"I've tried publishing an audiobook. But it just didn't sell." I have a lot of authors who have told me this. Yet, I've seen audiobooks I've narrated sell over a hundred copies. What's the secret? Marketing! To ensure sales, you should market your audiobook just like your print or eBook. I thought I would share some tips and tricks I've used (and I've seen other authors use) to get their audiobooks sold.
First things first, you will have to decide if you want to publish your audiobook at the same time as your other formats or after.
Option #1 - Publishing Your Audiobook with Your Other Formats
You can skip to the next option if your print or ebook has already been published.
If your book has not been published, you'll have to decide whether to publish your audiobook at the same time as your other formats or wait until later.
Because authors often revise, tweak, and edit their books up to the publication date (don't deny it; we all do it), having your audiobook published at the same time as your print book can be difficult. Most narrators need the finished book before they begin narrating.
If you are one of the few authors who stop fiddling with your book a few months before publishing, you can hire a narrator then! This way, your audiobook will come out around the same time as your launch date for your other formats.
The Pro: Publishing simultaneously means you can use all those great marketing ideas you've created for your print and eBook to promote your audiobook! No extra effort is needed besides adding "audiobook" to the formats available.
The Con: If you ARE an author who makes tweaks right up to the deadline, your narrator will have to re-narrate every time you change your script. Which will, in turn, push the delivery date back. The length of your book can also cause delays. If you've got a giant 200,000-word book (Harry Potter 7 is around 298k, to put that into perspective), that's a minimum of 22 hours of recording (perhaps more, depending on the narrator). It could take 11 to 30 days to record without setbacks. Each time your script needs to be updated, the delivery date will be moved back.
Tip #1: When promoting your book in all formats, you can have an audio clip from the audiobook playing in the background of your social media posts!
Option #2 - Publishing Your Audiobook After Your Other Formats
This is the most common way of publishing your audiobook, and it can be a good thing! Often, a book is published, the marketing launches and things go great! But then the hype for the book dies down, and authors struggle with what to post to re-ignite interest in their books. Having a new format is a great way to do just that! And having an audiobook produced can be an excellent way to reach other audiences you may have missed with your original formats!
Tip #2: A new format is a great way to re-ignite interest in your book and its other formats.
Now that you've made that first decision, it's time to start marketing in earnest.
Social Media Marketing: Posts
Ah, social media, how we love to hate you. But social media can also be a great way to sell books and audiobooks! Personally, I get the best traction on Facebook and Instagram for audiobooks.
Tip #3: You can connect your professional Instagram account (I recommend a creative account) to your Facebook author page and post simultaneously to both!
I use CANVA.com to create social media posts. You can type in 'Instagram post,' and CANVA will format the post for Instagram and give you ideas. Instagram's post size works on Facebook, too, so there is no need to change sizes. If you create an Instagram post before your story, you can share your post to your story without having to make a separate 'story' post. Add a 'click here' button to your story so your followers can listen to the full post.
You can also use that post and pay to have Facebook or Instagram turn it into an ad. The platform will then show that ad to your selected demographics. If you have the money, this can be a great way to market your audiobook. Posts can be as simple as a graphic with your cover, the audio sample provided by your narrator, and a link to purchase your book.
Tip #4: Add a microphone or waveform to your social media posts without video so viewers know there is audio.
If you post these videos on Instagram or Facebook, include your narrator in an @-mention or as a collaborator. We usually love reposting these to help grab a wider audience.
Social Media Marketing: Videos
You can post videos on Instagram and Facebook (called Reels) and use TikTok and YouTube. Having audio makes figuring out what to post more manageable.
You could use the method mentioned above with CANVA, including a picture of your book and the narration sample.
You could have the audio sample while displaying reviews from other formats of your book.
You can display aesthetic images related to your book while the narration sample is playing.
Ask your narrator if they would do a 'behind the scenes' recording while they narrate. Most narrators love to do this and will post it on their social media as well to extend the reach of the post.
Host interviews with the narrator or have them talk about their process for creating the character voices for your characters.
Make a book trailer (using Canva or hiring a graphic artist) and have the narrator voice it. (This is usually an extra fee.)
Note: Until AI is regulated, it is a genuine threat to narrators and writers alike. To help protect your audiobook, I recommend adding music behind your narration sample (it can be soft) and making sure to only upload MP3 (not WAV) files. Try to keep the sample less than 5 minutes. Hopefully, AI will get regulated soon, so we won't have to worry about our voices and your story being stolen or cloned without our permission.
You can also add a brief note at the beginning of your book that you do not give permission to any company for any reason to have your book used for machine learning, AI learning, or any other use without your express written consent. A "voice-clones, or audio replicas" if you'd like to protect your audiobook. Make sure your narrator reads it at the beginning of your audiobook.
Marketing with Libro.fm – support local bookstores.
Libro.fm is probably the most popular alternative to Audible around. They have a fantastic selection, charge around the same price ($14.99 a month, which includes a free credit toward an audiobook), and have an app so you can listen on the go. The best part about Libro.fm? A portion of each audiobook sale goes to an independent bookshop of the purchaser's choice. Your buyers can contribute to local stores they may frequent! And those extra proceeds don't come from your pocket...
"After we pay your audiobook publisher their portion of the sale, we share the remaining profits with our bookshop partners." - Libro.fm
They also recommend creating an author playlist to share your favorite audiobooks with your readers, and you can h
ost an audiobook giveaway. To sweeten the deal a little more, they also have an affiliate program through Awin!
You can read more about all of that here: https://libro.fm/authors
Goodreads.
Did you know you can add your Audiobook format to your Goodreads posting so reviewers can specifically review your audiobook? Yep. It's a thing.
I won't go into detail here about Goodreads or how it works. Just know that there are groups (such as https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/596-audiobooks) you can join that allow you to post audiobook codes in exchange for reviews.
Tip #6: If you give your Audible codes to someone, they must listen to the entire audiobook to leave a review. Audible will only allow them to review after they have completed the book.
Let people RENT your audiobook.
Some libraries have partnered with companies such as Hoopla and Overdrive (Libby app) to distribute audiobooks to library members. Make sure your distribution company distributes to both places, and then let your potential listeners know they can use their favorite library app to listen to your book!
Reviewers and ARC Teams
Believe it or not, there are blogs, podcasts, websites, and social media accounts (including TikTok and YouTube) dedicated to reviewing Audiobooks! Just like with your ARCs, you can send the audio version to these reviewers to have an honest review written. Ask your publisher if they have review codes so you can send them to reviewers! If not, you may try somewhere like bookfunnel.com.
Tip #7: You can build an ARC or street team for your audiobook just like you built one for your other formats!
Questions to ask Reviewers.
Do they cover your genre of audiobook?
Where does their review go? Goodreads? Audible? Their website and/or social media?
How often do they post reviews on their website?
Do they have a newsletter?
Some places you can take your review codes:
www.audiobookreviewer.com - Audiobook Reviewer posts to both their website and audible. They require you to give them the audiobook for free (either through gifting or redemption codes). You can pay for an 'expedited' review, and they will mention that they received the book for free from either the author or narrator. Note which genres they review.
http://audiobookradio.net - A free internet radio station that talks about audiobooks.
www.audiofilemagazine.com - Arguably the industry standard when it comes to audiobook reviews. They are a magazine dedicated to audiobooks and are responsible for the Audie Awards.
www.audiogals.net – Volunteer reviewers focused on the romance genre.
https://www.freeaudiobookcodes.com—Subscribers can request to receive a free audiobook in return for an honest review. Reviews are available to those who visit the site and on Audible. You must pay a small fee each time you list a book and its codes. In my experience, some readers never leave a review, and others leave reviews a year after requesting. So, this is a mixed bag.
https://www.narratorsroadmap.com/reviewers-directory/ This is, BY FAR, my favorite resource for audiobook reviewers. You can search by genre to find review blogs and audiobook tours!
https://theaudiobookblog.com—The audiobook blog is run by Author Dina, a member of the blind community. You pay for his time, and he writes an honest review of your audiobook. I do not know the rates as I've never used this service.
Chirp: Bookbub's audiobook sibling.
Chirp is owned by Bookbub and works much the same way. You pay to have your audiobooks promoted at a discounted rate. They currently only sell to Canada and the US. You can submit to be part of their 'featured deal' for free to be mentioned in their daily newsletter, but it's highly competitive. You can also pay for Bookbub ads for your audiobook.
Boxed Sets for Audiobooks
Believe it or not, bundles are just as attractive to audiobook listeners as physical readers. In most cases, you will have to create a new audiobook by combining more than one audiobook, but that's a matter of uploading and creating the correct title and cover image. If you are working with a production company, they may handle that for you.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, I can't promise that these tips and tricks will get you more audiobook sales. There are a lot of factors that affect sales. Here's what I can promise: doing even one of these things is better than doing nothing. Doing as many of these things as possible will get your book into the ears of more listeners. And really, that's the end goal here.
Leave a comment below and let me know if any of these methods have worked for you or if you have other methods you'd like to share.
And remember, stay creative.
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