The most popular article on this blog has long been I Made an ACX Audiobook, Now What Do I Do?, an article I published in 2013 about my experience with producing and marketing an ebook for my husband’s novel in the early days of Audible’s ACX audiobook production service. The article elicted a number of comments from folks who were either frustrated or heartened by their own experiences in audiobook-land.
My article didn’t offer many good solutions for the distribution and visibility problems I’d found with audiobooks, but at least it made people feel they weren’t alone.
Since that experience, I haven’t ventured again into the audiobook wilds. But in April 2018, an author friend of mine, Deborah L. Jacobs, published a journalistic, financially sophisticated article called “The Dollars and Sense of Audiobooks: What Indie Publishers Need to Know.” Deborah’s deep dive into how independent authors can (perhaps) make some money in the exploding audiobook market is a must-read for any indie publisher.
Her article covers how to:
- Maximize sales channels.
- Be realistic about royalties.
- Plan strategically.
- Maintain your independence.
- Expect downward pressure on prices.
Check it out at https://deborahjacobs.com/2018/04/03/audiobooks-audible-acx-amazon/
And if you’re either wondering about estate planning and all that it entails OR dreaming about whether you could use Airbnb to rent out your home and travel the world, check out Deborah’s two excellent books on those topics (featured on her website). A former Forbes columnist, Deborah knows all the questions you might have and she has the answers! I’ve read both books and adorned them with lots of yellow PostIts since there’s so much useful info in them.
