Audiobooks For Every Author

These are my notes of a web presentation by Derek Deoepker. Founder of bestsellersecrets.com. any misinformation is the fault of the notetaker.

– You can expand your royalties and expand reach.
– The audiobook is a 1.6 billion dollar business.
– More people are moving to listen to books rather than reading them.
– When people will see print, eBook and audiobook it drives up sales of audiobooks.
– There is less completion.
– 33% increase in sales in audiobooks since2012
– Your audiobook, if it does not sell, could be a good as an incentive bonus. Sign up for my email and you get an audiobook edition.
– Get a book during the launch period as a bonus.
– Can’t incentivize review on amazon. What would you say to a friend to consider reading this book?
– Q: For the books do you read, if you leave a good review, would you feel comfortable to copy and paste that review into the book into Amazon?
– May not really want to hassle doing audiobook but you can learn may learn to enjoy it.
– Having multiple audiobooks for sell can all add to income.
– You can sell audiobooks on your own website. Many perceive it as a higher value over an eBook.
– How to get distribution:
Acx.com is an audiobook distributor. Lowest time investment. You have to interview to find the narrator. You listen to the entire book they might have made a mistake. Usually, the narrator will correct in price if not much change.
– Some paid $1300 for a 50 K book.
– To find a narrator go to acx.com.
– Check out website https://www.accx.com/help/authors/200484540
– Articles on ACX have articles on how to do this.
– Professional quality work. You keep more of the royalties.
– You uploaded your book to audible, amazon and iTunes. Got to US, UK, Ireland, and Canada.
– Authorsrepublic.com goes to other counties.
– The audiobook is about $350 per finished hour.
– 3 easiest ways to make a book.
a. Hire a narrator
Get top-quality books
b. do a royalty slit via ACX
You can preview narrates of the audiobook.
They will record your audiobook and you slit royalties.
Income is also split. If someone gets your book as a free book. You would get paid for that. Half of that would go to the narrator.
Split, you can distribute past ACX. That means you can’t give it away or sell on your book on your website.
It’s good if you have no budget. Many suggest you sell your book to pay for things.
c. Records them yourself.
– The cost of the equipment is $150.
– Be done in days rather than weeks.
– One hr. of text may take 3 hrs. of audio.
– You can establish a deeper connection with your audience.
– The narrator needs to match the gender of the protagonist.
– You have full control of your rights.
– Many authors new to it find it not too hard.
– You need to read your book out loud. You can catch things out loud. You can still catch things. Still, catch some things.
– Microphone- audio Technica ATR2100 – $59. Alternative Samson Q2U.other microphones are too sensitive.
– Pop Filter -$7.
– Microphone Stand – $13 for Neewer desk stand.
– Monitor headphones – $24 no earbuds
– Music stand (optional) $15
– Blanket, pillows, thick clothes from around the house.
– Record in a small room. Not a bathroom it reflects the sound. A closet is a good alternative.
– Have a patio umbrella and put a blanket over you and the umbrella.
– You want to point the mic away from sources of noise.
– Customers highly value good quality audio.
– 2. Download the software. Audacity (free) mac and PC compatible.
– http://www.audacityteam.org/ it has some shortcuts.
– 3. Product process, record, edit, Process (apply effects like volume) upload.
– If you want to do it yourself:
– ACX says audiobooks need to be
– Consistent in overall sounds and formatting
– Include opening and closing credits
– Be comprised of all mono or stereo files
– Include a retail audio sample that is between 1 to 5 min long
– Contain only one chapter/section per file. The header read out loud
– No longer than 120 min.
– Have a room tone at the beginning and end and be free of extraneous sounds.
– Recordings have to be within a certain range of decimals numbers.
– audiobooksmadeeasy.com/Bryan
– Enroll.
– Authors republic is international
– Audiobooks and eBooks need to match.
– Some audiobooks some are under 30 min. Recommend don’t do under.
– 47 min book one of the top-selling.
– Have your audio in the next 12 mo.
– Email: info@ebookbestsellersecrets.com
– If your book is out, do a square version of a book cover.
– To see how other authors of a genre do their books listen to samples to see how they do it. You can listen to excerpts.
– Maybe send a message to some honest objective feedback. Send them a short audio file and see if the readers would be interested in it.
– Need to begin an email list, build up your fan base.
– The quality of a subscriber is stronger via pod case or audiobook.
– A live presentation, you need to have a book that it goes with. You want to sync it to a book on amazon.
– How do people handle multiple characters/voices? See what other audiobooks do.
– The narrator may increase the price if have to read multiple characters.
– There is no control of prices over audiobooks from ACX.
– Authoro’s republic site Mgt; that you can set your own price.
– Find a way for voices: also lets you set your own price.
– Amazon does not offer free audio.
– Doing a book series of audio. He would put in a chapter in between books to introduce moving from book one to book two.
– Tips for narration: You may have to remind yourself to slow down. It’s easier to read and help them to clear. Have a relaxed paced.