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When I first began selling my novels at craft fairs five years ago, I was occasionally asked if they were available as ebooks, which they were, and still are. Most customers owned Kindles and a few had other e-readers. This year, however, the most frequent question is “Are your books available in audio?”
The answer is not yet, but it looks like I’ll need to do so soon. Based on what I’ve read and heard this year, other writers are saying the same thing. While audio books are rapidly rising in popularity, however, the majority of people I spoke with don’t actually buy them, but borrow audio books from the library. This is anecdotal information, of course. Still, it does appears that this is where my market is.
First, I need to research how to go about creating an audio version of my books. If any of you are aware of a good service, please let me know. I’m especially looking for Canadian options to avoid the high U.S. exchange rate.
Also, please note that I’ll be away this week from Wednesday to Friday, but will catch up on your comments and thoughts then. Thank you!
Good luck with creating audio books. I will be curious to see how it goes.
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Me too 🙂 Thanks, Darlene.
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They are probably favoured by those who have to travel long distances to work. As for me, I still prefer a book and find it frustrating when libraries only carry ebooks or audio copies.
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Yes, that’s what I found in speaking with people. The preference for audio books is either a commute issue or a diminishing eyesight issue with seniors.
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Audio books are popular because they are convenient for long commutes and doing “two things at once”… but beware…change is afoot… With LP/vinyl record sales polishing off the music cd, cars are no longer being made with players, and that change cascaded into numerous CD/DVD plants in the U.S. closing with the doors hammered shut by Microsoft announcing it would no longer make the readers (so not in computer hard drives, and even less chance of finding a player)…Things look to be going to cloud/download by force…. Definitely ask questions before you invest too much in any disk format for sure, as surely there are companies looking to sell off their inventory and you want to be sure your listeners have something to listen to audios on. MP3 format has been showing up in my bookstore, but have not sold in large numbers…. And most folks use library audiobooks because like music cds, they are either spiking extremely high or discounting very low….inventory has also been a problem, with only “so many” made even on bestselling authors/titles…not a good sign. Go slow…
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Thank you for your insightful comments, KC. You’ve given me some important things to think about!
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Audio books are also on my horizon. I’ve heard wonderful things about Findaway voices as an alternative to Amazon-owned ACX. As I understand it, using ACX locks you into an exclusive seven-year contract with Amazon. That in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, just something to be aware of as the popularity of audio soars and other vendor options open up.
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Thank you, JP. I’ll research both!
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