Audiobook Production Guide for Authors. Brought to you by Tina Dietz and StartSomething Creative Business Solutions

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Geraldine Armstrong
5 years ago
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1 Audiobook Production Guide for Authors Brought to you by Tina Dietz and StartSomething Creative Business Solutions

2 Welcome to the Audio Revolution! Congratulations on taking action to build your audience, in uence, and income with Audiobooks. I'm excited to show you how to alleviate the barriers to audiobook production. The Facts Audiobook sales have skyrocketed every year since 2011, and production costs are down 50% since is the 5th consecutive year that audiobook sales have expanded by more than 20% over the previous year. Millions more audiobooks are being downloaded than ebooks. Now it s your turn to take advantage of this trend. Let's get started so that you can have a whole new income stream and skyrocket your audience. Enjoy!

3 Audiobook Production Checklist & Best Practices Step 1 Publish your Kindle book on Amazon.com Step 2 Create your ACX.com account IMPORTANT! Only available in the US, UK, Canada, and Ireland. Other international authors have alternative options. Step 3 Post an audition for your book When you re posting the audition for your book, you ll need to decide how much you re going to pay your narrator and if you d like Audible/Amazon/iTunes to be your exclusive distributor. Both of these items impact your royalties, as well as the type of narrator that you attract. Step 4 Review audition samples Make sure the sound quality and editing is in compliance with Audible quality standards and that the narrator you select has a good track record of delivering on time. Also ask yourself this question: could I listen to this person s voice for a number of hours?

4 Audiobook Production Checklist & Best Practices Step 5 Negotiate and contract with Narrator Send a message to the narrator you d like to work with and make sure that expectations and timelines are clear before making them an offer. When you make the offer, ACX has a standard contract that I recommend using. Step 6 Deliver audio-friendly manuscript to Narrator If your book includes images, exercises, etc. then these need to be translated into audio before the Narrator begins, along with any tricky pronunciations. Step 7 Review the first 15 minutes The Narrator will send you the first 15 minutes of your book to review. This is the place to get clear on the tone, pacing, characterization, etc. of your book. Step 8 Narrator records the remainder of the book The Narrator may upload chapters as they are finished or all at once, at the time of completion, whatever you have agreed upon together.

5 Audiobook Production Checklist & Best Practices Step 9 Audio proofing and final edits Listen carefully to each chapter and send corrections for any mistakes your Narrator may have missed. Step 10 Upload your cover art Your original book cover art will need to be adapted for your audiobook to a more square size and include your Narrator s name. Step 11 Sign off & send to Audible Quality Control Approve your book and send it to ACX/Audible for general quality checking. If anything doesn t pass, you will get an detailing what needs to be fixed. Step 12 Your Audiobook goes LIVE on Amazon, Audible, and itunes You will receive an when your audiobook goes live on these platforms for sale.

6 3 Ways to Get Your Audiobook Published Now that you ve got your checklist to help you navigate how an audiobook gets created, let s talk publishing options. There are 3 ways to get your audiobook published and important questions you ll want to ask before you make a decision on what s best for you. 1. Work with a traditional publisher If you have a publisher for your books, you may be able to negotiate your audiobook production through them. But, be savvy in your contract negotiations and make sure you retain your audio rights. One of my colleagues who is a well-known coach with 8 bestselling books didn t even know that her publisher had produced audiobooks without her knowledge. She was unhappy with the results and ended up having to deal with the backlash of having poor quality products representing her brand out in the marketplace. Because she hadn t negotiated her audio rights, she receives only ¼ of the royalties that she could be earning. Boooooo! 2. Self-Publishing & DIY Audible, Amazon, and itunes have a common backend for self-published authors to produce their audiobooks. Your Audiobook Production Checklist will help you get started. One annoying caveat though...

7 If you live outside of the US, Canada, UK or Ireland, this option is not available to you. But take heart! We are trusted by authors around the world because we know how to show you how to take advantage of the higher royalty rates of self-publishing plus the benefits of a done for you publishing experience. We publish our other international authors via a platform called Authors Republic, giving them access to audiobook publishing on more than 40+ outlets around the world. 3. Work with a dedicated audiobook publisher Audiobook production and distribution for an average 60,000 word book (about 6 audio hours) takes about hours of production time for an experienced team. Special features that you may have in your book, like charts, captions, exercises, sidebars, calls to action, etc. need to be translated into audio. Much like working with a book publisher, you ll also want to make sure that you own your audio files as well as your royalties. Why allow a company to trap you in a long-term contract that allows them to endlessly profit from YOUR investment and hard work? I worked with my team to figure out the simplest way possible to make audiobook publication available to authors from nearly anywhere in the world. We ve made sure that you keep all your royalties as well as creative control over your content and distribution. I know I m giving you a lot of information. But as your expert advocate I d like to give you the opportunity to make sure your questions get answered. Even more importantly, I want you to have the best options to leverage your work and expand your audience, income, and influence exponentially and easily.

8 Case Study: BIG surprises for a NYT Bestselling Author Ellen Rogin is a New York Times Bestselling Author and Financial Advisor. She had an audiobook version of her book for a while, but she hadn't started focusing on marketing it right away. Well, guess what she found out? The audiobook version of her NYT Bestseller sold more copies than the Kindle version, without any efforts to promote it. WHY? Why in the name of all things marketing would that happen? Audiobooks are certainly not a new medium, and they re definitely not a fad. Audio has a long track record of durability and popularity. In fact, audiobooks are simply an extension of oral history and storytelling, which is part of every culture in the world. The major factor in the rise of audiobook sales over the last 5 years is accessibility. As a society, we are nearly always in motion. We have access to audio when we don t have access to the written word or video. And with few exceptions, we always, always have one of these around...

9 People are listening BIG. The audiobook industry is now over 2.5 BILLION dollars per year, and across book genres, audiobooks out-sell ebooks 3-to-1. On average in the United States, people read about 12 books a year. But audiobook listeners listen to an average of 17 books a year. Now the question simply is: will your book be one of them?

10 Should I Narrate My Own Book or Work with a Professional Narrator? Audio is extremely unique as a medium, because it works even when we re not paying full attention. Those voices get inside of us. Your listener develops a relationship with you. Even if the narrator s voice on the recording isn t yours, your Voice (capital V) comes through and stays with the listener. Your words and your messages are going directly into someone s brain like a software download. That brings us to one of the most frequently asked questions I get: Should I narrate my own book or work with a narrator? The problem with this question is that it s the wrong question to be asking. What you really want to get answered is Is there any advantage to narrating the book myself? Your book and audiobook are assets that help spread your message, build your credibility and speaking platform, and generate income. An asset needs to have a solid return on your investment. It takes an average of 5 hours of production time for a professional narrator and editor to create 1 hour of finished audio. That means that an average non-fiction book of 60,000 words takes hours of production time.

11 If you re not a trained narrator you can expect to double that amount of time, but that learning curve can be shortened considerably with the right support. That brings us back to our original question, Is there any advantage to narrating my book myself? That s where we need to dive deeper. When I work with authors, we assess your unique situation: Your goals, resources, and strengths Professional vocal assessment and recommendations Strategic mapping of your next best moves Audiobook launch best practices You see, I ve been building businesses as an entrepreneur and business coach for decades. My VIP coaching clients have a track record of doubling their income AND their free time within a year. Having an audiobook is a wonderful asset (just like your book), but if it s not positioned and made use of really well, the results can be disappointing.

12 All About Timing: When to Launch Your Audiobook Here are my 2 favorite story lines for audiobook launches. By the way, I find it s most helpful for you to imagine yourself inside of these situations and see which one fits you best. Story #1: In which our hero resuscitates their book and gives it new life Your previously launched books can be given new wings by being turned into an audiobook format. This strategy gives you the ability to have an entirely new product launch without having to create ANY new content. If your content needs a little updating, then pairing an anniversary edition or 2nd edition of your book with an audiobook version is a fantastic option. Story #2: In which our hero rides gloriously into their new book launch...with an audiobook as the cavalry coming over the ridge to ensure victory If you re in the process of getting ready to publish a new book, then having an audiobook version will extend the life of your launch. To have a powerful launch, you want to reach as many people for as long as possible. Releasing your audiobook 2-12 weeks following your initial book release allows you to continue to market your book with the same launch partners and with minimal changes to your social media and content while still keeping the momentum and excitement going.

13 Case Study: Becoming a Bestseller with NO List Earlier, I mentioned that I d show you how audiobooks can extend the life of a book launch - resulting in more publicity and sales. I m also going to reveal to you how my clients double dip their marketing dollars AND launch a bestselling book with virtually no list at all. WARNING: Extreme excitement may result from reading the following Julia came to me getting ready to publish her 4th book, but she had never reached bestseller status or sold the number of books that she wanted. Julia is an incredible expert in her field, but she felt overwhelmed by the technology and all the details that go into a successful launch, along with a little nervous that investing in getting the help she so wanted would prove to be...disappointing at best. Sound familiar? Her clients adore her, as do her colleagues - but she had a very small list of under 150 people. Several months later, Julia s book went #1 in the US and Canada on Amazon. How did we do it? I helped Julia leverage her relationships and strengths to create a launch strategy that fit her like a glove, and then we took care of all the details of her social media and copy so she could focus on what she does best. Notice something funny? Yep, we haven t even launched her audiobook yet!

14 Julia now can take the same and social media copy, tweak the word book to audiobook, use the SAME launch strategy, and double dip piggyback her way to the second wave of her launch with her audiobook that s now available on Audible, Amazon, and itunes. Efficient. Effective. Satisfying. Authentic. YES! Oh, and by the way, we made sure that her audiobook is seeded with calls to action to drive traffic back to her website - it s a lead generating product that makes you money! Julia has had such a response to her launch that she can t wait to post her book up on all the book promotion websites I gave her, which is going to drive even more traffic and sales to her book AND audiobook. I adore satisfied clients. We re helping make the world a better place! This is a very important question: Are you launching a book in the next year, or do you have a book you published previously that you want to give new wings? Now is the time to put good ideas into action. You deserve all the benefits of your hard work!

15 Step 13 - BONUS Now that you ve read through this guide, take action! StartSomething Creative Business Solutions is the only audio publisher in the world making it possible for authors to benefit from an audio publisher s expert guidance, marketing resources & distribution, while allowing the author to retain full creative control, content ownership & royalties. Audiobook Strategy - Perfectly positioned to receive the most benefits from your audiobook Narration Options professional narrators available as well as author narration options Audiobook Production - Making sure your book is produced at the highest standards - every word is perfect & a joy for your ears Marketing & Distribution - Get your book in the hands (& ears) of thousands of readers via standard marketing & trending innovation Let's have a personal conversation about your book goals, plus get your questions answered and evaluate your book for audiobook conversion. CONTACT US FOR A CONSULTATION

USING ACX TO PRODUCE AN AUDIOBOOK. M.L. Humphrey

USING ACX TO PRODUCE AN AUDIOBOOK M.L. Humphrey FIRST THINGS FIRST: WHY PUT A BOOK IN AUDIO? Audiobook listeners are a separate audience from print or ebook readers Less crowded market More product offerings