Tag Archives: audiobook marketing

Now Hear This: Promoting with SoundCloud

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You’re telling those tales, ACX’ers, but before yours can take up residence in someone’s soul, it has to take up residence in their ears. So how do you get your story housed in that valuable real estate? As with any real estate, the key is location, location, location—as in, don’t make your listeners go to a secondary location to hear your audio sample, bring the audio sample directly to them. And that’s where SoundCloud comes in!

SoundCloud is social audio platform that allows artists such as yourselves to connect directly with their fans—create a profile, upload audio files, and embed SoundCloud’s audio player on your website and social media platforms, or share it in your email newsletter. Uploading a sample of your audiobook to SoundCloud allows you to put that sample right in front of your fans so they can simply click and play—and while you’re at it, add your Bounty Link to your sample so listeners know just where to go hear the rest of your story!

Creating a Clip

  1. Go to SoundCloud.com and create a free account.
  2. Once you’ve created a SoundCloud account, click “Upload” in the upper right-hand corner, then select your chosen audio clip from your computer. We recommend starting with your book’s Retail Audio Sample, which you can download from your Project Dashboard on ACX.
  3. While your file uploads, click the “Choose new image” button on the left-hand side of the page. Then, click “Upload new image.” Next, find and select your cover art.
  4. In the “Title” field, enter the title of your audiobook, the author name, and narrator name.
  5. In the “Tags” field, enter any tags that you feel will best help promote your title. At minimum, you should use the following tags: Audiobooks, Audio Books, Audio, Books, [Author Name], [Narrator Name], Series Name, Genres. Be sure to enter in each tag individually.
  6. In the “Description” field, we recommend the following information:
    1. A short description of your audiobook
    2. The name of the narrator
    3. A brief “about the author” section
    4. Links to related titles or books in the series
    5. Links to your website or social media platforms
    6. Your Bounty referral links
  7. Once you’re satisfied with your entry, click the “Save” button.
  8. Once you have saved and posted your book to SoundCloud, click “Go to your track.” You can now share the URL at the top of the page on social media or on your website.
  9. Better yet, you can embed your SoundCloud link on your website by clicking the “Share” button in the center of the page.
  10. After clicking the “Share” button, you can choose to share the URL to your favorite social media platform or embed the SoundCloud player on your website. You can even select how you’d like the embedded SoundCloud link to look. Finally, copy the code and paste it to your website.

Learn how to access your Bounty Links in our Help Center.

Sharing Your Clips

Once you create your SoundCloud link, you can use it to:

  • Add audio widgets to your book descriptions on your website.
  • Create an audiobook page on your website featuring all of your audio samples.

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  • Share it on social media with Soundcloud’s handy Share button.
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  • Tag it, and share it on your newly created SoundCloud page.

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  • Embed it in your next newsletter to your fans.

Your fans are all engaging with the stories that move them in different ways—some of them are cozying up with a print copy of your book at home, some are enjoying your e-book on their travels, and some are taking in your audiobook on their morning commute—so why not meet them where they like to engage? Make sure your fans with a preference for listening know you have an audiobook option, and connect them with that listening experience directly by bringing your audio to them. Using SoundCloud to add embedded widgets and links to your marketing platforms is an elegant way to deliver a sample of your audiobook to potential listeners, and pairing your Bounty Link with the audio means just one easy click between connecting with your audio story and purchasing it!

Already using SoundCloud to promote your audiobook? Share your examples in the comments!

How to Get (and Keep!) New Audiobook Listeners

Remember that feeling you got the last time you found an amazing new author and couldn’t wait to go out and devour everything they’ve ever written? We want to help you spark that kind of excitement in your fans. How, you ask? Get out there and talk to your audience! Today, we’ve put together some tips to help you craft a targeted email and social media campaign that will keep your fans listening and help you earn Bounty payments.

Targeting and Re-Targeting

example survey

First things first—let’s find out who’s listening. Surveys can be a great tool for creating awareness for your audiobook and deciding what marketing and production decisions to make next. Set up a poll using a service like Survey Monkey or your preferred social media platform (Facebook and Twitter both offering polling) to gather data about your fans, and use this opportunity to ask your audience additional questions, such as:

  • Where and how they listen
  • Whether they prefer male or female voices
  • Who their favorite narrators are
  • What types of audiobooks they typically listen to

Follow your survey with an email or social media ad that promotes your audiobook and directs listeners to Audible with your Bounty Referral link.

From there, you can review the results of your social media ad or check with your email client to learn how you can see which recipients opened your email and followed the links. Then, use that information to launch a follow-up campaign. Try sending non-openers an email with a new subject line to grab their attention, or appeal to openers who didn’t click the links with a different incentive to listen. You can then track traffic to Audible and view resulting audiobook purchases on your Bounty Dashboard to understand which of your tactics are working best.

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Keep ‘Em Listening

Now that your fans have listened to your audiobook, what do they listen to next? Prompt them to listen to the other audiobooks in your series, another audiobook in your catalog, or even recommend a title by a peer in your genre. This keeps your fans engaged in the world of audiobooks and helps ensure they’ll stay Audible members.

Cross-Promoting

Want to reach an even wider audience? Talk with fellow ACX authors about sending an email campaign on each other’s behalf to promote your books to a new audience. Use this as an opportunity to bond with your fans over something you both care about—audiobooks! Create a “listening list” or “listening book club,” include recommendations for some of your own favorite audiobooks, or invite listeners to suggest some of their favorites. Then host a Facebook event or Instagram live video where everyone can discuss their listening experience.

Recommending new audiobooks and getting recommendations from your peers not only builds your connection and rapport with your fans, it keeps them in the habit of listening. New listeners may become Audible members, and fans who are already regular audiobook listeners are more likely to pick up your work.

Direct communication with your fans, whether it’s promoting your title or starting a discussion about what you’re listening to, can help you learn who your listeners are and grow your connection with them into a listening community that will sustain your success as an audiobook creator. Including your Bounty Link in all of your marketing efforts not only gives new listeners an easy way to access your titles, it can show you what strategies are driving traffic to your work.  Check out Marketing with the ACX-Perts for more ideas on how to get the word out about your audiobook, and keep an eye on the ACX blog for additional marketing resources to help you earn even more.

Editor’s Note: This post has been updated throughout.

This Week in Links: October 1 – 5

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ACX is excited to announce that we’re once again partnering with The Society of Voice Arts and Sciences at That’s Voiceover 2018! This year’s event will take place on Saturday, November 17th at the Sheraton Universal Hotel at Universal Studios Hollywood, and we’re offering a number of ways audiobook actors and producers can interact with ACX and Audible Studios:

  • Learn from our all-star panel presentation, Becoming an Audiobook Actor-preneur. Scott Brick, Luke Daniels, and Khristine Hvam will help you develop the tools you need to grow a long career in audiobook performance/production.
  • Meet the ACX team at our exhibit hall booth. Bring your audiobook production, performance, and marketing questions. We want to hear from you!
  • Read for Audible Studios. Schedule a one-on-one session with Audible Studios producer Chris Sacco and get feedback on your performance in the moment. The top male and female talent will each land a contract to perform a title for Audible Studios. Sign up here.

Get your tickets here, and make sure to use code ACXTVO18 to get 20% off. We hope to see you there.

For Producers:

Would You Survive The Shark Tank? – via Paul Strikwerda – “If I were an investor on Shark Tank or Dragons’ Den, and you came to me with a pitch to back your business, what would I be looking for?”

6 Ways Social Media Can Hurt Your Voice Over Business – via Debbie Grattan – “To make sure your social media efforts end up benefiting instead of hurting your business, it’s crucial to steer clear of six different social media habits that can damage your VO career.

Speak From Your Diaphragm! – via Dr. Ann Utterback – Learn the why this piece of advice is so often repeated, and how to implement it in front of the mic.

For Rights Holders:

Meet the Super Fan … the Secret Sauce Authors Want – via The Book Designer – “[W]hen you set out to develop and build Super Fans, you create a cult of sorts. You are “the one” that they are dedicated/devoted to. Whatever your words are, they think you are the cat’s meow.”

Know The Media’s Purpose In Order to Have Your Book Covered by The – via BookMarkertingBuzzBlog – “[T]he media and authors need to find one another and click. They must see value in each other, a value greater than most others provide for them. Can you give the media what it wants.”

October Observances to Inspire Your Author Marketing – via author marketing experts – Turn to the calendar when in need of a touchstone for your book marketing efforts.

Head Back to School with Fresh Marketing Ideas

As summer comes to a close and temperatures cool, it’s time to hit the books­—the audiobooks! The start of a new season brings the opportunity to reset your marketing efforts, so today we’re giving a quick study on some additional ways to promote your audiobook using your new Bounty Referral links. With that, class is in session…

Lesson 1: Data is your most powerful marketing tool

Estimating, then measuring the success of your marketing efforts, is the number one guide for helping you decide what’s working and what’s not working when it comes to audiobook promotion. That’s why we enhanced your Sales Dashboard with data about the performance of your Bounty Referral links. In addition to the ability to see clicks and Bounty conversions on your dashboard, you can leverage the date range function to examine clicks, sales, and Bounty performance on a day-to-day basis. Match this data with your promotions calendar and calculate the return on investment (ROI) of your efforts, in terms of cost per click and cost per conversion. For example, if you see an increase in clicks on a day that you promoted your audiobook on your blog, consider how you can replicate that success in future posts.

Two Boys Cooperating in PlayLesson 2: Collaborate to succeed

The marketing Rule of Seven says potential customers need to “see” your message seven times before they take an action and buy your product. But you can’t just scream “Buy! Buy! Buy!” all the time without burning your fans out. Good thing your author/actor network can help you spread the word. Working with a promotion partner, consider trading Bounty Referral links and promoting your peer’s work to your fans and vice versa. Choose a fellow author or actor in your genre–or even a related genre–and form an alliance to cross promote each other’s audiobooks. Beyond Facebook and Twitter, consider hosting each other for a Blog tour or featuring each other in your respective newsletters.

Lesson 3: Paid media can be a smart investment

When you’re trying to expand your following, investing a small budget in ads on search engines or social media can be a good way to recruit new fans. When placing paid ads, you have the ability to target potential clients based on geography, interests, and past shopping habits, and when combined with your Bounty Referral link, you can recruit new audiobook fans. In addition to strategically targeting your ads to your audience, be sure to use specific, meaningful keywords in your advertisements to quickly and clearly convey the benefits of your audiobook. This tip dovetails especially well with our first lesson, as you’ll be able to tweak your audience and keywords, then refer back to your Sales Dashboard to determine which worked best.

Audio cablesLesson 4: Create a connection with your fans

These days, authentic connections are happening online with increasing frequency. This means you can get the word out about your audiobook directly to your fans using innovative livestreaming tools, such as Facebook Live and YouTube live streaming. Consider hosting a weekly discussion with your fans to answer questions, give updates, and provide exclusive content related to your (audio)books. As you set up these discussions, include your Bounty Referral link in the metadata and description, then be sure to mention it during your stream to direct users to your audiobook edition–and earn those Bounty Referral payments.

Lesson 5: Include links for your eBook readers

For authors, your front and back matter (the pages that precede and proceed your story) are a great opportunity to advertise other works. Readers who finish your eBook edition are likely to be looking for even more great work from you, and you can use your backmatter to alert them to the availability of your audiobook edition. Be sure to use your Bounty Referral links to point readers directly to your title on Audible.

MountaintopLesson 6: Combine and conquer

Think of the tips above as ongoing efforts that you can combine for maximum efficiency. For example, you can invite your promotional partner to appear on your Facebook Live stream and boost that post with a dollar amount that fits your budget. A few days later, visit your Sales Dashboard on ACX to see how that effort performed. From there, schedule another broadcast, tweaking a single aspect like hosting it at a different time or fine tuning the audience. Once you’ve completed the test, refer to your Sales Dashboard again to learn whether your tweaks moved the needle in a positive direction. Rinse and repeat until you’ve landed on a promotion that resonates with your audience.

Pencils down. We hope you’ve learned some valuable lessons on audiobook promotion. We’d also like to learn from you: How have you found success promoting your audiobooks? Tell us your favorite ideas in the comments. Now, class dismissed!

This Week in Links: September 3 – 7

For Producers:

Narrators Have To Look Up Pronunciations Of Those Unfamiliar, Odd-Sounding Words. (Here’s How) – via Voice-Over Xtra – “Good narrators recognize that geography, demographics, and even economic status can play a large role in how certain words are pronounced.”

What Virtual Assistants Can Do For Your Voice Over Business – via Voice Over Herald – “You want to spend more time searching for new clients, being inside your booth recording, or perfecting your craft but you can’t find the time because you have been playing catch-up. How are you going to grow your business if you are overloaded with tasks and responsibilities that take you away from the money-making activities?”

Three Ways to Spice Up Your Vocal Delivery – via Dr. Ann Utterback – “If you say phrases exactly the same way each time, they become stale and uninteresting. Worse, if you voice these exactly the same each time, they can become a bore for you and the listener.”

10 Tips for a Successful Home Audition – via Edge Studio – Herein lies solid advice for VO’s of all stripes, including audiobook narrators.

For Rights Holders:

6 Ways Video Blogging Can Save Your Author Promotion – via Author Marketing Experts – Forging a deeper connection with your fans to growing a new creative skill are just two reasons to explore a new way to marketing yourself online.

How to Sell Books to Someone Other Than Your Mom – via The Write Practice – “There’s nothing wrong with selling a book to Mom, by the way. But ideally you write and sell a book that thousands of people can’t wait to get their hands on. Here’s how to do it.”

The Best Free Media Contacts Tool You Probably Aren’t Using – via The Book Designer – Learn all about this free service and get some tips for making the most of your (audio)book PR efforts.

Writer Branding: A Cheat Sheet for Your Brand Elements – via The Write Conversation – Learn two simple ways to break down and analyze aspects of your visual brand to ensure you demonstrate consistency across all of your author materials.

 

 

This Week in Links: August 13 – 17

For Rights Holders:

How to Market Your Book–When You Hate Marketing – via Helping Writers Become Authors – You can admit it: you’d rather be writing your books than marketing them. Reframing how you think about marketing, however, may help you find success and enjoyment in this important aspect of (audio)book publishing.

What Makes Readers Buy Books? – via ALLi – Dig deep into the data behind reader surveys to find out why your fans make the decisions they do.

30 Fantastic Writer’s Conferences for Authors, Bloggers and Freelancers – via The Write Life – The wisdom of the crowd, the support of your peers, the happy hour drinks at the bar: there are a number of good reason to attend writer’s conferences, and you just might find the right one for you on this list.

Great Book? Or Great Marketing – via BookMarketingBuzzBlog – Read on for an eye opening look at the value of writing vs. marketing when it comes to (audio)book sales.

For Producers:

Your Weekly VO Marketing Calendar – via Dave Courvoisier – Even the best in the business can fall into the inconsistency trap. Dave’s got a handy suggestion for staying on track: mnemonics!

The Secret to Sustained Success – via Paul Strikwerda – “If you wish to have sustainable success as a freelancer, you have to start thinking long-term, and big picture.”

Deliver On Your Promises – The Most Important Voiceover Advice – via Gravy for the Brain – For freelance professionals, your reputation is invaluable. Are you making a name a good impression on your clients?

As Your Voice Ages, Training Overcomes Barriers. But More Calls Coming For ‘Seniors’ – via Voice-Over Xtra – “In many ways the microphone is much more merciful than the camera. And in other ways it’s more revealing.”

 

This Week in Links: July 30 – August 3

Producers:

How To Edit Voice-Over Recordings A Lot Faster – With A Gaming Mouse! – via Voice-Over Xtra – Learn how to streamline your audiobook editing with some gear you may not even have considered for your studio.

Filling In The Blanks – via Paul Strikwerda – “You can’t give a client what s/he wants to hear, if you have no clue what it is.”

The Only Thing That’s Constant… – via Dave Courvoisier – Find inspiration in the ways your VO career “enhance[s] the definition of being human.”

Hey, I Know You!: Creating and Maintaining Your Personal Brand – via ACX University – Building a strong narrator brand and marketing your ACX productions can increase your earnings and provide a “value add” for the Rights Holders you work with.

Rights Holders:

How to Recycle, Repurpose and Promote Your Publicity – via The Book Designer – As you continue to build you Author brand, get tips on how to get the best return on the exposure you’re already getting.

Authors Should Promote Books Like Street Entertainers Sell Their Talents – via BookMarketingBuzzBlog – Turns out you can find marketing inspiration in the funniest of places. Find out how two different types of creatives have more in common than you may think.

11 Ways to Simplify Your (book promotion) Life – via author marketing experts – “Simplifying for authors is different…because most of us have day jobs and for us, simplifying isn’t just about keeping things simple, it’s also about preventing that bottleneck when too many things hit at once.”

How to Use Awareness Days to Promote Your Self-published Books – via ALLi – “Awareness Days of some kind or other happen just about every day of the year. There can be few authors who can’t find at least one day that somehow chimes with their books, if only they take the time and trouble to look. But what to do when you find one that suits you?”

Earning with the ACX Bounty Referral Program

Today, ACX announced the new Bounty Referral Program, upping the payout to up to $75 for each new Audible member and providing advanced tracking on your ACX Sales Dashboard. You’ll receive new, trackable referral links, unique to you and each of your audiobooks, starting August 1.

Bounties for Royalty Share titles will be divided, with $50 going to the creator whose referral link enticed that new member, and $25 to their creative partner, whose performance or writing helped seal the deal. Bounties are subject to the ACX Bounty Program Terms and Conditions, which can be found here.

That means you’ll want to leverage this URL each time you promote your ACX audiobooks, which we at the blog hope is all the time! To get you started on the path to marketing with your new referral links, we’ve got some tips that will help you get listeners excited about your audiobooks.

  1. Get organized. Set up a marketing calendar that allows you a holistic view of your marketing efforts across channels and over time. This will not only help you stay organized, it will allow you to understand which of your marketing tactics had the greatest impact. Speaking of which…
  2. Leverage data. We’ve enhanced your ACX Sales Dashboard to show pageviews generated by your use of your new Bounty referral links, as well as the Bounty payments you’ve racked up by driving new listeners to Audible. With this information, you can track your marketing methods and channels, learning which have earned the best results and repeating the most successful efforts (marketing shorthand for this is “test, measure, repeat”).
  3. Be authentic. Today’s consumers have long since learned to filter out “Buy! Buy! Buy!” messages. Your fans are your fans because they feel an emotional connection to you and your work. Find the aspects of the audiobook publishing and production process that light you up and highlight them to your fans. Insert “calls to action” (CTAs) strategically, and make sure to include your unique referral link when you do.
  4. Go social. Whatever your preferred social media platform—and this includes your blog—two things are likely true: it’s the most direct connection you have to your fans, and it is hungry for content. Use this to your advantage by mentioning your audiobooks early and often. Audiobook fans love getting a peek behind the curtain, and the audiobook creation process affords numerous opportunities to share. Get your social media followers and blog readers talking about your audiobook and keep them informed as you work though the publishing process, building excitement from casting to release day. Once the audiobook is released, celebrate the day by asking your fans to give your book a listen—via your Bounty tracking link. The goal here is to create a relationship between your fans and your work that compels them to purchase your audiobook and leave glowing reviews on Audible.
  5. Start spreading the news via your email newsletter. Find a reason for your fans to listen— a day at the beach, a long ride to see family for a holiday, even a free hour at home once the kids have been put to bed—and tell them why your audiobook is the perfect companion for those times. Ask your fans to listen to your titles on Audible and help them get there via your Bounty referral link.
  6. Boost your backlist. Take a look through your past audiobook marketing efforts and insert your new Bounty tracking link wherever you’ve linked off to Audible. This is also a great occasion to take a look at the books you’ve already produced and (re)introduce them to your fans. Share a memory about the production, or something that ties the audiobook to a current or upcoming event, and include your Bounty referral link so fans can hear it for themselves.
  7. Highlight the magic of audio. The performance behind the audiobook is what sets it apart from your paperback and eBook editions, so show it off! Audio clips, including your retail sample, are a great way to entice new listeners to the format. Consider a simple book trailer that leverages your audiobook’s narration or an Audible clip, and pair it with your referral links as you promote to make it easy to purchase after they’re blown away by your sample.
  8. Get inspired by your peers. Keep following the marketing section of this blog to get more ideas on how to leverage your referral links, and learn how fellow audiobook creators like Scott Sigler, Zhanna Hamilton, and Ryan Winfield have boosted their earnings via the ACX Bounty Program.

Your blueprint for earning for Bounty Referral payments is clear: focus on the aspects of your audiobooks that make them unique and exciting, communicate them authentically to your fans, and leverage your Bounty tracking link and enhanced sales dashboard to make the most of your efforts. Now, go forth and market!

 

This Week in Links: June 18 – 22

For Rights Holders:

SEO for Authors – Part 2 – via The Book Designer – We shared part one of this series last week, and the next post digs a little deeper into ways authors can leverage search engines to boost discovery of their (audio)book.

What Indie Authors Can Learn About Branding from IHOP – via Author Marketing Expert – The chain restaurant’s recent rebranding offers a lens through which authors can examine their own marketing efforts.

Are Authors Really Promoting The Benefits Of Their Books? – via BookMarketingBuzzBlog – “Many authors promote their books in simple terms – “It’s a fun read” or “You’ll learn a lot.” They may position themselves as experts on something, but fail to highlight what one will truly gain by consuming their book. Here’s a tip: know the benefits your book offers and champion them.”

How to Make Your Sentences More Descriptive – via The Write Conversation – We say it time and again: the better your writing, the better your audiobook Producer can perform it. With that in mind, read up on how to strike the right balance between straightforward and purple prose.

For Producers:

In Double-Digit Climb, Audiobook Sales Jump 23% To Over $2.5 Billion In 2017 – via Voice-Over Xtra – The audiobook business is booming! Take a look at the key insights from the Audio Publishers Association’s annual sales survey.

Why Go to an Industry Convention? Insight from the Perspective of Voice over Conferences and More – via Natasha Marchewka – Learn the “Why? What? Where? When?” of getting out of the booth and into a VO conference.

You Must Master These 4 Skills For a Successful Voiceover Business – via Gravy for the Brain – You have to wear a lot of hats as an actor-entrepreneur – four of them, according to this article. Find out how to make each one fit properly.

7 Processes to Success – via Dave Courvoisier – “The trick to discipline — beyond will power — is PROCESS. ‘…a continuous action, operation, or series of changes taking place in a definite manner.'”

This Week in Links: June 11 – 15

For Producers:

If You Start Crying – Don’t Stop Narrating! And More Tips From BookCon – via Voice-Over Xtra – Audiobook narrator Tom Dheere shares what he learned from the panelists at the “Into the Booth” panel at this year’s event.

Chill Out this Summer – via Dr. Ann Utterback – The good doctor shares her advice for de-stressing this summer to unlock your best on-mic performance.

Deliver On Your Promises – The Most Important Voiceover Advice – via Gravy for the Brain – “Your word and your bond will say more about you and your brand than any advertising campaign ever could.”

Break Out of Your… – via Dave Courvoisier – Dave’s here to tell us about the value of shaking things up to get a clear mind and fresh perspective.

For Rights Holders:

SEO for Authors – Part 1 – via The Book Designer – Learn how Search Engine Optimization can help authors drive traffic, build email lists, and sell more (audio)books.

Which Message Should Authors Sell To The News Media? – via BookMarketingBuzzBlog – “What exactly is the message you want to convey and sell to the news media so journalists, broadcasters, and social media sites will want to cover you and your book?”

5 Steps to Writing Great Character Chemistry – via Helping Writers Become Authors – give your audiobook producer something to sink their teeth into by building your writing skills.

Social Media Strategies in this New World of Algorithms – via The Write Conversation – Author Edie Melson lays out her strategy to “help you find a blueprint to continue to make valuable online connections.”