Lindsay - December 10, 2020On this week’s show, we talked about the Gartner Hype Cycle as a framework to think about where we are with ebooks, audiobooks, and the up-and-coming technologies that may become useful (or even necessary) for us as authors. We also mused a bit about audiobooks specifically and whether they’ve reached a tipping point, whether you need to worry about increased competition in that industry, and whether you should jump in even if your ebook sales aren’t great yet. We finished up with some craft questions and general marketing/publishing questions that we didn’t get to in past shows.
News and specific topics covered:
- Bookfunnel is now beta testing full audiobook support and their ebook/audiobook reader app.
- Amazon now allows you to suggest a couple of your books for Amazon Kindle Deals. This is in your KDP dashboard under the marketing tab.
- We share an explanation of the Gartner Hype Cycle and how it applies in our industry.
- People tend to get super excited by a new technology, but then it can be years before it’s ready for prime time. Should you be worrying about the new stuff?
- Roy Amara: “We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.”
- Should you hurry up and create an audiobook now, even if you’re not making much money yet, so you don’t miss out on the boom?
- Have audiobooks reached a tipping point and really become mainstream?
- We discuss some of the challenges of doing a royalty-split option for financing the production of audiobooks.
- Why audiobooks aren’t much of a discoverability tool currently.
- What may be coming with subscription programs that include audiobooks.
- Whether we will consider selling audiobooks direct now that Bookfunnel makes this easier to do.
- When audiobook AI narration may become a thing (and what it might mean for narrators and producers).
Listener Questions for this week:
- Roland: With an ensemble cast that gathers over the first two books of the trilogy, what’s the best way to introduce the additional POVs? In this case there’s one main protagonist, and four supporting characters with their own arcs.
- Jon: I’ve read a protagonist should be dealing with some inner conflict even before the inciting incident. Is that necessary? Does it help?
- Debbie: I was just listening to the newsletter podcast #2, and it brought up a question. If you price your preorder lower, and then increase the price on launch day, how early do you need to change the price on Amazon so that the price increase will happen on the day you select?
- Angie: I finished my first novel a few years ago and then panicked about publishing it. I recently split the book into three separate books. I published my first one on WattPad to see if I could get any interest. Last weekend I published the last part. It has been up a little over three weeks and has 29 unique readers. One person finished and asked for the sequel. As this is still the unedited version – is there any harm in putting all three up on WattPad while I get them ready for an editor?
- Eve: What should I look for to determine if a newsletter automation sequence is or isn’t working?
- GB: When choosing to inform your readers about your personal life in your newsletter, what do you include if you choose to write under a pen name?
- Romy: I’ve got three books to launch in rapid release – my question is whether I should release the box set alongside them? I read that advice to do so (to catch binge readers), but I seem to recall that on your podcast you advised waiting a year before releasing the box set, to rejuvenate the series. Any thoughts?
Thank you for listening, and thank you to Joshua Pearson for producing the show. You can find the Six Figure Authors Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/504063143655523/
