Have you got a completed W-8BEN form (US withholding tax exemption)? Do you have high resolution images of your publication cover? Do you have high resolution images of your chapter art?
Have you identified a series of quotes; discussions; scenes or back stories for promotional use? Do you have the exclusive rights to the audio book version of your publication? Do you have an ISBN or ASIN for your publication?
Jules Brooke runs courses that help businesses get media coverage. Handle your own PR asked us to help publish a recorded 6 week webinar series. Jules was delighted and said: “Working with Dave to record a series of audio books about PR was super easy. I expected there to be all sorts of requirements where I would need to do additional work, before the audio would be finished but it wasn’t like that at all. I found him to be fast at doing the editing and production, helpful with suggestions for how to improve the presentation, like including music and chapter intros and a delight to work with. I totally recommend working with Dave if you want great service, a quality recording and someone who makes it an enjoyable and easy process”.
Susan Spelic – advocate for The Reading Mountain helps children with reading reluctance. Susan’s books are dyslexia friendly and it has been shown that auditory learning aids do help. We have recorded 5 of her books in English and Mandarin. Susan had this to say about her experience with us, “Working with Dave Stokes at author2audio has been a ‘3P’ experience, a Professional, Positive and Productive experience”.
Hunter Leonard of Blue Frog Marketing will always be our first client, and with another half dozen published books we’ll be following his first audio book with interest. Hunter has been very complimentary and had this to say “Dave and the team from author2audio really brought my marketing book to life. For an author and business owner it’s all about having assets that help your customers. And now with my audiobook I’ve got another asset, that suits the small business owner who prefers to listen rather than read. The process was smooth professional and simple – which is important, as I didn’t have a lot of time free to even think about how to do it thanks guys”. Hunter Leonard – Founder & CEO Blue Frog Marketing
The same is not true of all audio book distributors. AudioBooks.com (via Author’s republic) for example will create an International Standard Book Number (ISBN), and publish your audio book regardless of whether the book has been published in any other version e.g. eBook. With a faster time to market and lower cost you may be able to use your audio book sales, to finance the publication of your eBook or printed copy versions. Worth considering!
If you are looking to list your audio book for sale on iTunes or Audible, or to those distributors through an aggregate distributor such as Authors Republic, you will need an Amazon Sales Inventory Number (ASIN). In effect you need to have published your book or eBook to iTunes or Amazon, BEFORE you can publish your audio book. The ASIN is like a grouping code for all the different versions of a publication like print; eBook; audio version; etc. Audible use the ASIN to ‘match make’ your audio book with other existing versions of your book.
All publishers want an exclusive. True? In part yes it is true and you will be rewarded with a higher royalty for an exclusive arrangement. On the other hand you could ensure greater exposure for your audio book, over a larger number of online retailers by sacrificing a percentage of your royalty . So be creative!
There are two big factors to consider before you choose your audio book sales channels, exclusivity and barriers to entry.