COVID-19 has altered how we live, work, and play while global protests have encouraged many municipalities to revisit police forces and procedures.

On a much, much smaller scale, some of us are continuing the change wave by re-examining how and where we buy books online.

The search for places to buy books online

In some cases, readers began looking for alternatives to Amazon when the coronavirus pandemic forced that giant retailer to set aside book orders so it could focus on shipping higher priority essentials.

Others have more philosophical reasons to look for options.

I’ve been aware of this, but only decided to pull together a list of alternatives when I saw this recent segment on “Sunday Today with Willie Geist.”

It tells the story of Marcus Books in Oakland, Calif., the oldest Black-owned bookstore in the country. Thanks to the Black Lives Matter movement and readers’ interest in becoming better informed about race relations, Black history, and related topics, business is booming at the store.

The segment made me realize that people had gone beyond talking about new places to buy books and starting taking action. It’s time for me to do the same.

Amazon alternatives

Here’s some of what I found in my search.

You might already know about many of these alternatives to Amazon, or you might discover something new to you. Regardless, I hope it feels good to realize you have a choice.

I’ve limited this list to those that sell new trade books. A Google search will help you find retailers specializing in used books and textbooks.

AudioBooks.com

Like its Amazon counterpart Audible, this audiobook retailer uses a subscription model. Get three books free when you start a free trial.

Barnes & Noble

If you’re lucky, there’s still a Barnes & Noble store in your community. Every six months or so, publishing sites report that the company is in danger of going out of business, so whether you want to buy online or in stores, consider helping to keep this business alive.

Books-A-Million (BAM)

The second-largest book retailer in the U.S., this store has been around for decades. (BONUS: If you shop through Rakuten, you’ll get cash back on purchases made through this site.)

Bookshop

This online store that supports local, independent bookstores is my new go-to for online ordering. I love that it lets you select a specific bookstore to support if you want. (It’s not required.) Learn more about how it works on the “about” page.

Libro.fm Audiobooks

Libro.fm makes it possible for you to buy audiobooks directly through your local bookstore — or any other local store if you don’t have one near you. It’s a great way to get the audiobooks you love while supporting an independent retailer.

Powell’s Books

Should you ever get to Portland, Ore., be certain to visit the flagship Powell’s (it’s the city’s top attraction!). You won’t be disappointed. And, with an inventory of more than two million volumes, you’ll be certain to find the book you want online.

The Strand

I love The Strand and visit as often as I can when I’m in New York City. Shop online while supporting an operation that’s been in business in Manhattan since 1927.

What can you add to this list? Please tell us in a comment. 

5 reasons to turn your book into an audiobook

By Derek Doepker

Audiobook sales are booming.

In fact, Written Word Media said that audiobooks are the number one publishing trend of 2020. With this increase in audiobook popularity, savvy indie authors can reach a whole new audience of readers by creating audiobooks.

Just about every indie author can benefit from having audiobooks. There are a few exceptions, of course, including cookbooks and technical manuals. However, most genres make great audiobooks. This includes fiction, nonfiction, and children’s narrative books.

If you’re in one of these categories, read on to discover five reasons why you’ll want to tap into the audiobook market.

1. You can increase your royalties

I produced a short audiobook for one of my books in about three hours. This audiobook has now made thousands of sales. Imagine generating thousands of new sales by only investing a few hours to create an audiobook.

This is why I’m so passionate about encouraging authors to create audiobooks. What I discovered is, the moment you have an audiobook, you open up a whole new world of potential book buyers. These are people who may never otherwise purchase your books, especially people who are visually impaired and are “audio-only” readers.

It just makes sense to have your book available in different formats to maximize sales.

2. You’ll get into a growing market early

The audiobook market has grown more than 30 percent consistently each year recently. Today, more people consume books while driving, exercising, and doing housework than ever before.

Chances are, as people get busier and busier, audiobook sales will continue to increase.  And during COVID-19, e-book and audiobook sales jumped.

Unlike trends that come and go in a matter of months, the investment you make today to create an audiobook can pay off for years to come. This means audiobooks are likely a “safe bet.” In fact, some authors may find themselves left behind in the coming years if they don’t have their book available in audio format.

3. You can stand out from the competition

Look at the Kindle marketplace. There are approximately one million books published every year. It’s hard to stand out from all of them, isn’t it?

However, audiobooks have significantly less competition. Right now, you have an opportunity to get into a thriving market without as many competitors.

This means that relative to the Kindle market, you may have an easier time getting discovered by new readers.

4. You’ll have a compelling bonus to motivate readers

As long as you own the rights to distribute your audiobook anywhere, you could offer your audiobook as a bonus for people to:

• Sign up for your email list
• Purchase your e-book during the launch
• Fill out a book feedback form to gather testimonials
• Share your book on social media
• Get the next book in a series

This means even if you never sell a single copy of your audiobook, it can still be worth having as an asset to grow your author business overall.

5. You can create audiobooks on any budget

Some authors don’t pursue audiobooks because of the financial investment. For some, it’s because they don’t have the technical know-how. Fortunately, there are strategies that help almost any author create audiobooks on any budget.

One money-saving strategy is to record it yourself. With a step-by-step, hold-your-hand process, even the most technophobic authors can create audiobooks themselves.

In terms of investment, you can get the equipment you need for less than $150. Then, not only will you be able to record your own audiobooks, you’ll have a setup you can use for podcasts, videos, and any other audio work you do.

Plus, some authors even earn additional income by recording audiobooks for other authors.

Learn how to turn your book into an audiobook

Think recording an audiobook is for you? My course, Audiobooks Made Easy, walks you through the process step-by-step.

You’ll learn everything from the equipment you need to editing and producing your book in the right format for audiobook retailers. And the good news is, I offer a no-risk, 30-day moneyback guarantee if this detailed training program that includes access to me isn’t what you need.

Get the details and purchase the on-demand training at the Build Book Buzz compensated affiliate link for Audiobooks Made Easy.

Did you record your own audiobook? What was your biggest challenge? Please tell us in a comment. 

Why authors need a voice search strategy

By Miral Sattar

Have you ever asked Siri on your iPhone to tell you the time or set an alarm? Do you own a smart speaker, one of those voice-controlled search devices that include Amazon’s Echo and Google Home?

If not, you probably know someone who does.

What they all have in common is that they perform voice search through a voice assistant  on a smart speaker that you speak to.

Here’s what all of that means.

What is voice search? 

Voice search is speech technology that allows users to search by saying the terms rather than by typing them into a search engine.

Voice search is growing in popularity and by next year, 50 percent of all searches will be done through voice.

What is a voice assistant?

A voice assistant is a digital assistant that uses voice recognition, natural language processing, and speech synthesis to help users through phones and voice recognition applications.

Common voice assistants are Siri, Cortana, and Alexa. Built into smartphones and smart speakers (see below), they help with tasks that often include:

• Listening to audiobooks
• Requesting information (that’s where voice search comes in)
• Performing mathematical calculations (like my kids love doing)
• Playing music

What is a smart speaker?

A smart speaker is a device that processes voice search commands and responds to voice commands. Examples include most smartphone brands plus Echo, Echo Dot, and Google Home.

Why you need to optimize for voice search

Optimizing for voice search is critical to book marketing because a smart speaker and a voice assistant such as Siri are gateways to purchasing in the home.

What happens currently with your book if someone performs a voice search for it?

Nothing?

Does it return your website? Recommend your book?

Getting smart about how to use voice search to your advantage as an author reminds me of what happened with audiobooks. A few years ago, they weren’t the norm, but now, you can listen to almost any book you want in audio format.

You want to leverage the power of voice search in the same way that authors are taking advantage of audiobook popularity, too.

Just like with regular search engine optimization (SEO), there are things you need to do to get your book optimized for voice search SEO.

What you can do right now to prepare for voice search

In fact, there are a couple things you can do right now to make sure you’re prepared for the voice search revolution.

1. Update your meta description.

Having a meta description for your home page is especially important for voice search and voice assistants. The meta description is what voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google use to describe your website.

The meta description is hidden text on every page of your website that tells search engines what’s on the page. It’s a snippet of up to about 150 characters.

Search engines display the meta description in search results mostly when the searched-for phrase, such as the author’s name, is in the description. You can make sure yours is as good as possible using an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO.

To see how this works, do a test. If you have an iPhone, ask Siri about your favorite author and see what comes up.

Example: “Siri, who is (favorite author name)?” 

If you have an Amazon Echo or Dot device, speak the following prompts.

“Alexa, who is (favorite author name)?” 

The search results that get displayed on your phone screen or read aloud are often the meta description on the author’s website.

2. Make sure your book is available in audiobook format:

Because smart speakers can play audiobooks, they give preference to books that are available in audiobook format when delivering search results.

That means that if there are two books with the same title and only one of them is available as an audiobook, that’s the one that will be at the top of search results.

To see how this works, if you have an Amazon Echo or Dot device say the following prompts:

“Alexa, read (book title).”

It will demonstrate why you want to make sure your audiobook is available on Amazon and Google Play. That way, the smart speakers can purchase, read, and recommend your audiobook to potential readers.

Authors and publishers stand to lose millions this year because they are not optimizing for voice search. Be prepared for the voice search revolution. It’s already here.

Learn how to leverage voice search for your book

Save 50 percent on my new course, “How to Leverage Voice Search to Sell Books,” with coupon code LAUNCH by May 30 at the Build Book Buzz affiliate link for the course. I will also give you another one of my training programs, the SEO Masterclass ($299 value), for free – but only if you purchase by May 30 at this link: “How to Leverage Voice Search to Sell Books.”

Today’s article is an epic, 2,000-word conversation with Karen Commins, a professional audiobook narrator and Audible Approved Producer in Atlanta who has given voice to more than 50 audiobooks, including ROAD TO TARA: THE LIFE OF MARGARET MITCHELL by Anne Edwards. Karen has completed extensive specialized training in voiceover and audiobook narration technique, as well as in digital audio production. She has written numerous articles that educate authors about audiobook production and promotion for Digital Book World, InD’tale Magazine, and the Audiobook Creation Exchange blog. Learn more about Karen, listen to audio narration samples, and watch her helpful videos for authors on her website.

Karen loaded our conversation with plenty of links to more helpful information and resources, so be sure to click through on them so you don’t miss anything.

How to promote your audiobook

Pour a cup of coffee . . . make a cup of tea . . . and prepare to learn about how to promote your audiobook. The questions are mine; the answers are Karen Commins’s.

What makes promoting audiobooks different from promoting books in other formats?

In my view, the biggest obstacle to audiobook promotion is the fact that the majority of people still haven’t actually listened to one!

Persuading someone to try a new format can be a tough sell because a recent Pew Research Center study revealed:

• The typical American reads only four books of any format in the past year.
• While audiobook consumption has increased significantly in recent years, only 18 percent of American adults say they listened to an audiobook in the past 12 months.

Active readers and even authors commonly list one or more of these three reasons for not listening to books:

1. They fear the narrator might be boring, like a droning teacher in school.
2. They think they need a special player for listening.
3. Listening to books is perceived as being lazy or cheating.

I offer these points to counter those objections:

Regarding narrators: You can listen to the narrator sample before you commit to listening to the whole book. With several hundred thousand audiobooks available in all genres, you’re sure to find someone whom you want to tell you a story. 

About playback devices: Gone are the days of special players! Audiobooks now can be played on any smart phone, tablet, or computer. As a result, audiobooks have become mainstream entertainment enjoyed by millions of people.

Cheating concerns: Clinical psychologist Daniel Willingham concluded that your brain processes information the same way regardless whether you read or heard it. Rather than being a negative experience like cheating, hearing the oral version of the story adds enormous value to the text because:

• The listener enjoys the musicality and emotion in the language.
• One’s listening and concentration skills improve.
• A person absorbs the author’s words and message while doing something else – audiobooks are a multi-tasker’s best friend!
• Language skills and/or subject retention can be strengthened by listening while reading along with the print book.

What’s the first step you take when you start to promote an audiobook? 

I look up the book on Amazon to see if the audiobook edition is listed on the book’s page. I’ll explain why shortly.

If I find the audiobook is shown on an orphaned page (it’s not included with the other book’s formats), I send an email to KDP-support@amazon.com to request that the editions be combined. I include the links to the Amazon pages for both the audiobook and the Kindle and other editions.

The audiobook must be paired with the other editions on Amazon for three inter-related reasons.

First, some people buy audiobooks exclusively. If they are looking for the book, they will see the audio edition is available on the same page.

Second, the editions need to be connected before the audiobook can be a candidate for the Whispersync technology created by Audible and Amazon. Whispersync synchronizes between the Audible audiobook and the Kindle e-book so that you can effortlessly switch between them. You could read the e-book in your house and then listen to the audiobook in the car starting right where you left the story! I created this 3:04 video to demonstrate how Whispersync works.

Finally, once Whispersync is enabled on your audiobook, people can purchase the audiobook for a reduced price once they buy the Kindle e-book. If you run an e-book sale, and especially if BookBub lists your book as a Featured Deal, you could see a major uptick in related audiobook sales!

I listed additional preliminary marketing steps that I take in my Evernote Publicity Template. If you’re an Evernote user, you can save this note to your notebooks.

Which social networks are best for audiobook promotion, and why?

Authors are inundated with a blizzard of advice, information, and courses about the latest and greatest social media site. I’ve read about authors having great success with Pinterest. Others swear by Instagram. Still others will tell you that they sell tons of books through Facebook. Of course, you can’t discount Goodreads. Since you want to promote an audiobook, maybe you need to be on SoundCloud.

A new site pops up every week, with an “expert” teaching a class on it soon thereafter.

Frankly, if one site clearly offered a repeatable level of return on investment from audiobook marketing, we’d all be on it! As it is, I think an author should concentrate on having a presence on one or two sites and really learn how to use each to connect with the audience. Otherwise, it’s like throwing spaghetti on the wall to see what sticks. I’m reminded of the saying, “Scattered thinking leads to scattered results.”

Each site has its pros and cons, including external tools and training available for it. If I were consulting with an author, I’d ask these questions to help narrow the choices:

• Which site(s) do you enjoy using the most?
• Have you done any research to learn which site(s) your fans use and prefer?
• Are you planning to run ads?
• How much time will you make available for social media?
• Are you planning to schedule your posts?

By engaging in self-reflection with these and other questions, authors gravitate toward one or more platforms where they might experience the most success.

What does an audiobook author need in an audiobook marketing and promotion “toolkit?”

In addition to graphics and other tools used for promoting other editions, an author promoting her audiobook absolutely needs sound clips. You can share the retail sample from Audible on your web site and social media. If you don’t have the sample, you can use this free, handy utility from narrator Steven Jay Cohen to extract it.

In addition, you can create and share reusable audio clips from the audiobook using the Audible app. This tweet is an example of a clip I created this way.

You’re not limited to using the audio from the book only, though. You might pay your narrator to record a short story like this one that was a prequel in a series. You can offer the recording for free on your site and on social media, or as a bonus to people joining your mailing list.

Perhaps you write a blog post that would lend itself well to audio. One day, I read one by Barbara Silkstone in which her character Wendy Darlin (voiced by Nicole Coburn in the audiobooks) interviewed Sasha McCandless, who is the main character in the series of books I’ve narrated for Melissa Miller. Nicole and I recorded our character’s lines, and I produced an audio file of that blog installment that sounds like a radio show. The resulting recording was fun to create, thrilled our authors, and was a unique addition to the publicity arsenals for both authors and narrators.

What’s the most common mistake (or two) that you see audiobook authors making when promoting their audiobook?

Too many authors fall in the dual traps of A) thinking the narrator will help promote the audiobook, and B) doing little to no promotion of it themselves.

A narrator has a different promotional mindset and wants a different outcome than an author. We generally publicize new releases, reviews, and awards in order to advertise our work and attract the interest of other people who might hire us. It’s the author’s and/or publisher’s responsibility to increase sales.

Narrators usually are paid outright for performances. If we aren’t earning royalties, we have no incentive to promote a title. Even in cases where we agreed to a royalty share contract with the author or publisher, our promotional efforts would still pale compared to those of the author.

The author has far, far greater reach and influence than the narrator in selling audiobooks. The author is the story’s creator. The narrator interprets the author’s words and presents the author’s ideas. As a result, an author develops the larger fan base.

Fellow narrator Derrick McClain included a case study in this article that showed the tremendous disparity in Facebook likes between a star author (actually, four of them) and a star narrator.

As the author also requires more time to develop new content, narrators are more prolific than authors. Some narrators in are such demand that they record a new book every week or so. It would be impossible for us to promote all of our titles beyond minimal social media announcements.

What tactics work the best for audiobook promotion? 

I list and categorize a wide variety of audiobook promotion and marketing tactics in my Audiobook Marketing Cheat Sheet. We don’t have time to discuss each one individually, so I’ll point out 3 effective ways to move the sales needle.

BookBub Featured Deals

Authors have told me that getting a BookBub Featured Deal might be as easy as finding the end of a rainbow. However, you could get a pot o’ gold – well, lots of royalties, anyway – from your audiobook sales if your free e-book appears on BookBub!

If your e-book and audiobook are Whispersynced, you can expect to see an immediate ripple effect of sales of your audiobook edition. For instance, one Kindle free ad on BookBub I know of resulted in more than 300 audiobook units sold the same day. The royalties from the audiobook sales alone might easily exceed the cost of the BookBub listing.

Audiobook Boom

The popular AudiobookBoom.com site is the brainchild of fellow audiobook narrator Jeffrey Kafer. It’s kind of like BookBub in that it is a paid service where authors and publishers highlight certain titles. However, Audiobook Boom is only for audiobook promotion, and the weekly email newsletters are sent to subscribers who are audiobook listeners.

You pay $10 per title for a Listen & Review ad. If you used ACX to create your audiobook, ACX will send you 25 Audible promo codes with download instructions so you can give copies of your audiobook to eager listeners. With a Listen & Review ad, you’ll quickly receive a number of requests for your book from people who are willing to review it.

Podcasts

With the proliferation of smartphones, podcasts are enjoying increased visibility and popularity. They are already delivering stories to a listening audience, so they are a perfect platform for audiobook promotion.

You can buy ads on podcasts, but a much more interesting and potentially lucrative approach would be to do guest interviews. The ACX blog published this case study from author Glen Tate about his success in and tips for snaring guest spots. This guide contains additional excellent advice about finding and approaching suitable podcast hosts.

If an audiobook author only had enough time to focus on one thing to promote the audiobook, what do you think that one thing should be?

Promote the book. On every piece of communications – newsletters, website, social media, postcards, bookmarks – include the link or a QR code for the audio edition. The audiobook is only one edition of the book. No matter how someone searches for your book, they should see that an audiobook is available.

What’s the secret to audiobook promotion success?

The “secrets” to success for almost anything worth doing in life are creativity, consistency, persistence, and perseverance. Audiobook marketing and promotion tactics definitely utilize these attributes. Instead of viewing each activity as an isolated action, I encourage authors to plan an on-going sequence of promotional activities well past the release date.

Got a question? Get rewarded for it!

In closing, I appreciate the opportunity to talk about audiobook marketing with the BuildBookBuzz.com audience! I welcome your comments and questions below. In fact, I will give the first 10 people to comment below a free download of your choice of my audiobooks!

By the way, did you notice what I did in terms of audiobook promotion? I linked to my audiobooks on Audible and offered an unexpected giveaway. When you look for any chance to promote your audiobooks, inspired ideas will come to you!

Have a question about audiobook promotion for Karen? Please ask it in a comment. 

Note from Sandra: Interested in learning more about the business of audiobook production? I interviewed top audiobook narrator Julia Whelan (Gone Girl, The Wife Between Us); the audio recording for “The Beginner’s Guide to Audiobooks” is available from ASJA for $19.

Today’s guest blogger, Richard Rieman of RRVoice.com, is the author of The Author’s Guide to AudioBook Creation. He’s also an audio book self-publishing expert and a top Audible narrator. Richard has narrated dozens of titles on Amazon, Audible, iTunes, and more. He also produces audio books for authors voicing their own audio books and consults authors seeking a narrator.

Guest post: 5 common audio book production misconceptions

By Richard Rieman

Do you ever wonder if an audio version of your book is a good idea?

Maybe you listen to audio books – perhaps a Harry Potter book with Jim Dale doing more than 150 voices – and you think that it’s probably way too complicated or expensive.

Not necessarily!

It’s not as hard as you think if you do a little research and know what you’re getting into first. Like anything else in the book publishing business, the more you know about how to do it, the better your end product will be.

If you’re an audio books rookie, you’ll want to get smart about these five common audio book misconceptions now:

1. Audio books aren’t popular enough to make this worth my while.

E-book popularity is waning, but audio book listening on Audible grew 38 percent last year. Audio book sales growth is up 20 percent worldwide two years in a row.

Smartphone listening is the fastest growing method for enjoying audio books, so automakers such as Honda and GM are now including audio book apps from Audible and iTunes in new cars.

Audio books also have their own fan base, so it’s a way to sell more books.

2. It costs a lot to create an audio book.

As recently as 10 years ago, audio books could cost $30,000 or more to produce. Getting a recording studio, voice actors, audio editors, music rights, and more meant that this was the realm of major publishers, not individual authors.

Now, thanks to the growth of self- publishing in the audio book world and the explosion in the number of narrators with home studios and editing skill, high quality audio books can be produced for less than $3,000. If you’re willing to share your royalties with a narrator/producer, the upfront cost can be reduced to several hundred dollars or less.

Amazon created ACX (the audio book Creation Exchange) to make it easy for you to find narrators for both fiction and non-fiction titles at a relatively low cost.

3. It’s okay to settle for a good voice instead of an actor.

When choosing a narrator, you can easily be seduced by a beautiful voice. But what you need to look for is a voice actor who can distinguish characters by subtly using different vocal tones and inflections and glide easily into the changing emotions of your story. A skilled narrator can hold your interest for hours by talking to you, not by reading to you out loud.

4. You can narrate it yourself easily. 

There are a few good reasons to narrate you own book:

• It’s your book and words, so you can tell your story best. You know your characters, story, or subject, as well as the thinking behind your words, better than anyone else.
• You keep more money. If you pay a narrator, you will either share royalties or pay them upfront to produce your audio book. When you narrate your own, your royalty payments go to you (after your publisher or Amazon take its piece of it).
• You have acting or radio/TV experience or have done lots of public speaking.

None of the above? Then get a professional to do it.

It really is a lot harder than it looks. Do you really want the bad reviews that come from a poor narrating performance when listeners judge you against the professionals?

5. You don’t have to promote your audio book.

It’s great to produce an audio book, but if it falls in the forest, does it make a sound? Your audio book needs to be shouted out to your fans and new listeners.

Here are some tips:

• Include an audio book sample in all promotions. The “retail sample” required by ACX is ideal for this. Your book cover and audio clip can be used in all social media and your website.
• Request listener reviews from all your contacts and use a review service like Audiobook Boom.
• Create a promotional video like this one for my book. You can hire a book trailer expert or use a resource like Animoto for less than $100.
• With future books, try to time your audio book release with the print and e-book versions so all of your efforts can simultaneously share your promotion efforts.

Not all books are suited to audio versions, but many are. Why not take advantage of the opportunity to reach more book lovers through another medium?

What do you notice about the narration of an audio book? What stands out for you?