I did a blitz poll on Facebook earlier today, inquiring about if people were only using audible. (It was supposed to be a yes or no question, but as it tends to go, it expanded.)
Most people who follow me know about the audiobook nightmare that is audible. But, I also try to be accessible. And there are many readers who simply use audible and will not use any other platform.
My personal dislike of Audible/ACX and the blatant abuses of creatives there comes second to readers. (However much ACX severely irritates me on a good day.)
So, I’m going to do a limited experiment with the Royal States series. (When I say limited,I say so in terms of total number of books I’m sacrificing for the test.) Assuming ACX can do the repairs to my account required for the books to be uploaded/published through ACX, I will begin with Storm Called and Taken being uploaded into ACX’s system. The unfortunately downsides of this will kick in, as there will be two copies on iTunes, blah blah blah… inconveniences to me I’ll generally just deal with to adhere better to becoming more accessible.
Do I think ACX is a bad deal? Yes.
Do I want readers to be able to access the books? Also yes.
As is often the case, my personal feelings about elements of this business tend to come second to trying to leave readers mostly happy with my books/the experience of reading or listening to my books.
At current, Spotify pays best for my audiobooks. (This is also an irritation, as I’m pretty sour apples over Author’s Direct closing down. I mean, I get why. A lot of readers simply just didn’t LIKE the platform, and once Spotify bought Findaway, it made sense for them to push their platform.)
I know nothing about Spotify, as I don’t listen to audiobooks and rarely do anything out of Apple Music. (My husband works at Apple, so we have Apple Music… And I have like maybe 150 songs, 50-70 of which are World of Warcraft soundtracks. WHAT? What?! I don’t listen to a lot of music.)
A lot of people are starting to request bookfunnel for audiobooks, but I’m dumb, I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m also dumb, I’m a dumb-dumb, and I’m fully intimidated by the bookfunnel thing. See my statement above: I’m a dumb-dumb.
Will I get paid well at ACX? No. Will I like it all that much? Not gonna lie, also no. Do I understand and appreciate the reasons people use audible? Yes.
Which is why this is coming up for discussion.
The next few months are going to be chaotic. One, I will get the Royal States series on audible. (Please note that I do NOT currently own rights to Null and Void, The Captive King, and A Guiding Light. Please note I was not responsible for the recordings, and that I do think Reba Behr is an absolutely stellar narrator. It isn’t her fault the publisher did not select a male narrator (and only gave me a choice of female narrators) for the three books they produced.
That’s a part of why I’m going to start with the Royal States series. Right now, the narrations done by Reba ARE available on Audible, where the rest of the series is not. So it’s a good starting point. (We do not discuss the cover issues with the Royal States series in audible format. That, right there, is a driving reason why I’ll be getting rights back as soon as humanely possible. In that I’ve already notified the publisher they will not be given rights once renewal is up. We’ll see what happens from there.)
Reba did a fabulous job. But I’m still going to aim for series uniformity as much as possible, which means Keira Grace and Cameron Hill.
When the Otters series comes up to bat, I will be pursuing Tracey Rooney as the narrator for those books, just as she’s the primary narrator for the Client series. This, of course, assumes she is still available when it’s time for those books to be written.
Ultimately, accessibility wins.
I suspect I will have a lot of regrets, especially as there are still fraud / return issues over at ACX. Piracy is also an issue. But, hopefully, this will make more readers happy, and at the end of the day, that’s the end goal. (I mean, getting paid and putting food on the table and being able to do fun things is also important. But I do like when people are happy with books.)
Here is the current list of Audiobooks that have been requested for contract or are in production:
For Cameron Hill:
Rerecordings
- Hoofin’ It
- Cheetahs Never Win
- No Kitten Around
New Books
- Blood Diamond
- Wolf Hunt
- Wild Wolf
- Dead Weight
- The Trickster King
For Keira Grace
New Books
- Inquisitor
- Winter Wolf
- Silver Bullet
- Tales of the Winter Wolf (with a male narrator from the same studio reading the male stories)
- Vampire of Montana
- Shadowed Flame
- Doggone Mess
- 101 Ways to Die
- Life-Debt
I’m 99% sure I’m missing some titles, but my brain is exhausted along with the rest of me.
7 boxes went out today with the post fairy (aka my spouse.) 4 were for the kickstarter, 2 were giveaway titles (from facebook), and 1 was a charity contribution for an upcoming charity drive.
Apparently, I need to try to get at least 4-8 more boxes (from kickstarter) prepped and ready to be loaded into the car for tomorrow or Saturday post office deposits.
So, I hope this makes some of you happy.
And yes, there is currently an eight month or so lead time for audiobooks produced by Keira, and while Cameron is able to be a little faster (mostly due to the shorter list of books being done), the reality is this: I will not be holding back the ebook and print editions of books while waiting the 8+ months for the audiobook editions to be ready.
I am sorry for that, but I really need the ebook earnings to pay for the audiobook editions, as I generally do not make profits on an audiobook for at least six months following its release.
Ebooks pay the bills.
Audiobook and print editions are about the accessibility of the books.
To keep writing, the ebooks take priority. (Sorry. But I’m also not sorry, as I would rather be able to keep writing than artificially delay the ebooks to make the print/audiobook readers happy.)
I hope you all are having a better day than I am. (I’m seriously considering ordering in some tacos… again. Because it’s been a day.)
~R.J.
Zazzle would like you to know that she rules the world. (Perhaps someday soon, I will have the cats take over the blog again… the human behind the scenes is simply too tired and overwhelmed right now to help the cats operate the keyboard successfully.)
Bless you for thinking of us. I don’t care who I buy from. Usually audible, kobo or even Google play just keep them coming.
My main gripe is not your fault but one of sheer ignorance. How do you get from the sellers downloads to iTunes so I can load onto my iPod nano? Any ideas or just more tacos???
I’m gonna have to go with tacos because I have NO idea. I think you import on a desktop in the itunes and add it to your library… but that is only a guess. I imported a song once to itunes like… 5 years ago.
My daughter and I have started using Kobo for your books. Both ebooks and audible. We hope that we are helping with some of your issues.
Ditto for the taco’s. My oven is broken and I’m under pollen attack.
I hope that Audible starts behaving in a civilized manner.
Sorry audiobook world is so unpleasant for you as author.
I hope you find some compromise that you can live with.
In my particular case it is simply Not Applicable because I have no use whatsoever for audiobooks.
I do buy a few reference books in paper form because paper works better when you are skipping back and forth looking for facts.
Colored graphic stories (example: Schlock Mercenary) work best on paper.
Otherwise, all of my book purchases are ebooks in text format for my Kindle.
More than delighted to buy your audiobooks from whatever platform they are on. Audible/iTunes/BookFunnel let me download them which gives me an opportunity to listen from my laptop when I am without internet access. Chirpbooks has been consistent for the past year, but their app leaves a lot to be improved.
Just please – no fake English accents for the Devil or Darlene….
I don’t dictate how the narrators opt to voice the stories. The only thing I tend to specify is how certain names should be pronounced. I let them do their job without getting in the way.
I love listening to your books – I just love your books! And I can understand the ease of buying an audible book when purchasing my Kindle book – but to be perfectly honest when I found out I could get your books on Spotify I went straight there and bought them regardless of the cost!!!
Your books are worth every cent and if I want to listen to them then I will go to any site and purchase for the pleasure of your book alone.
Thank you ever so much for the joy that you give to me in your writing.
Please don’t be too discouraged by the hassles of not everyone seeing the fairness of publishing you audio books elsewhere other than Audible.
Again thank you!
I have audible but due to House Andrews I have Graphic Audio now too. (Also free library whatevers) any chance of anything going to Graphic Audio?
No, graphic audio is way too expensive to produce. As it is, I don’t really make a profit on my audiobooks for a minimum of six months. It just isn’t fiscally feasible. I’m nowhere near as popular as Ilona Andrews, so graphic audio is not in the picture.
Darn well whatever you go with I’m buying. I like to read with my eyes first then listen while I crochet 🙂
Chirp is great ! Hope they pay well. XO you are amazing.
I missed your poll. But I get your books on Chirp.
And I’m looking forward to all to come.
Have you ever considered Bandcamp [bandcamp.com]? Several authors have audio books there. In addition to Bandcamp Friday the first Friday of the month, when they take no fees, so you get all the money, it also offers the opportunity for the purchaser to pay extra. You can re-download at any time. Just a thought. Thank you for all your research and efforts; I know it’s a big hassle.
I don’t know if this helps, but Kobo Plus has audio and ebook subscriptions, and as I understand, you (as an author) don’t have to be exclusive with them. The individual audio or ebook subscriptions are $7.99/month and the combined read and listen is $9.99/month. I much prefer Kobo to Kindle, and I’ve heard they treat their authors better, too! I’ve tried Audible a couple of times, and the titles I want to listen to are never included in the basic plan. It’s not worth the money. I just listen on Hoopla or buy the ebook.
Good luck with whatever you choose!
My books are already enrolled in Kobo Plus.
You will continue to publish audiobooks on Chirp, I hope.
I believe I currently have every audio book you’ve published to date and Chirp works fine.
I’m looking forward to the wolf world series.
Thank you.
Yes, I will continue to publish on chirp.
Well, of course Zazzle rules the world – doesn’t everyone know that?
I get all of your audiobooks from Chirp. I like the player and the site is user friendly. The only reason I still use audible is because I have hundreds of audiobooks in my library. I do not buy from them anymore unless I have no other choice.
Can I just say I appreciate your books in WHATEVER format, and appreciate the effort you go to making sure everybody has an option. I’m 99.9999% e-book (because I can adjust the print size – eyes are getting to that age, you know). I tried audiobook once, and reached the conclusion I can not do it that way, because I can not multi-task well. If listening in my car, I get too wrapped up in the story and create a hazard on the road for everybody else. Ditto with exercising – effort stops while listening happens! I think that says more about me than the audiobooks …
Order the tacos. You deserve ALL the tacos.
Mmmmm tacos….. I have no horse in this race as I struggle to comprehend spoken word. I would hope that all your fans would choose you getting paid over their convenience, but that’s just me…
I mean, I wish, but the reality is… piracy is hugely rampant for a reason. 🙁
I’m a Luddite; I don’t do Facebook, so I liked the survey. I read, Don’t do “books on tape”. And I love reading your stuff .
RJ, I have a question. You mentioned three titles are being recorded by Cameron Hill: Hoofin’ It, Cheetahs Never Win and No Kitten Around. I have those three titles already that I purchased via Apple Books, all three are narrated by Wesley Nelson. Will the versions I have no longer exist after it is recorded by Cameron Hill? I hope I can keep the current versions as I really enjoy Wesley’s narration.
I am hoping that the old versions will remain intact, but I will be implementing a method for people to get copies of those audiobooks via bookfunnel should their version be overwrote; just make sure you have some proof of original purchase of those editions.
Thank you! I really appreciate that I can have a choice. No Kitten Around is one title I have listen many times – I love the story and how Wesley narrates Reed, Kennedy and Samantha! Please more Samantha!
OMG! I just had a thought. Can you imagine a graphic novel with Bailey! That would be something. Not that I think it should happen cause I can imagine the stress and would much rather you concentrate on writing but still…Imagine the picture of Bailey running around chanting “Napalm! Napalm! Napalm!”. That would be darling!
Yeah, that is way too much stress and expense for my life right now! Fun idea, but I’d rather keep writing.
I am disabled so i end up needing to listen to audiobooks because i can not read much without getting severe headache’s and since i can not put a book down i like… well that means audiobooks. I am glad you are still releasing them. I was hopping there would be an approximate date on the audiobooks. But i used to be a greedy reader and now i do audiobooks. I am using i-tunes for your books. this is the only thing i use i-tunes for right now. I also listen to audiobooks from some other authors who used to use author’s direct … they have swapped to audibooks.com when they gift out freebies or samples of audiobooks.. don’t know if they are better or worse than amazon.. but most of the authors that were doing books on authors direct have swapped there. I enjoy every book i have listened to of yours. please do not give up
I recommend Kobo Plus for audiobooks. $7.99 a month for unlimited access. My entire collection is available there. Yes, I get paid less when people use the subscription, but it’s for accessibility. (And I really like kobo.)