The future of the audiobook market is wide open because it is device independent.
- What if you could offer your audiobooks for free while you still earned royalties?
- My Studio in the Woods
- The future of the audiobook market is wide open because it is device independent.
- The Birth of an Audiobook: What if you just tried one chapter?
- Want to really become an expert at something? Write a book about it.
- Is your audiobook worth a credit? In other words: $14.99?
- Could audiobooks be the secret media to reach your kids’ minds?
- 5 Reasons Nonfiction Authors Should Narrate Their Own Audiobooks
- Because I’m not going to read your book like this–but I’ll listen to it.
- Looking for Audiobook Reviews? Audiobook Boom
- Your audiobook playing in a stranger’s living room? Crazy, I know.
- 5 Reasons Nonfiction Authors Should Hire a Professional Narrator for their Audiobooks
- How $14.38 confirmed my future audiobook publishing strategy.
- When the narrator is deeply connected to the author’s material.
- Why my “Every Single Day” book as audiobook is even more exciting than the print or ebook.
- If your book was available on audio, this might have happened to you.
- You read your books out loud for editing anyway, right?
- Free online tool to add meta tags and image tag to MP3 file
- Add Audible book to your purchase for just $1.99
- Possibly the easiest $50 you might never get. Introducing the Audible Bounty.
- One of my goals for my “Audio for Authors” book and course: Short, Sweet, and Done
- Which microphone to get started recording audiobooks?
- My first test with transcription and how this is going to change … everything.
- The Writer’s Guide to Training Your Dragon (Review)
- How’s that audiobook studio coming along? It might be time to get out of the house.
- Is this the next chapter of audiobooks?
- Audio for Authors: What does this teach? What does this solve? What am I giving?
- Do We Listen? (And an excellent example of newsletter marketing.)
- Audio for Authors: Can we successfully market our audiobooks?
- The Pop Pop Pop audiobook editing method
- Podcasting is the new Blogging
- Audio for Authors | Using Headliner to get your audio onto Instagram
- Audio for Authors | Even remotely thinking of recording your audiobook?
The Case for Going Wide with Audiobooks (and not exclusive with Audible)
Let me jump right to a real-world example:
- I buy ebooks on Amazon because I have a Kindle.
- I borrow audiobooks through the library (using Hoopla or Libby or Overdrive) if they’re available.
- I buy audiobooks through Amazon if they have Whispersync for Voice because I can flip back and forth between the ebook and the audiobook.
- I buy individual audiobooks on Audible (and don’t pay the monthly subscription) when it’s not available on Whispersync for Voice.
- I would buy audiobooks through à la carte pricing on a store such as Google Play if it cost less than Audible.
In many countries (but mainly the US, UK, Australia, etc.), Amazon has almost a monopoly on the ebook market. In those same countries, Audible (a company of Amazon) also has a huge market share of the audiobook industry.
Amazon has millions of books and that’s attractive to readers. Readers are also used to the Amazon marketplace and how it all works (One-Click Purchase) etc.
But the audiobook market is different. This is why I see the audiobook market as more “open” than the ebook market:
I don’t need a special reader to listen to my audiobook.
I just need my phone. Sure, I need to download an app, but then I’ll have the audiobook and, ideally, I just paid a one-time price for it. I could also do a subscription (with Audible, Playster, Storytel, etc.). Yep, I’ll need to hand over my credit card.
Maybe after a while, I have audiobooks in different apps. Is that a pain? Well, I suppose I’d like them all in one place. Oh, I know: how about I just group my apps together on my phone:
- Audible
- Hoopla
- Overdrive
- Kindle (Whispersync for Voice)
- Playster
- Google Play
Get the idea?
With ebooks, I’m limited to my Kindle. Sure, I could buy a Kobo reader (OK, fine, I actually have a Kobo reader, too … but that was to get my son books in Dutch which weren’t available on the Kindle), but I’m probably not going to shell out another $100 for another ereader.
But if it’s just a question of an app download?
I’m in.
If that’s the path of a potential audiobook listener, as an author, are your books available where the listeners might find them?
You don’t have to buy the e-books from Amazon. The library will put them on your Kindle for free.