How To Market Your Audiobook: The Basics Of Audiobook Marketing

You’ve gotten your audiobook written and recorded but that alone isn’t enough to sell many copies. You have to market your audiobook in order to get sales but where do you even start?

On this episode of Cover 2 Cover, Isabelle Mongeau takes you through the basics of audiobook marketing. From the importance of audiobook marketing to using social media, cross promotion, reviews, and professional networking to grow your brand and sales of your books.

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Episode transcript:

It gets dark by 3pm now. You know what that means. Cue the never-ending roller coaster of – I’m going to be the next big thing to I am the worst writer that has ever smeared shit on paper. You hunch over your computer like a gremlin, suffocating in self-pity. So, what if you’re dramatic? All great writers are.

Muffin meows at you. Where’s her dinner? You tell her not for another two hours. She meows at you again – she wants it now. The afternoon sunset has her desperate too.

You pick up a piece of crust from your lunch plate still balanced on your bookshelf and toss it her way. She hisses and grabs the bread. Even your cat hates you. Time to do what you always do when you feel terrible. Google depressing stats about being a writer.

This time, you look at sales. The average book sells only 500 copies.

However, there are books that sell over a million copies in a year. Where do you fall on this large spectrum? Will you only sell 100? Or 100,000?

Splat. Muffin drops the wet crust on your keyboard. She licks your forehead. You appreciate her mushy offering. It sparks something in you. A flicker of hope.

You want to sell more than just 500 copies of your book. So, you’re going to market the hell out of it.

Hi and Welcome to Cover 2 Cover, a biweekly podcast that teaches you how to write, produce and market your audiobook. I’m your host, Isabelle Mongeau from Q’d Up Audio and today I want to dive into the best ways to market your audiobook. We’ll be covering what options you have, free and paid. After all, if you could increase your book sales, why not do it?

It’s tempting to want to publish your book and be done with it. If you’ve written a great book, why do you need to market it at all? Won’t people discover it through word-of-mouth?

To an extent, yes. The best thing you can do as a writer is—well, write the best book possible. But once that’s done, the process isn’t over.

You see, word of mouth is great. It’s free, it’s fun and it can even light a fire under your sales. But readers and listeners need to know your book even exists first before they can talk about. And they won’t know it exists if you just send it into the void that is the publishing landscape.

In the US alone, there were more than 4 million books both traditionally and self-published in 2019. Simultaneously, there are still 20 million books in print. Unfortunately, readers are overwhelmed. And as a writer, you’re not just necessarily competing with the books published in the same year as yours. You’re competing with every book ever.

But you’ve seen – and even read – the best seller list. Some books on there are absolutely entertaining, mind blowing or even life changing. And others? Well…I think we’ve all read a best seller that afterwards, we find ourselves asking – why? Or even – how? With 4 million books published each year – THIS book was the best they had to offer? You read a book last month by a no-name author that was much better. So, how did this happen?

Marketing, that’s how. Those lukewarm best sellers had a great marketing strategy and budget.

The good news is that with a bit of effort and creativity, you can too. And you can do it for a lot less money – you can even do it for free.

You gather up your papers. You’ve been doing research on marketing a book all day. Pouring a cup of tea, you think about what you’ve learned.

For one thing, the audiobook market is much less saturated than print books. In 2020, there were 71,000 audiobooks released. Although this is an almost 40% increase from last year, 71,000 books is a lot less competition than 4 million. So, if you’re looking to release an audiobook, you’re already in a better place than if you were to self-publish a print book.

You’ve realized that both traditionally and self-published authors have to help market their own books. After all, you know your book best, and your enthusiasm for it can be contagious.

You steep your tea bag, watching it stain the water.

So, what are some things you can do? After looking at your options, most of them are free—they just take time.

The first thing to do is get your book in front of the readers and listeners you know. You realize now that while it makes you nervous, maybe you should send your manuscript to your mother. While she may call you early on Saturday mornings and comment on your latest haircut, she will rate and review your book. She would share it with her friends and ask them to do the same. Why not utilize the network of people you already have? Just to get the ball rolling.

You take a sip of tea.

Next, you can look to your professional community. Is your book on business strategies? Is it scientific? Is it a novel? Reach out to your peers to let them know about your book. Mine the communities you’re apart of already, and don’t be afraid to talk about your book if someone asks.

Mostly, though, you want your book in front of reviewers. You can aim for more traditional reviewing – such as in online magazines or newspapers – or more trendy reviewers on social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.

Muffin nuzzles against your leg. She meows at you – still looking for dinner even though its an hour too early for that. You set your tea down on the counter and grab a treat bag. Muffin watches you as your hand crinkles the bag. You give her one.

You focus back on the idea of reviewers. By crafting a pitch and sending a free copy to reviewers, you’re separating your book out from the thousands of ones on the shelves. Not every reviewer will say yes—and not every reviewer is best for your manuscript. You write down on your to do list to search for reviewers that read your subject or genre and pitch to them.

And while you want to be intentional about who you pitch to, you’ve come to realize that you shouldn’t be picky about their platform. You want access to their audience—whether that’s through a traditional newspaper or thousands of followers on social media. You never know –getting a review in a well-known magazine is incredible, but a 10 second video on TikTok could easily sell more copies.

Here at Q’d Up, we understand the value of podcasts and audiobooks. There’s a reason why we cover each area—the listeners overlap. People who listen to podcasts are already used to consuming audio – in fact, 82.4% of podcast listeners consume 7 hours of audio a week. Therefore, they’re much more likely to pick up an audiobook and vice versa.

So, one of the most important things we tell our authors is: go on podcasts.

We always encourage any creator to engage with their audience on social media. Newsletters and online giveaways are always a great way to grow your following. Even engaging in the community around you has benefits—your local library or writers group, or even community center. The more involved you are with both on and offline communities, the more that will come back around to you. However, building your own audience from scratch can be difficult. It takes time and effort.

If you go on a successful podcast, you gain access quickly a larger, audio-focused audience. The podcast will link your book in the description, leading that audience directly to your site. You get to share your knowledge. You get to talk about your book with excitement. And when listeners hear that, they’ll get excited too and will want to learn more.

The great thing is that with over 2 million podcasts out there, you have endless opportunities on any subject. While some shows will have a larger audience than others, there is a constant stream of podcasts. For example, if you wrote a business book, you can go on entrepreneurial podcasts, as well as any writing ones. You can also find shows that fit your person – women in stem, for example, or shows that interview those from an immigrant family. Either way, you’ll never run out of options and its free – the only thing it takes is the time to research and a half hour interview.

Another marketing strategy we’re big fans of is submitting to awards. And yes—there are awards for audiobooks. The two largest ones are the Audie Awards and the Independent Audiobook Awards. However, there are other media awards you can submit your audiobook to, as well.

Some awards and contests will have entry fees, but others will be free. By submitting to these awards, you’re giving your manuscript a chance to be heard—and to be listed. The best part about awards is that it’s still a win to be a nominee or honorable mention. However your work places, you can then use that distinction going forward to better market your book on podcasts, reviewers and other blogs.

In other words, awards are the gift that keeps on giving.

Muffin scratches your wrist. While you were lost in thought, she was watching and waiting for another treat. No wonder the vet says she needs to lose weight.

You finish your tea and rinse the cup in the sink. In your research, you found that there are a couple of paths you can pay to go down. Google Ads, for example, can be a good way to get your audiobook seen. The only problem is that you have to keep feeding the beast.

There are other paid paths that are an only one-time expense. Many narrators are actors and actors can have a large following. A great way to get your book attention is to commission a well-known narrator, either locally or nationally. They will post about your project, helping to spread the word to their already established audience.

You remember that the 2020 Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction went to Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Many people read the book — and listened to it– yourself included. And you can’t help but remember the incredible performance by its narrator – award winning actress, Carey Mulligan.

While that route might be harder to follow, you still have plenty of paths to go down—many of them free.

You check the time. It’s early but Muffin has her big, saucer eyes on. You can’t resist. You feed her dinner and get to work on your marketing plan.