October 04, 2017

I'm Stepping into the Audiobook World



AUDIOBOOK: 


A couple of months ago, I found out my publisher was doing audiobooks for their authors. I immediately put in a request for all of the Disaster Crimes books. On September 17th (Sunday), I got an email letting me know all of the books' applications were uploaded to ACX.com. The next night (Monday), I was given 5 auditions for Hurricane Crimes!


It was strange and neat to hear my words come to life. I chose an audition I liked where the narrator did a marvelous job of not only sounding real but added emotion. The contract was sent to her for Hurricane Crimes. There might be a male narrator for the other books, which I'm okay with since Hurricane Crimes was only in Beth's POV, but the other books include Donovan's POV. 


Now I'm going to have to figure out how to promote audiobooks. ANY IDEAS?



YOUTUBE:


Yolanda Asked Me: Can an Author make a Success of His or Her Books without being on Social Media? This video provides my answer.







BOOK CLUB:

For October/November, the IWSG Book Club is reading: 


The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger



In a poll in our group, structure was voted #2 for what our members want to learn more about, and this book is a great example of story structure that works.

The discussion will begin November 22nd.

JOIN US!




MASSIVE GIVEAWAY:

My very own ebook Ghost of Death is part of this prize! :)

To celebrate the release of her latest novel, Carry Me Homeauthor Jessica Therrien is hosting a HUUUGE BACK TO SCHOOL BOOK GIVEAWAY! The giveaway includes nearly 50 books, all from different authors. Keep scrolling for prize info and how to enter the giveaway.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

74 comments:

  1. My supervisor raves about audiobooks. She doesn't have time to read but is able to enjoy the books she loves and interested in reading this way.
    Not sure how you can promote it. Maybe the same way you'd promote a book but you'd insert how readers can now enjoy hearing the book come to life? Or do a book trailer with an excerpt of the narrator reading Hurricane Crimes?

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    1. A book trailer is an idea. I've never done one before. I'd probably have to find someone to help me with that.

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  2. Congrats on the audio book.

    Promoting an audio book is little more difficult. There aren't as many audio book reviewers and with the surge in audio books, they are all swamped.

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    1. I figured. Darn. Well, I'll have to get creative then. ;)

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  3. Good luck with the audiobooks! A few of my stories have been read aloud - it was fun to hear but a little odd, too. :)

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  4. Good luck with audio books. I've heard a lot about audio books, and except for one book, which I heard for barely a few minutes I've no experience with audio books.

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    1. Promoting audio books would be a learning experience for me. :)

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  5. Maybe add a sound bit of the blurb done by the narrator. Good luck with the audio book. Keep us posted as to how it goes. :-)

    Anna from elements of emaginette

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    1. I'm not sure if my publisher is having the narrator read the blurb or not? Is that usually don't? I have no idea. LOL Audio books are new to me.

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  6. How exciting on the audiobooks!!! That has to be a really cool thing to hear your words being read like that. Congrats!

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  7. Congratulations on your audiobook! For promotion, maybe you could take out an ad in a magazine like AudioFile, or ask them to review yours.

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    1. Thanks for the tip! I'll check out AudioFile.

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  8. How cool is that!! I hope you get your new audiobooks promoted. Congrats!

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  9. Have fun with the audio books. It is really cool to hear one's story come to life that way.

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  10. Congrats with having your books made into audio books. I like the idea of having a female narrator for one book to match the female POV and then moving to a male narrator for the others.

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    1. Thanks, Ellen! I think it works for my series. :)

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  11. That's awesome about the audiobooks! One day I'll have to venture into that direction. I'd love to hear about your experiences as it goes along.

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  12. Congrats for the audio book news. I'm not sure I could listen to my own books. Me being the neurotic person I am would be too embarrassed.

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    1. I was embarrassed, but then the other part of me was jumping up and down with joy. lol

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  13. I have a writer friend in the area who's done the ACX audiobook thing quite a few times. You should talk to him. I bet he could give you some pointers on the marketing side of things.

    Audiobooks are something I've never even looked into. I don't think I would be able to handle it. You're a far braver soul than I am. :)

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    1. That would be great. :)

      When my publisher made the announcement, I jumped on it for the opportunity and added reach to new readers. Now I just need to figure out how to get them to new readers. Haha

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  14. Congrats on getting the audio book, Chrys! That is soooo exciting!!

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  15. Great idea doing audio-books, Chrys. I've yet to get my Kindle audio to work but know the day is approaching when I can't turn pages.

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  16. Hi Chrys - what a great video you've given us with ideas for promoting an audio book = and I see you've had lots of interesting comment ... I really want to do audio booklets sometime ... thanks for this - brilliant - cheers Hilary

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  17. Good luck with your new venture.......sure to be a success.

    Yvonne.

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  18. Congrats on the audiobooks. Not sure how one would promote them other than the usual venues. But sure you'll find the way.

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    1. I figure there's a special way to promote audio books. I'll do my best to find out how. :)

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  19. I love that you had five auditions!!! I don't know how to promote audio books, but I will keep watching here and see what you do. :)

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    1. I was shocked when I found out there were 5 auditions so soon.

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  20. Oh wait, there is one way I just thought of ... bragging about how awesome your narrator is. I know that sounds weird, but I think it works. Authors who promote their narrator (and are actually promoting their book) usually gain some interest in the audiobooks they have. If you can have an audio clip of 30 seconds or so to share, I think that helps, too. My husband had a friend of his loan him an audiobook and then he went on to listen to the rest of the series ... so giveaways probably work, too.

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    1. That actually sounds like a great idea. I would certainly want to brag about my narrators. Thanks for the tips!

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  21. Congratulations, Chrys. This is awesome and worthy of celebrating. I'm looking forward this winter to listen to your wonderful book. Bravo.

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    1. Thank you, Joylene! I hope it comes out soon. :)

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  22. Awesome that your book is going to be an audio book. Maybe you should find some mystery book review bloggers and do a little tour with a giveaway, like one audio that is offered to all the blogs participating, so you're only giving one book. Mystery lovers might be excited.

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    1. Doing a mini tour for my audio book is an idea. Thanks!

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  23. Congrats on the audio book! That's awesome!

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  24. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog.
    Audio books sound so cool. I enjoy listening to them and, one day, will look into it for my own books. Not sure about the promo, but maybe offer some YouTube or SoudCloud samples. Maybe, connect with travel bloggers and see if you could write an article about listening to your books on the road/traveling.

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    1. I was thinking about doing something on YouTube. Hmm...good idea about the travel blogs.

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  25. I am always torn on audio books. I have read some good ones and then some awful ones. I think it would be cool to hear my books though.

    Good luck with promoting yours.

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    1. I've never actually listened to an audio book. Mine will be the first. LOL

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  26. Congrats on the audio books - awesome! :)

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  27. It's great that your publisher is doing audio books. Do you have to do anything other than pick the narrator? I'm sure it must have given you goosebumps to hear someone else read your story out loud. (other than your crit partners, of course.)

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    1. I had to provide into for my publisher to put my applications up on ACX.com and pick out a good excerpt four the narrators to do for their audition. So far, I had to listen to them and pick the narrator I liked.

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  28. Congratulations on the audio books. Isn't it fun to hear someone narrating your story.
    And that's a lot of books on the giveaway.

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  29. Hey Chrys,

    How totally awesome about the audio books. I know how surreal it is to hear somebody else read out what I've written. In my case, I had part of one of my blog posts read on BBC radio.

    I'd like Penny the Jack Russell dog and modest internet superstar get into narrating audio books.

    Take care, Chrys.

    Gary

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    1. Having something you've written read on the radio would be nest! I'm glad that happened for you! Yes, Penny needs audio books. :)

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  30. Congrats on getting your books in audio. That's so cool.

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  31. Congrats on getting an audio book started. It seems whatever you are doing to promote it, the other formats will spill over to its promotion. You've just given readers another option, and since 70% find books online, this would work. I like your question and answer video. Great idea. I wonder how much social media works. Twitter feels like a waste of time to me. My publisher wants me on FB and Instagram, so I concentrate on that, although I dislike FB. Instagram is okay, now that I've figured out how to upload pics, including from Pinterest. I enjoy blogging, but I haven't figured out how to get reviews of my book. Do bloggers email each other and ask? Some days I feel like I forgot to pay membership to the club. Not that I'm asking, just curious.

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    1. Twitter I also feel is a waste if time, but I try to keep a presence there. Facebook I use to mostly stay in contact with other writers and authors. I like FB groups. I love Instagram and blogging. To get reviews, you can definitely email book reviewers. A lot of blogs have this info and there are many sites that list review blogs, too. If you do a blog you, one of the options can be to review your book.

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  32. Oh my! I've been following you on Instagram and everywhere while you've been listening to auditions. What an adventure!

    I love listening to audiobooks especially if its mysteries and thrillers.

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    1. I did post to Instagram and Facebook about listening to auditions. :)

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  33. When I worked away from home, I listened to audio books. Loved them. Good luck with the promo.

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  34. Wow! There’s a lot to do here, Chrys. I've listened to your social media tutorial on youtube and signed up for many of the links here.

    I listen to audio books all the time. I like to listen while I'm doing chores or walking in the neighborhood. All best to you and congrats on getting your Crimes books on audio.

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    1. Thank you for watching my YouTube video and for signing up to everything!

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  35. I am really starting to appreciate audiobooks, because you can listen at times when reading is not an option, like while doing chores or driving. I think it's neat that you got to hear auditions for your narrator.

    I watched a couple of your videos and I like how you put them together. I enjoyed the one where you showed us your shamrock :)

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  36. That's so cool that your books were turned into audiobooks; it would definitely be thrilling to hear other people read them out loud. I think it'd be interesting to hear how people interpret it from the way they read it.

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    1. Hearing their interpretation is interesting for sure.

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