Is there an audiobook in your future?

What’s that you say? You never heard of Audible? They’re an Amazon company that makes your book available for readers to download and listen to.

After you’ve signed up with Audible, you can go to your dashboard and start adding projects (Books that you want to have audio versions made of).

I uploaded four titles last night and received offers to record all four of them.

One of the parties who contacted me did an amazing job. He uploaded 10 minutes of spoken content overnight, included a great narrator bio, and called me to discuss the project. It was just amazing for having the project posted for less than twelve hours.

The other three offers, I’m not so sure of. They sent me a two minute audition, with no emotion in the voice, no pauses, just blah reading. I’ve read enough Audible reviews, and one thing I know is a bad narrator can hurt your rankings. That’s why I’m especially happy with the one offer I accepted. He did an amazing job, but what else could I expect. He has close to forty years in the business, trained under the great Mel Blanc (of Bugs Bunny fame), and has a knack for anticipating what readers expect. His name is Chuck McKibben, and I’m excited to have him on my team.

I’m not sure what to expect from Audible, but I’m really pumped up waiting to hear the final book.

Another great thing about Audible, it’s free to get started. When you request auditions for projects you have the option to pay the audio producer outright, or split royalties fifty-fifty with them. Being the cheap ass I am I chose the fifty-fifty split. That gives me the chance to try my first book out for the cost of a book cover.

How cool is that?

When I talked to Chuck about the project I told him this was entirely new territory for me. When I posted my first book on Kindle, I thought it might sell twenty-five copies the first year. My bad! It went on to sell thousands of copies on Kindle, and in paperback. I’m going into audio books the same way. I would be happy with any sales, but I can’t help hoping it will sell thousands of copies too.

How about you? Want to learn more about selling on Audible? Click this link.

****  Update 3/11/2014 ****

Four days after posting my first books on Audible I've signed contracts for nine of my books to be made into audio books. Most of the books received three to seven auditions, so there are plenty of voice artists waiting to record your next book. My suggestion - Give it a shot. See what audio books can do to improve your catalog of books.