Tag Archives: audiobook creation

This Year in Links: 2015

Posted on December 18, 2015 by | Leave a comment

Here at ACX, we’re proud of the work you’ve done creating thousands of audiobooks in 2015. We hope the education we’ve shared this year has helped make you a better audiobook producer, publisher, and marketer. Before we look forward to 2016, we’re counting down the top links – based on your clicks – published in our This Week in Links series this year.

For Rights Holders:

5. Where to Find Free Images Online to Use in Blogging & Social Media – via The Write Conversation – Visual marketing content has been shown to be at least two to five times more effective than text alone. Boost your efforts with these free resources.

4. The Twitter Secret – via BadRedheadMedia – Learn how online fan acknowledgement could be secret ingredient in your successful author platform.

3. Six Magic Phrases You Can Use to Sell More Books – via where writers win – Learn key words to use in your “Amazon sales page, your website, your book announcement press release, your e-mail announcement, and other promotional materials that will help you sell more books.”

2. How To Promote Your Self-Published Book On The Cheap – via Book Marketing Tools – New authors may not have the robust marketing budgets of the established players. Use these tactics to jump start your promotions.

1. 25+ Ways To Market Your Audiobook: A Quick Guide – via Kate Tilton – A distillation of our #TalkingACX Twitter chat features a trove of audiobook-specific marketing ideas.

For Producers:

5. Potato Chips Required – Who Would Have Thought? – via Mike Lenz – Can you believe that the fix for common in-booth issues could be so delicious?

4. 3 Things That Define A Successful Audiobook Narrator – via Dane Reid – Veteran Nashville-based audiobook producer Joe Loesch shares the three pillars of his successful career.

3. What is the Best Microphone for Voiceover Work? – via Voice Over Herald – Five solid options for getting professional-quality recordings without breaking the bank.

2. What’s Your Production Process? – via Wayne Farrell – The Audible Approved Producer shares a step by step guide to his production method. A must-read for new narrators.

1. The 7 Most Overlooked Daily Habits of Successful Voice Actors – via Dave Courvoisier – The top spot goes to the veteran “CourVO” and his reminder of the little things that can lead to big successes in the voiceover field.

Get all the best audiobook-related links in your inbox – subscribe to the ACX blog.

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This Week in Links: November 30 – December 4

Posted on December 4, 2015 by | Leave a comment

Before we get to this week’s top audiobook links, we’d like to remind you that the deadline to submit audiobooks to ACX for the best chance to be on sale for the holiday season is today, December 4th. Make sure your productions meet our Audio Submission Requirements and submit, review, or approve holiday projects by the end of the day. Then, check out the links below to help make your next audiobook even better!

For Producers:

Audiobook Narrators: How To Tweet Your Way To More Jobs And Audiobook Sales – via Voice-Over Xtra – Thoughts and advice for actors using social media to promote their work and further their careers.

5 Ways Voiceover Work and Family Influence Each Other – via Victoria DeAnda – “Family has a lot to do with how you perform as a voiceover artist. Learning how they affect it can help you control the feelings, emotions, and other factors that come into play as you work.”

The Obstacles Holding Back Your Voice Over Career – Via Gary Terzza – Are you putting up roadblocks to your own career goals?

Don’t Buy New Recording Equipment. Do This Instead. – Via CourVO – Gary’s got a better way to spend your money than on fancy new gear you may not know how to use.

For Rights Holders:

What IS a Target Audience? What You Need to Know – via BadRedheadMedia – “How do we get our target audience (those we are marketing to), to become our actual audience, the ones who buy what we are marketing to them?”

10 Tips for Twitter Success in Publishing – via The Bookseller – An easy to digest list of social media advice.

Why Social Media Should Become Publishers’ New Testing Ground – via BookBusiness – Can the “#instapoet” concept be applied to novels?

Do Writers Need Coaches? – via BookMarketingBuzzBlog – “Imagine if a writer has someone telling them to try harder, do it this way and not that, and high-fives them for a well-written passage?”

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This Week in Links: November 16 – 20

Posted on November 20, 2015 by | Leave a comment

For Rights Holders:

12 Things Writers Fear But Can Overcome – BookMarketingBuzzBlog – “Here are a dozen things many writers fear – and how to put such worries into perspective so they don’t cripple their efforts to write, pursue publication, seek out publicity, and market their life’s work.”

What You Need to Know About Publicity Before You Self-Publish – via The Write Life – “Unfortunately, many self-published authors assume that traditional publicity is out of reach. This couldn’t be further from the truth.”

How to Make a Speech at a Publishing Event – via ALLi – Authors experienced in public speaking offer first-hand advice.

Downsize Your Way to More Sales – via CreateSpace – Author Richard Ridley says the secret to higher sales just might be marketing to a smaller audience.

For Producers:

Drink Up for A Better Voice – via Voice Over Herald – Everything you could possibly need to know about hydrating for vocal excellence.

[VIDEO] 5 Must Haves For Your Voice Over Website – via Marc Scott – So you’ve got a website for your VO services. Now, learn how to make the most of it.

File Management with Alex the Audio Scientist – via The ACX Blog – Ensure you don’t stumble at the finish line by using our best practices for managing your audiobook productions and submitting them to ACX.

Simple Ways to Sound Professional in the Morning – via Your Work is All I Talk About – Vocal warmups to help you hit the ground running at the start of your day.

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This Week in Links: November 9 – 13

Posted on November 13, 2015 by | 1 comment

For Producers:

Let’s Get Serious About Breath Support – via Dr. Ann Utterback – Breathing is the energy for speech, and not having good breath support is like driving a car with watered down gasoline.”

7 Things (And A Bonus) You Can’t Overlook Before Sending Your Voice Over Auditions – via Voice-over Xtra – “[T]hese 7 points cannot be overlooked. They are the Holy Grail of “must-do” actions on the pre-flight list – a “basic necessities” list of pertinent reminders.

How to Effectively Deal with Customer Dissatisfaction in Voiceover – via Victoria DeAnda – “It is never easy to hear criticism. The first step in dealing with it is to understand that this happens to everyone. The next step is to help the client.”

Audiobook Narrator Tavia Gilbert Shares Her Secret to a Riveting Read – via Writer’s Digest – Learn from this short Q and A with a seasoned audiobook narrator.

From Amateur to All-Star: Everything I Wish I’d Known About Audiobook VO – via That’s Voiceover – Join ACX at That’s Voiceover in Los Angeles on November 14th to learn audiobook production from three Audible Approved Producers.

For Rights Holders:

Book Marketing on Facebook – via Book Marketing Tools – Learn why Facebook may be better for brand building than direct sales.

From Casting to A Narrator to Happily Ever After – via Karen Commins – The Audible Approved Producer offers pro tips on casting your audiobook from an actors’ perspective (check out Karen’s companion article here).

Book Marketing: How Authors Can Use Periscope’s Video Streaming Service – via ALLi – Author Chris Syme takes a look at how the emerging social video platform can work for book promotion.

How to Write Funny Dialogue – via Helping Writers Become Authors – Give your narrator something fun to voice.

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This Week in Links: November 2 – 6

Posted on November 6, 2015 by | 1 comment

For Rights Holders:

Five Ways for Self-published Authors to Use Video to Promote Self-Published Books – via ALLi – Read how author Laxmi Hariharan uses the moving image to help build her author platform while having a lot of fun.

15 Authors Running Fantastic Book Promotions on Instagram – via BookBub – “[H]ere are some great examples of authors who’ve been able to successfully build an audience and publish content that has connected with many followers.”

The 2015 October Platform Challenge – via Writer’s Digest – Need to beef up your author platform? This 31-day challenge to get you where you want to be.

Writers Need A Breakthrough, Not A Breakdown – via BookMarketingBuzzBlog – Feeling stuck? Perhaps it’s time to affect change by shaking things up.

For Producers:

Are You Suffering From Mike Fright? – via Nethervoice – Halloween’s over, so you’ve got no excuse for being afraid of your microphone.

From Amateur to All-Star: Everything I Wish I’d Known About Audiobook VO – via That’s Voiceover – Join ACX at That’s Voiceover in Los Angeles on November 14th to learn the do’s and don’ts of audiobook production.

[VIDEO] Reducing Voice Over Breaths Using Audacity – via Gary Terzza –  Learn a quick and easy way to subtly reduce the sound of prominent breaths when using Audacity.

5 Ways To Get Top Of Mind With Voice Over Clients – via Marc Scott – “It’s so easy to get caught up thinking about how to market ourselves to new clients, that sometimes we forget about reaching out to the clients we already have!”

You Will Always Read Like a Child, According to Science– via Gizmodo – Learn about pseudo-homophones and why your brain still gets tripped up sounding out the words you read.

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This Week in Links: October 19 – 23

Posted on October 23, 2015 by | Leave a comment

For Producers:

Passion, Persistence And Planning Will Make Your Voice Over Dreams A Reality – via Voice-Over Xtra – “The VO industry is flooded with talented people. What can you do to make yourself stand out and ensure your success in one of the most competitive industries out there?”

Five Voice Over Lessons Learned From Elon Musk – via Marc Scott – “If you want to be great at a “thing”, one of the easiest ways to help you get there is to study those that have come before you.”

What is Marketing – via Joe’s Dump – “Is it your brand? How about mass emails? SEO? Blogs? Cold calling? These may be pieces of an overall marketing strategy, but they are too often mistaken for all of marketing.”

Nasality Unwrapped – via Dr. Ann Utterback – “In most cases, nasality is either a learned behavior or the result of a lazy soft palate.”

For Rights Holders:

[PODCAST] How to Sell Books and Build Your Email List Through Facebook Ads -via Book Marketing Tools – “Books don’t just appear on Amazon from out of nowhere and sell. You’ve got to be there to push them. No one else is going to do it.”

How To Promote Books In The 21st Century – via BookMarketingBuzzBlog – “It’s a great time to promote a book, considering the number of opportunities and tools available, but it’s also the worst time, as publicists and authors feel overwhelmed by how man outlets they need to contact in order to do a lot of activity that may not necessarily yield a lot of book sales.”

World Building 101 – via The Write Practice – If you write fiction, you need world building. It’s the skeleton of your story: though unseen, those bones determine the shape of the beast.

Book Marketing: 6 Top Tips on How to Make LinkedIn Work for Authors – via ALLi – [E]ven here, your objective should be to build great connections, and not generate sales.

Want the week’s best audiobook links in your inbox? Subscribe to the ACX blog today!

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This Week in Links: October 12 – 16

Posted on October 17, 2015 by | Leave a comment

For Rights Holders:

How to Be Retweetable – via CreateSpace – “The trick is writing something in 140 characters that moves your followers and their followers to retweet your content.”

Why You Should Use Video Media to Market your Self-published Books – via ALLi – “The written word will never be replaced, but video can be a creative way of delivering information and reaping the rewards.”

10 Useful Resources for Writers – via Book Marketing Tools – Writing may be a solitary task but that does not mean you should be doing it in isolation.

A 12-Month Strategic Plan for Marketing Your Book before Release – via LiveWriteThrive – “The key is to think of your book the way Ford thinks of a new car. It’s a product, and you’re a business owner.”

For Producers:

11 Sites Explaining Mic Pick-up Patterns – via Dave Courvoisier – “Why should you know or care about microphone pickup patterns?  Because the mic you use has a unique way of “hearing” you, which effects the way you’re going to want to “address” the mic.”

Don’t Worry About Those Dreaded “How’s” …Focus On Success – Where You Want To Be – via Voice-Over Xtra – “If you don’t have a picture in your head of what your success will look like, you may never get there.”

Getting Ready for the Colder Weather as a Voiceover Artist – via Victoria DeAnda – “The more you do to make sure you do not get sick, the more likely you will be able to get through these next few months being just as productive as you are the rest of the year.”

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Now On ACX: “Offer Pending” Banner

Posted on October 7, 2015 by | 1 comment

Have you searched for an audition-ready project on ACX recently? You may have noticed a new banner labeled “Offer Pending” in your results. And if you’ve seen this new feature, you might have a few questions about it. Lucky for you, we’ve got all the answers.

Offer Pending_01

Q: What does “Offer Pending” mean?

A: “Offer Pending” means the rights holder of that title has made an offer to produce it to another ACX producer.

Q: What if the offer was made to me? Will I still see the flag?

A: Nope, but others will.

Q: I’d really like to produce this book. How long does the other producer have to accept the offer?

A: Depending on the offer, the producer who received it has from 24 – 72 hours to accept or decline the offer.

Q: So can I still submit an audition even if a title has the “Offer Pending” banner?

A: Yep, you can.

Q: Is that a good idea?

A: That depends. Preparing, producing, and uploading an audition takes time. If the rights holder is negotiating with another producer, you might do that work only to find the book has gone into production. We suggest you message the rights holder to introduce yourself and request more information if you’re dead set on auditioning.

Offer Pending_02Want to stay up to date on new ACX features? Subscribe to The ACX Blog!

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This Week in Links: September 21 – 25

Posted on September 25, 2015 by | Leave a comment

For Rights Holders:

Speaking To Promote Your Book – via Book Marketing Tools – “One great way to promote your book, especially for authors of nonfiction books, is to do speaking gigs. Not only can this be another income source, but it will also help to drive book sales and grow your reading audience and mailing list.”

How to Edit Fiction: Watch Me Correct My Own Story in Real Time – via Helping Writers Become Authors – If you’re going to self-edit, you’d better do it right. Learn from the real life edits of author K. M. Weiland.

Learning From Others & Building Buzz – via Author Marketing 101 – Take a trip to your local bookstore to learn how successful authors are marketing their books.

Five Self-publishing Lessons Learned Between Debut and Second Book – via ALLi – “Lorna Sixsmith reflects on some mistakes she made first time around – so she won’t make them again!”

For Producers:

“USB” is NOT a Type of Microphone: A Guide for Podcasting and Home Recording – via Some Audio Guy – “If you’re looking at podcasting, spoken word, interviews, or voice over recording, here’s a quick primer on some of the microphones you might want to consider!”

Regarding Room Tone with Alex the Audio Scientist – via The ACX Blog – Alex is back, with a new lesson to help you save valuable time in the editing stage of post-production.

10 Tips For Social Networking in Person – via Rob Marley – In-person networking is an important skill for actors, even in the digital age. Learn the do’s and don’ts here.

The Best Way to Grow Your Voiceover Business – via Victoria De Anda – Victoria offers five ways to expand your client base and land more VO work.

Vicious Cycle of Vocal Abuse – via Dr. Ann Utterback – Learn how to recognize vocal fatigue and what to do about it.

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This Week in Links: September 14 – 18

Posted on September 18, 2015 by | Leave a comment

For Producers:

How To Direct Your Inner Director: A Narrator’s Guide in Five Easy Directions – via Paul Allen Ruben – A worthwhile longread filled with the award-winning audiobook directors knowledge.

Run Your Own Race – via Marc Scott – A controversial few weeks in the VO community has lead one actor to reflect on the attitude required for success.

Voiceover Insider Podcast #22 with Scott Brick – via The Voiceover Insider – Take 15 minutes to listen to some advice from one of the top audiobook narrators in the business.

Branding for Voiceover Artists – via Debbie Irwin – “How do you encapsulate what you’re all about in as few words as possible, with as simple an image as possible, and yet communicate a message that has both depth and breadth?”

For Rights Holders:

Social Media Marketing Is Backwards: Strategy Vs. Tactics – via Digital Book World – “The truth is, success is not about finding the right channel; it’s about defining strategy first, and then plugging in the right channels to reach your goals.”

The Math and Music of Multiple Characters – via Writer Unboxed – Writing, developing, and managing multiple characters is especially important when it comes to your audiobook.

A Long Term Branding Strategy – via CreateSpace – When are you finally done building your author brand? Never.

How To Use 100 Print Books To Promote Your Self-published Book – via BookBub – A comprehensive infographic to help authors promote their work.

Want the best audiobook information and education in your inbox? Subscribe to the ACX blog to get updates every time we post!

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