Starting today, the new audiobook version of Maids of Misfortune will be only 99 cents on Chirpbooks.com–-an audiobook promotion website that has recently been started by the folks who run BookBub.com, the premier ebook promotion company.
This sale will last for just a few weeks.
For those of you who like to listen to audio books, I highly recommend that you take a look at how Chirp works. Unlike Audible or some other companies, there are no membership or subscription fees. The discounts on audiobooks range from 99 cents to $4.99, and once you have bought the audiobook, it remains in your library (you have bought it not borrowed it.)
You can ask Chirp to email you daily or weekly with the new deals within the categories you have chosen, or you can just go to the site and see what is available.
It looks to me like the deals last from about one week to a month. Currently, the books are an interesting mix of classics, traditionally published books, and books by a few independent authors such as myself.
Needless to say, I was honored that they chose one of my books to promote at this early stage (before they opened up to all authors), and I hope lots of you will go out and buy Maids of Misfortune. 99 cents for a book that has over a thousand 5 star reviews on Kindle, and is over ten hours long of listening pleasure, is simply a steal.
And spread the word to your friends, about Chirp and about Maids of Misfortune. I want to make sure that my indie-authored book is doing a good job competing with the big names like Dashiell Hammett’s The Thin Man or Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, which are also on sale at this time.
And for those of you who are authors, I will be posting a piece in the next few days providing a little background history on audiobook publishing for independently published authors, changes in the audiobook distribution systems, and how you as an author can be prepared to take advantage of using Chirp as a method of promoting your audiobooks when it opens up to all authors.
Meanwhile, please go and check out Chirp and come back here to tell me what you think about the site and what audio books you were tempted to buy.
M. Louisa Locke, May 19, 2019
As a Chirp user, I’m having difficulty downloading a book to my iPhone. I’ve sent three emails to Chirp all of which have went on answered. Of course there is no phone number which to call. Seems like their customer service is down to zero.
Dear Earl,
I am sorry about this. Can I assume that you have successfully downloaded their ap? And have you been able to use it to download any book? I know they are very much still in the testing stage, and this may also include developing how to do customer response. If you let me know more detail about your experience (was it just one book, or any book, etc.) and how long it has been since you emailed customer service, I will give them this feedback.