for manual distribution of codes, although they also have automated code distribution.

If you're trying to decide between them, I have nothing but good things to say about the three services that I've used, although I admittedly lean more towards hands-off distribution these days.

 

[nightwork]

same three services i've used

happy w/ all three but agree about liking the handsfree a bit more now that i've got sufficient reviews

 

[TromboneAl]

Thanks again, Nicole, for getting me to consider mail merge. I used the free (up to 100 emails/day) add-on MailMeteor (MailMeteor.com) and sent off the promo codes with little difficulty.

The template:

Hi,

Here's your free copy of the Forgotten Evidence audiobook. Redeem the one-time use code below at

https://www.audible.com/acx-promo

{{promocode}}

Be sure to redeem it as soon as possible because unredeemed codes go back into the available pool after a week or so.

Let me know if you have any trouble getting it, and thanks for being a fan!

Al Macy
AlMacyAuthor.com