7 Succulent Ways to Promote Your Audiobook

Audiobook sales will top 3 billion dollars in 2018. We’re going to give you some tips and ideas you can use to promote your audiobook masterpiece!

So you’ve decided to publish an audiobook version of your book - great idea! Audiobook sales will top 3 billion dollars in 2018. BUT, guess what?

That also means you need to (gasp!) market your audiobook. Many authors think of marketing as a big scary thing you have to do in order to avoid failure, but think about your marketing time as time spent getting to know your readers and finding out what interests them.

Whether you’re promoting online, in print, or by word of mouth, there are many different options you can use to help in this process. To help get you started, we’re going to give you some tips and ideas you can use to promote your masterpiece!

Connect with Amazon

After your audiobook has been completed, the first thing you should do is look your book up on Amazon to ensure that the audiobook version is listed on the book’s page. If your audiobook is not listed, contact Amazon to request that the editions get combined. This is particularly helpful because some people exclusively listen to audiobooks, and if they are looking for the book, they will see the audiobook available on the same page in one easy search. Whispersync can also help here, because it synchronizes the Audible audiobook and the Kindle e-book so that you can switch between them with ease. You can go from reading your book in the living room to jumping in the car and listening right where you left off in the story.

Social Media

Promoting your work online and via social media is a must for any author. Based on who your reader is, focus your efforts on using the social media platform that your readers most use. Do you have an author page on Facebook if that’s where your readers are most? If it’s Twitter, use hashtags wisely so that people who are searching for your book or general book genre can identify your project by interest. Facebook also allows you to promote your post by adding a filter to it to enable traffic with the specific interest. Overall, posting on social media sites using videos created to promote your audiobook (with a snippet of your 5 minute retail sample) or quote memes pulled from your audiobook’s content will bring attention and will also be great for your book’s search engine optimization efforts by back linking to your book’s sales pages.

Promote to Audio Listeners via Podcasts

Just as you wouldn’t want to waste time pitching your audiobook to a paperback only crowd, you don’t want to promote your audiobook to them either. You want to focus on the audio listeners and the best place to find them is through podcasts! Podcast audiences are already listening and therefore they’re more likely to also be listening to audiobooks. Listen to some podcasts that would be a good fit for your audiobook and take some notes on the audience, jot down contact info, and contact podcasters about what you could bring to the show as a guest. Special giveaways or an inside view of your creative or writing process are good hooks to get listeners to tune in. You can also use your 5 minute audiobook retail sample in your podcast interview or in the episode’s “show notes” to give listeners a preview-both creating interest and generating traffic back to your audiobook’s sales page.

Be Their Guest

Being featured on someone else’s website as a guest blogger is a great way to get noticed and promote your work. In addition to guest blogs, consider Tweet chats, local radio stations, and YouTube interviews. You can reach out to hosts in the same friendly and value-oriented way that you would to ask to be on a podcast. If your audiobook narrator has a blog, ask them if you can guest blog and then host your narrator on your own blog for an article or interview. The more channels you appear on, the more you get the word out about your work. You can even write a blog that interviews the main character of the story and publish this on sites that engage with your readers and audience. This is a fun way to get attention, and it engages your readers in even more.

Free Audiobook Sample

Giving people an easy, risk-free way to sample your audiobook will peak their interest and have them craving more. When you create your audiobook, you have a “5 minute retail sample” that is featured on your audiobook retail pages so that potential listeners can have a taste of your work. You can use the 5 minute audio clip as a free sample that you can embed on your website in blog posts and on all social media platforms.

Reviews

Just as there are reviewers for standard print books and e-books, there are also reviewers who specialize in audiobook reviews. By using a google search or checking directories you can find publications, websites, bloggers, and many others that you can submit your audiobook for a review. As these reviews start pouring in, use the positives to your advantage. Post or share these reviews on your websites or social media accounts to draw in more attention, and to spread the word. If you use ACX to produce your audiobook, you can email ACX to receive 25 free promo codes that can be used to send your audiobook to potential reviewers in exchange for a review.

Video Book Trailer

Sometimes people make their audiobook trailers too long and it can lose the listener’s interest or make them feel as if they have already learned all there is to know already about the book. You want to keep it edgy and have the audience eager to know more or find out what happens next. Also, keep in mind that most people are always in a hurry and only have but a minute or two to spare, so try to get as much detail as you need squeezed into a video that’s two minutes or less. To make it easy, you can again use the 5 minute retail sample of your audiobook to help create your book trailer. Make sure to feature your trailer on your website, social media sites, and even in your e-mail signature.

There are hundreds of ways authors and narrators can market audiobooks, but it’s important to focus on making a connection with readers. Learn where your readers spend their time the most, and that will help you determine where you should focus on sharing about your work. If you offer valuable content and engagement, you will see the same in return, and remember that listening is the new reading, so promoting your audiobook and doing it well is worth it.

Want help creating & promoting your audiobook? My team and I have the expertise you need to unleash your masterpiece. Click here to learn more

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Tina Dietz is an award-winning and internationally acclaimed speaker, audiobook publisher, podcast producer, and content marketing expert who has been featured on media outlets including ABC, Inc.com, Huffington Post, and Forbes. Tina's podcast, The StartSomething Show, was named by INC magazine as one of the top 35 podcasts for entrepreneurs. Tina’s company, StartSomething Creative Business Solutions, connects leaders, entrepreneurs and experts with larger audiences, resulting in expanded influence and income. Tina divides her time between the US and Costa Rica, where she’s part of a leadership team building a conscious community called Vista Mundo.