Digital

Navigating the Next Frontier in Digital Publishing: Audiobooks

By Erika Liodice / July 5, 2014 /

Photo by Jeff Golden

When Audible launched its Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX) back in 2011, my initial reaction was to ignore it. I wish I could tell you that this decision was rooted in sound logic, but if I’m being totally honest, the very idea of producing an audiobook just seemed overwhelming. This was at a time when I’d finally gotten the whole MOBI vs. EPUB thing straight and the thought of learning a new vernacular threatened to make my head explode. After all, how many times have we writers been promised that something is going to be easy only to learn the hard truth?

I can’t pinpoint exactly when the shift occurred, but it seems like the digital publishing conversation changed from e-books to audiobooks overnight. Suddenly people were calling it “the next frontier in digital publishing” and it quickly became impossible to ignore this rapidly growing market segment, which, according to IBISWorld, currently represents about $1.6 billion (up from $480 million in 1997). I spent a lot of time thinking about my goals as a writer, one of which is reaching more readers, and I finally decided to take a serious look at audio.

Even though “talking books” have been available since the 1930s (they were originally intended for people with visual impairments), the confluence of digital audio formats, mobile devices, and our “on the go” lifestyle has made audiobooks more affordable, portable, and accessible to a wider audience than ever before, an audience who is embracing the format as a way to multitask. Last year The New York Times cited a Bowker survey that revealed that “among people who have recently bought audiobooks, 47% listen while commuting in a car, 25% while working around the house and 23% while exercising.” Though the audiobook market is smaller than that of print and e-books, if you consider that only a fraction of books make the transition to audio, you could argue that the audiobook market might be an easier place to get discovered. Add to that the fact that audiobook listeners have the most diverse reading habits—”84% of audiobook listeners also read a print book in the past year, and 56% also read an e-book,” according to Pew Research Internet Project—and you can see how offering your work as an audiobook could translate to e-book and print sales of other titles.

With all of this in mind, I decided that I couldn’t ignore audio anymore; it was time to embrace digital publishing’s newest technology, vernacular and all. At the beginning of this year, rather than setting my usual resolutions about losing weight and saving money, I set just one: to turn my novel, Empty Arms, into an audiobook. It was a long road and it wasn’t always easy, but my head didn’t explode and I find myself here, in the beginning of July, with a newly approved audiobook to launch and a number of lessons to share with anyone who’s thinking of making a similar journey.

What’s More Important Than Knowing the Marketplace? Knowing Your Audience

By J.C. Hutchins / June 23, 2014 /

A few months back, I tipped Writer Unboxed readers to a new self-published ebook project I launched, The 33. I used its unusual episodic format as an example to encourage storytellers of all stripes — traditionally-published writers, self-published writers, publishers and more — to thoughtfully examine the ebook marketplace and spot opportunities to tell and sell stories in new ways.

Today, I’ll share some of the insights I’ve learned since The 33’s debut, and encourage you to embrace another customer-centric strategy as you move forward with your own writing, and building your career.

First things first: Tell your inner artist to go for a walk or something. That frail, hand-wringing creature has no business reading this post. We’re not talking about craft here. We’re talking about making money with your words. Tell your inner artist to put on some yoga pants, grab a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, and go fret about impostor syndrome or something.

Okay. So. Regardless of your publishing persuasion — traditional, self, Big Five or scrappy indie — you oughta be interested in earning some scratch from your words. And so, with your inner artist busily chomping away on some Chunky Monkey, let’s talk straight: Stories are products. Readers are customers.

Stories are products. Readers are customers.

By studying customer behaviors, you can craft stories — and offer those stories in resonant ways — that will sell more products. This will entertain more people, and put more food on your table. Win-win.

As I mentioned in my last post, observing larger trends in e-publishing is a critical component to this success. E-reading devices — from Kindles to tablets to smartphones — are now ubiquitous. Short stories and short novels / novellas are growing in popularity. Serialized narratives are, too. And the dark days of miserly early-adopters who wouldn’t download a novel unless it was free or 99 cents have ended. Thank goodness.

These trends, and others, suggest that customers’ comfort with e-fiction and shorter-form narratives are here to stay.

Getting Unconventional Is Great for Business

By J.C. Hutchins / March 24, 2014 /

photo by tamo neki

Therese stepping in for a second to officially announce the return of one of our former regular contributors, who will now be back with us on a semi-regular basis: J.C. Hutchins! J.C. is one of the most unboxed writers I know, and he hasn’t stopped doing what made him such a valuable part of our site back in 2009-2010, as you’ll see here. Please join me in welcoming him back to WU.

________

And lo, the Kindle came unto us in 2007, and the early adopters rejoiced, and the Big-Six-Now-Five gnashed their teeth, and thousands of authors had a psychedelic freakout because—like a bolt from the blue—there now existed a low-cost way to publish and sell their stories to a curious, engaged, and an (Almighty Bezos willing) ever-growing audience.

Mountains that separated conventional authors from audiences tumbled before the mighty Kindle and its store. Enthusiastic authors quickly pushed their content to the marketplace: stories that had been long out of print were now viable sellers … works whose length defied placement in the traditional marketplace could find audiences of thousands … and, oh, the lots and lots

(and lots)

of ill-crafted original stories that had no business ever leaving hard drives all went out into the market. And lots of pretty great original stories, too. DIY-minded first movers found success. Authors selling full-length novels for a measly buck found some success. And verily, the industry-shaking roller coaster ride began, with creators coming and going, with revenue streams found and lost … and here we are, seven years later, standing on more stable ground.

We now understand a few things:

Ebook self-pubbers are here to stay.

These folks are fleet-footed, resourceful and creative. Few will make a living wage from their words, but if they cultivate an engaged and ravenous audience, they can move product to market super-quickly, keep those hungry fans happy, and make some very good supplemental income. It’s more money and success than they might’ve otherwise made, in a pre-Kindle world.

Traditional publishing is here to stay.

The industry is also packed with resourceful and creative professionals. It also has a crap-ton of cash and cachet to invest in—and promote—incredibly talented authors and creators. Getting published by the Big-Six-Now-Five is exhilarating and life-changing … and also rarely provides a living wage. The institution is increasingly investing in the ebook space, which is cool, because being future-proof ensures longevity and relevance.

New entrepreneurial opportunities are everywhere.

Free the Writers! (From Each Other)

By Porter Anderson (@Porter_Anderson) / March 21, 2014 /

Image – iStockphoto: Paha_L / In the Moscow subway system

We’ve had a lot of laughs at publishers’ expense lately, about how many “actual readers” they may have met, right? What if our writers know even fewer “actual readers” than our publishers?

You’ve been around too much lately, Helen, you ought to stay at home more.

Scanned title page from Noel Coward’s “Design for Living” (1933) from the Internet Archive

That sentence, husband-to-wife, from Noel Coward’s Design for Living, was one of my most successful laugh lines on stage.

Theatergoers: this was many Provocations in Publishing ago, it’s perfectly safe to return to the theater, I’ve turned in my tights.

The reason I could trigger a loud, fast, prolonged laugh on the line was that I was coached very astutely—by a choreographer friend, ironically—to hold still; to turn downstage to the audience as Henry, Helen’s husband, and deliver the line, in near paralysis, directly out into the house.

Not a glance stage-right at the actress playing Helen. Not a hair moving. And not a whit of actorish expression on my face or in my voice.

This was my first experience of the peculiar power of an almost monotone delivery, the pure, unadorned wit of Coward sailing right out into the house. At the moment I said this, I was pretty much a human page, reducing myself to almost nothing but the words for the audience.

[pullquote]What do we need to do, in-community, to keep reminding each other to turn to the audience and deliver our best lines to the world, not to each other?[/pullquote]

Maybe the most important lesson about the comedic element, though, was this: The logical intimacy had flipped—the audience and I suddenly were in relationship, a near collusion, while Henry and Helen had become briefly and laughably estranged.

I thought about this for the first time in years when reading comments on our Writer Unboxed colleague Julia Munroe Martin’s piece here, Writing the Rails. (Good headline, by the way.) The piece, March 1, you’ll recall, is about the Amtrak residency for writers and Martin’s astute observations from her own mini-residency on the rails.

The farting lakes, yes, that one.

Hugh Howey: “When the People of Publishing Are Set Free”

By Porter Anderson (@Porter_Anderson) / February 25, 2014 /

“Waiting to be interviewed.” Hugh Howey earlier this month in Taiwan at TIBE, the Taipei International Book Fair.

Porter here, to introduce a special post written for us by Hugh Howey in our “Inside Publishing” series. In my Friday piece, Sir Hugh and the Snail, I wrote about how Howey’s career has surprised some observers because he embraces not only self-publishing but also traditional publishing contracts.

[pullquote]I believe there are those in my own country who want to blaze new trails and forge new partnerships, and I welcome that. — Hugh Howey[/pullquote]

Howey has just re-signed with Random House UK’s Century imprint, to publish his new novel, Sand — the same folks led by Jack Fogg who published his Wool trilogy in London. These contracts are for print and digital, even as he self-publishes those works in the States. And with more than 30 such foreign publishers, Howey has said that overseas houses are “nimble and creative…They get putting the reader first.”

On Friday, Writer Unboxed’s rich comment-conversation produced some excellent questions along the lines of, “Wonder what Hugh would say a publishing deal looks like when it’s right?” What makes the driving force behind the new AuthorEarnings.com initiative so outspoken in his enthusiasm for these partnerships with publishers?

So I asked Howey at 10:20 p.m. if he’d consider giving us a few thoughts on it. He sent the piece to me at 7:43 the next morning. (When we say the outliers work hard for their success…right?) The text is his. I added visuals. Thanks, Hugh.

“Whatever It Takes To Reach Readers”

When my editor rolled over in his bed, I could feel the entire caravan sway on its axles. A tiny gas heater sputtered and tried to keep the cold at bay, but it was March in Wales and the ground was covered in frost.

We were at The Weekender, a science fiction convention held every year on those caravan-studded fairgrounds three hours by train north of London. Random House UK had sprung for a deluxe caravan, which came with two bedrooms. But I didn’t doubt that my editor would’ve bunked up with me if the accommodations required it. That’s Jack Fogg for you.

I first heard about Jack from Jenny Meyer, my overseas literary agent. She said one editor in particular was pestering her about Wool at the London Book Fair. He kept cornering her to ask about the book. I liked him already.

But it was in the gator-infested and broiling Florida backcountry that I knew we were meant to partner up. My wife had just taken a new job in Palm Beach County. We were down looking at houses in May of 2012, and the UK auction for Wool was in full swing.

To pitch their proposal to me, Random House UK had created a custom website for me to log into. With turtles and peacocks outside, my wife and I sat in a rental car with the AC blasting and shared my laptop. Up came a montage of employees at Random House UK who had read Wool and loved it.

At the end, Jack Fogg came on and shared accounts of people who weren’t even supposed to […]

Sir Hugh and the Snail

By Porter Anderson (@Porter_Anderson) / February 21, 2014 /

When Mollusks Attack

We don’t know why images of armed knights fighting snails are common in 13th and 14th century illuminated manuscripts.

Through a tweet from one of my favorite authors, William Gibson, I found my way to a post by Sarah J. Biggs at the British Library. “One of our post-medieval colleagues noticed a painting of a knight engaging in combat with a snail.”

Knight v Snail V: Revenge of the Snail (from the Smithfield Decretals, southern France (probably Toulouse), with marginal scenes added in England (London), c. 1300-c. 1340, Royal MS 10 E IV, f. 107r) | Medieval Manuscripts Blog, British Library, Sarah J. Biggs

Images of knights fighting snails are all over these priceless books, Biggs writes. “But the ubiquity of these depictions doesn’t make them any less strange.”

Her brief essay, Knight v Snail, fraught with gastropods and gallantry, refers to an article by Carl Purdym. He proposes that the imagery was a joke. “Medieval readers thought there was something funny…but none of them bothered to write down what that was.”

So we have the setup. But we’ve lost the punchline. And our poor, peculiar, and staggered business—the focus of this month’s Inside Publishing theme here at Writer Unboxed—has earned a chance to take comfort in the obscurity of such a medieval meme.

Our authors at last may be pulling up alongside those snails and gaining the right to a little modern mysteria of their own: making creative decisions without the bias or prejudice of the publishing realm.

And yet we’re still trying to work out the punchline, to decide what it all means.

The Digital Revolution: Subscribing to Change

By Erika Liodice / February 2, 2014 /

– photo by charlesdyer –

Please welcome Erika Liodice, who is no stranger to WU. In fact, Erika acted as the Writer Inboxed digital expert since our newsletter’s inception. She’s also the author of the novel Empty Arms, and Vice President of the MidAtlantic Book Publishers Association, and she’s here today to shake things up.

Would you like to learn more about the digital revolution? Read on.

The Digital Revolution: Subscribing to Change

The rate of change you’re experiencing today is the slowest you’ll see in your lifetime.

If you were following the Digital Book World Conference on Twitter, you probably saw this quote by Michael Cader Susan Katz, president and publisher of HarperCollins’ Children’s Books (thank you, Porter, for setting the record straight), pop up in your feed more than once. I don’t know about you, but it already feels like technology is changing so fast that it’s hard to keep up. How can it possibly change any faster? Every day it seems like there is a new way to write a book, publish it, and promote it, not to mention read it. Sometimes I worry that if I stop paying attention for even a moment, I’ll be left behind. While I’m still a relative newcomer to the publishing industry, having been at it for less than a decade, I’ve witnessed its rapid transformation in my own way—from the days when querying an agent meant putting a small dent in the forest to today, when the majority of my book sales don’t require a single sheet of paper. Back then, my author platform consisted of a well-balanced blog, Facebook page, and Twitter stream. Nowadays there are more social outposts than hours to keep up with them.

Of all the changes to shake up this industry, one of the most interesting, as of late, is the emergence of the subscription model. As recently as a few years ago, I wouldn’t have believed you if you’d told me that by 2014 not only would I no longer own CDs or DVDs but I wouldn’t even own my music or movie libraries, yet here we are in the age of streaming entertainment, the era of binge consumption, paying a few measly bucks a month for all the content we can digest. When it comes to the sensibility of subscription services, it all boils down to one question: will I spend more money buying new songs/movies/books each month than it would cost to pay for a subscription?

For the hard core among us, it’s easy to see why the shift is happening.