Audiobook Sales

[Demesnedenoir]

Ok, I’m always trying to read tea leaves and most often giving up... for instance, I had no ads directed at Australia at all and in two days sold 20 books down under... then it went calm again, LOL. I am forced to chalk this one up to the mysteries of the market.

However, I was wondering if others with audiobooks have seen a major spike in sales. In the past I’ve directed ads at audio, and got okay results, but for the past couple of months I’ve experienced a constant flow in audio sales that rivals my ebook sales (and I have fewer audio available than ebook!) without any particular marketing to that sector.

So, for those with audiobooks available, have you seen sales growth over the past 2-3 months? I’ve heard audio sales are going up in general, so I’m curious if this a trend or if somewhere along the line my books caught a mysterious tailwind.

 

[Ned Marcus]

I’ve heard audio sales are going up in general, so I’m curious if this a trend or if somewhere along the line my books caught a mysterious tailwind.

Where have you heard that? I heard audiobook sales went down because of Covid and because less people are listening to them as they commute to work.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

This was particular to the UK, but not finding it right off. I know my audio has gone nuts. Over doubled the first year’s sales in 3 months. Early in covid my paperback sales spiked for a month or two, now it’s audio, but way more than my PB sales.

 

[Malik]

My audio sales tanked in Q1 compared to the antedisesian era, but my receipts are net 90 so we'll see what early summer looked like in a week or two.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Eve spiked into the top 300 (#267 right now) in Epic Fantasy and #157 Horror for Audiobooks today, but a little promo went live, so a jump wasn’t a shock, but the level of jump was. But, it has been hitting the top 10000 overall on Amazon audio a lot lately,, currently 4000. I’m still not sure what the hell is driving the spikes over the last couple of months. And thinking on it, unless Amazon’s Audio rankings change faster than their books, all of that spike is unlikely to be from the promo. But, that’s almost impossible to say for sure.

And by spikes, I mean like per day... 1, 1, 2, 1 0, 0, 1, 23! 4, 1, 2, 12! 1, 1, 1,1... LMAO. It’s like... ummm. Huh.

 

[The Dark One]

Hey DDN, did you do your own audiobook?

I've bought the gear to start doing my new book and my backlist but it's a daunting task - especially when my house is always so noisy. It's nice living near the beach but the surf never shuts up and the birds are totally berserk all day.

Covid should have made this a doddle.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I am just heading into finishing my first audiobook, and we’ll see how that goes. I happen to have a concrete “bunker” in my basement and I converted a small section into a sound booth. It isn’t vented for AC/Heat, which cuts down on noise, but does make it a bit odd at times.

I already pay for Photoshop and InDesign, so Adobe’s Audition comes in the package, which is nice. Although there are freebies out there, they also tend to have paid plugins. I have the whole thing down to a (mostly) simple process: 1- record 2- capture background noise and process that out 3- Dynamics processor creates a gate-like effect 4- EQ to adjust the overall vocals. After that, There is another time consuming layer, I go through and use the notch filter to take out sibilant “s” or pitchy “t” kinds of sounds. I have just a few character voices I will EQ to juice the voices, as well. And an occasional jaw click that can be really annoying, LOL.

AND NOTE: the automated sibilant S device and to a lesser degree, the mouth pop process, can really lower the quality of the audio. For sibilant S, the notch filter is amazing, albeit more work.

AND: I forgot this time eater, I will go through “silence” all areas that should be silent, just in case a stomach growl, house creak, ghost bumping in the night sound is trying to hide there. I found that most “hard gates” on software systems to be time savers, but potentially destructive when going for pro sound.

Beach noise, it probably depends on the level of sound. Capturing the noise print and processing it out is an awesome ability and it might just work, but it depends on level. The more you have to correct, the greater the odds of distorting or causing a strange echo in the recording, or some other digital oddity.

If you wanted to record your wave noise with some narration and send it my way I could test it. Or I could tell you exactly what to do with Adobe Audition.

Hey DDN, did you do your own audiobook?

I've bought the gear to start doing my new book and my backlist but it's a daunting task - especially when my house is always so noisy. It's nice living near the beach but the surf never shuts up and the birds are totally berserk all day.

Covid should have made this a doddle.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I should also ask if you have a quieter space created. Audio blankets are relatively inexpensive and fairly effective.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

A thunderstorm does interesting things to one’s recording... it must mean bed time, LMAO.

 

[The Dark One]

Thanks DDN, very cool of you.

I haven't actually started recording yet but I intend to put up some blanket baffles in the quietest room in the house and see how I go.

How long could you maintain the talking before getting a tired throat?

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Oh, the tired throat. It depends on the voices I’m doing and the weather and unknown forces. Gravel/growl voices have a big effect on this. But for the most part, my voice endurance is longer than my psychological endurance to sit still. Sunday I quit because my voice was flagging after 5 or so off and on hours. Generally I don’t get unlimited stretches of time, but I’d wager 3 hours in the chair is about max even with breaks and plenty of water.

Thanks DDN, very cool of you.

I haven't actually started recording yet but I intend to put up some blanket baffles in the quietest room in the house and see how I go.

How long could you maintain the talking before getting a tired throat?