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
- Go to SoundCloud.com and create a free account.
- 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.
- 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.
- In the “Title” field, enter the title of your audiobook, the author name, and narrator name.
- 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.
- In the “Description” field, we recommend the following information:
- A short description of your audiobook
- The name of the narrator
- A brief “about the author” section
- Links to related titles or books in the series
- Links to your website or social media platforms
- Your Bounty referral links
- Once you’re satisfied with your entry, click the “Save” button.
- 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.
- Better yet, you can embed your SoundCloud link on your website by clicking the “Share” button in the center of the page.
- 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.
- Share it on social media with Soundcloud’s handy Share button.
- Tag it, and share it on your newly created SoundCloud page.
- 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!