Hanging with the Big Boys on Audible.com
In
the not-so distant past, only bestsellers stood any real chance of
being turned into audiobooks. It was like an exclusive club limited
to the most elite books. Then audio software programs like ProTools
galloped in to drastically reduce the cost of producing audiobooks.
Score one for the little guy, but producing cost effective audiobooks
still put indie studios in the same pickle as self-publishers: where
to market their work. Most bookstores owners have little interest in
using precious shelf space on products from undiscovered writers.
This is where Audible.com comes to the rescue (cue dramatic music).
Audible.com
offers a program called ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange) which make
it possible for studios living on a shoestring budget to compete in
the global market. Essentially, the deal works like this: indie
studios who have produced an audiobook in mp3 format can apply to
sell it on Audible.com through ACX. Once the green light is given,
ACX has easy to follow steps to correctly format the audiobook and
upload it for sale on Audible.com.
Here's
the incredible thing: if you have a problem with your account,
someone at ACX will actually answer the phone. More importantly, the
people who take these calls offer genuine solutions.
Once
an audiobook is produced, it's easy to flounder around in a sea of
social media. ACX has some very useful tips to help newbies get
acquainted with how to best use internet technology to sell
audiobooks. All this and topics covering everything from
distribution to podcasting are listed on the ACX “How it Works”
page http://www.acx.com/help/how-it-works/200484210
Don't
have access to a studio? No problem. ACX even offers a service for
that. Writers can hire a publisher to handle everything for them, or
they can audition narrators themselves. Here's the magic words for
actors: ACX has a platform for you too! They not only offer a ton
of opportunities to audition for actual audiobooks, but they allow
the actors to chose the hourly rate they want to charge.
Now
that the roadblocks to recording audiobooks have been lifted, only
one question remains: what are you waiting for?
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