Going Wide with Audiobooks: Findaway Voices and Chirp Update
I am currently in the middle of a promotion of the audiobook editions of my Victorian San Francisco Mysteries: Books 1-4 ($1.99), Pilfered Promises ($1.99), Scholarly Pursuits ($2.99) and Lethal Remedies ($3.99). I wouldn’t have been able to do this promotion if I hadn’t made the decision to shift my audiobooks from being exclusive to ACX (Amazon’s audiobook production and distribution arm) to being non-exclusive and distributing through Findaway Voices. This shift meant my audiobooks would still available on Amazon and Audible, but they would now be available on a whole host of additional venues. Findaway Voices currently distributes books to over forty partners, including Audible. Three years ago, I discussed the reasons for making this shift in this blog piece and this seemed like a good time to provide an update on how this shift has worked out for me. Read more…
How I have used my book titles to establish my brand
When a potential reader looks at a book product page in one of the on-line bookstores, the first two things they are likely to notice are a book’s title and its cover. A good title can not only capture a reader’s interest, but it can signal the genre and sub-genre of the book, the setting and time period of the story, and it can even reveal a little about the plot. In addition, if the book is part of a series, the title can help brand that series. I am going to discuss the titles of both my novels and my shorter works in my mystery series to demonstrate how a title can achieve all of the above. In 2009, when I published my first novel, Maids of Misfortune: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery, I knew it was to be Read more…
A Fall Update and some Discounts
A Fall Update: As summer comes to a close, I’ve become very aware of the fact that in December I will have been a published indie author for 10 years. This means I have seen self-publishing change dramatically from the early days when I felt the need to explain that publishing through Kindle Direct Publishing and CreateSpace was different from publishing through a vanity press, to the so-called gold rush years when my income from the sales of my books had visions of sugar plums dancing in my head, to now, when I have come to understand that I am not willing to spend the time and energy that it would take (in both writing and marketing) to recapture the income level I was making in those gold rush years. I came to this realization this summer, when I encountered Read more…
Findaway Voices and Chirp: Are we entering into a new era for audiobook sales for indies?
“Half of Americans over the age of 14 have listened to an audiobook in the past year…” ––Publishers WeeklyApril 25, 2019, from a survey conducted for the Audio Publishers Association. Audiobook revenues rose 36% in the past year—AAP report February, 2019 As I have posted earlier this week, the first book in my Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, Maids of Misfortune, is on sale for 99 cents on Chirp, an audiobook promotion site that, in partnership with Findaway Voices, has the potential to expand the audiobook market for indie authors such as myself. I haven’t done one of these long posts about the publishing industry and indie authors in a long time because, frankly, there seem to be so many other great sources of information out there (see my blog roll at the bottom of the page.) However, this Chirp Read more…
Come check out my updated website
In December of 2009, I had just put out my first book, Maids of Misfortune, when I published my first blog on my newly created website. Except for a little tweaking here and there, I haven’t changed the look of that website since then. However, I recently did a major update, and I would love some feedback from you all about what you think of the new look. First, a Little History: It is hard to believe, but in 2009, the whole indie author movement was in its infancy. The explosion of ebooks and audiobooks as alternatives to print and the expansion of the online market place as an alternative to physical bookstores hadn’t happened yet. And there certainly wasn’t a vibrant industry devoted to helping indie authors achieve success. In fact, most of the advice that was out there for authors Read more…
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