Position Yourself For Audiobook Success This Holiday Season

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Scott Jacobi

The leaves are still green, and the kids just went back to school, but believe it or not, it's time to start thinking about completing your ACX titles so they are on sale in time for the holidays. Today, we'll give you a brief breakdown of the timeline for audiobook production between now and the winter holidays, as well as some seasonal merchandising tips to help you generate some holiday buzz for your titles.

Holiday Production Timeline

To give your title the best chance of being on sale by the end of 2013, the audio production will need to be completed by the producer and approved by the rights holder no later than the first week of December.

Now, let's work backwards from that point. Ideally, you'll want your title to be available for sale on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes a few weeks before the holiday season starts. This will help you beat the rush of books coming in to Audible, as well as give you time to earn some 5 star reviews and build buzz around your book. It will take about 14-20 business days for ACX/Audible to process your book for our sales channels, and you'll need about 45 - 60 days for the audiobook production and rights holder review (give or take, depending on the length and complexity of the title). ACX rights holders will also need about a week from posting the title to attractauditions and negotiate the schedule and rate with their producer.

Add it all up, and it soon becomes clear that now is the time to get your productions listed on ACX in order to take advantage of the winter holidays.

Holiday Marketing Tips

In addition to making sure your schedule is set up to get the most out of this holiday season, you can position yourself for success with these holiday marketing ideas:

  • Bonus content:

    Create a holiday-themed short story featuring supporting characters from your book. Publish it on your blog or as a Kindle Single through

    KDP.

  • Giving gifts: 

    Host a Secret Santa gift trade between your fans on your website or blog, but with a twist: all the gifts must be items of significance from your book(s).

  • Interview your narrator:

    Sit down and chat with the voice of your book(s), and ask them about their favorite holiday memories, the best present they ever received, etc.

  • Basket case:

    Create gift basket guides based on themes from your book - and make sure your book is one of the suggestions.

  • Season's greetings:

    Crowd-source greeting cards inspired by characters or scenes from your book, and host the top three on your site from your readers send to their friends and family.

  • Do some good:

    Let your fans pick a charity through a poll on your website or Facebook page, and donate 1$ per sale of your title(s).

As you feel the days getting shorter and the nights getting cooler, make sure you're thinking about your upcoming holiday audiobook sales and marketing plans. Start now, and you'll be extra thankful when the holidays roll around.

What projects will you be working on in preparation for this holiday season?