Creating an #AudioBook #WriterTips @jacqbiggar

cropped-book-1014197_1280.jpg

It’s hard to express the feeling I had this week when Audible released Missing: The Lady Said No to audiobook. Hearing your hero speak for the very first time is indescribable.

I’ve been waiting for ACX- (Audible Creation Exchange) the company that produces audiobooks for leading suppliers such as Audible, Amazon, and I-tunes to allow Canadians into their marketplace and this June 1, 2017 it happened!

 

 

 

Here’s a little background info on the increasing popularity of audiobooks from the Publishers Weekly site:

A new report issued by the Audio Publishers Association found that 2016 was another good year for audiobooks. The findings show double-digit growth for both audiobook sales and title output.

Total sales rose 18.2% over 2015, to an estimated $2.1 billion, while unit sales did even better. According to the report, unit sales rose 33.9%, to 89.5 million. Sales are based on reports from about 20 audiobook publishers. The APA then extrapolates from those figures, to derive an estimate for the entire market. The title output from reporting companies was 50,937 in 2016, a 43.1% increase over 2015.

I think that’s cause for a celebration, don’t you? 🙂

 

The process is easy. ACX walked me through the steps of loading my book, choosing passages with a variety of characters for the auditions, and setting up my contract with them. You can choose to be exclusive to Audible for seven years (keep in mind they do upload to the three biggest suppliers in the industry) or you can buy your rights and load the book wherever you like.

 

There are also a variety of ways to pay your narrator.

  • You and your Producer can agree to a Pay for Production Fee (a one-time flat fee) or a Royalty Share Deal (in which case your Producer won’t earn money up front, but will instead share in the proceeds from the sale of your audiobook 50-50).
  • Want a higher royalty rate on sales of your audiobook? You can opt for a significantly higher ACX royalty rate by granting Audible exclusive distribution rights to your ACX-produced audiobook. If you want to keep more distribution options open, you can distribute your audiobook through ACX on a nonexclusive basis and receive the standard ACX royalty rate.

 

Then you wait for the auditions to pour in (wishful thinking :)) or you can search through the ACX database of narrators and place your offer with the one you like.

I was extremely lucky to have Daniel F. Purcell find me and agree to perform my books. He’s simply amazing! His vast repertoire of voices brought the characters to life.

I’m so impressed!

As he read the chapters, he loaded them onto the ACX site so that I could listen and give input on any areas I thought needed changing. There were very few 🙂

Next, there was a wait of about a week while ACX checked the files over to make sure it all sounded good, then they published!

Oh yeah, they also give the author and the narrator 25 codes each for review and promotional purposes so if you’d like to hear Gus’ story comment below and I’ll pick someone to receive a #Free copy!

This has been a positive experience from the start. I highly recommend ACX and Audible to any authors who have been on the fence about producing an audiobook.

Do it!

Start your #Free Audible Trial today with Missing: The Lady Said No!

 

Missing The Lady Said No audio cover

 

Missing: The Lady Said No

The Race is on to find a Killer in the heart of Kentucky horse country

Detective Augustus Grant is faced with his most baffling case to date. Well-respected race horse breeder, John Jorgenson, is murdered in his den days before the Kentucky Derby and the list of suspects is growing.

Complicating matters, Gus’ ex-girlfriend is the last person to have seen the victim alive.

Rebecca Hayes owes the Jorgenson family her loyalty. They gave her a new life after a disastrous affair leaves her alone and pregnant.

With all the evidence pointing in Becky’s direction, will Gus do his duty?

Or follow his heart?

 

http://books2read.com/u/3Lrqre

http://amzn.to/2jXEbAP

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34033805-missing

And Now on Audio Book!- http://a.co/23uX6b8

 

Sisterhood of Suspense

 

Enter Here

20 Comments Add yours

  1. Kathryn Jane says:

    Congratulations, Jacquie!
    And thanks so much for sharing your experience! I’ve wanted to be able to use ACX, but when it finally became available to Canadians, I hesitated, wary of the process and not wanting to up the complication factors of publishing 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I was so happy they came through for us, Kat. I’ve been writing them letters begging for a while now, lol.
      You really should give it a try, the process is very user-friendly 🙂

      Like

  2. Congrats Jacquie! Thanks for sharing your “audio” journey. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, Joanne. Your books would be great in an audio format 🙂

      Like

  3. vicki says:

    Hi, Jacquie! How much fun to hear your book come alive. I loved listening to audio books when I used a treadmill.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, Vicki. I’m finding less and less time to read, plus my eyes get tired long before my brain is ready for sleep so this is a great alternative 🙂

      Like

  4. Congrats, Jacquie! I’m excited for you. I’ve had people ask me about doing that, but it has seemed way hard. You are encouraging me to give this another look. Best to you with your audibles! I’ve shared. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yay! I hope you do give it a shot, Marsha. It’s every bit as easy as KDP, easier actually 🙂

      Like

  5. I can’t wait to hear this. Definitely a path I want to follow but I always wondered it it wasn’t prohibitively expense. Your explanation was very helpful!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. The route I took cost almost nothing, McKenna. The cost of the cover and some promotion afterward, that’s it!

      Like

    1. Thanks for the share, Jeannie!

      Like

  6. Cheryl Pompilii says:

    This is outstanding news! Good luck in this new arena to get your books out there.

    Like

    1. Thank you, Cheryl. So happy the audio community has come to our part of the world 🙂

      Like

  7. Wow! So excited for you Jacq!! What a fabulous narrator. He makes your book come alive for sure. So proud of you!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, Diana! I count it a blessing that he found me 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  8. Reblogged this on Book Smart TV and commented:
    This week’s guest, author Jacquie Biggar talks about what it’s like to release her first audio book and details the process. Congratulations Jacquie!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. You’re the best! Thanks for sharing my post, Diana!

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks for the share, Diana!

      Like

We love to chat, just comment below. Please read the privacy statement in the menu regarding your privacy. Thank you.

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.