It’s no secret that audiobooks are the fastest-growing format for enjoying a book. In 2021, nearly half of all Canadians, accounting for 45%, have listened to audiobooks. For an author, producing an audiobook is essential to gaining popularity and achieving success.
Writing a book poses challenges, as does producing an audiobook. Merely writing a good-quality book and audiobook is not enough. You have to ensure your audiobook is effectively promoted to gain exposure. A well-executed promotional strategy not only boosts the visibility of the audiobook but also augments the reach of the printed copy, attracting new readers who normally prefer auditory experiences.
The first step is to create the audiobook. You might consider using an audiobook production service that helps you with everything from the beginning to the final product. Using an audiobook service will not only allow you to save time but also expand your audience, grow your brand, and benefit from external expertise. Once the audiobook is created, you can focus on promotion. In the following blog, we will look at 21 invaluable tips to help you promote your audiobook.
1) Create a Landing page
A landing page is a central hub for all the marketing related to your audiobook. You should have a landing page for each book you have written and recorded.
The landing page should include links to anything related to your book. It can feature links to websites and retailers where readers can purchase your book, both physical and audiobook. It can also display links to other places where you may interact with your audience such as your email, social media, GoodReads page, blog, and much more.
Through this page, readers will have access to everything related to your book and can learn more if they wish. Make sure to include some reviews to encourage readers to take the next step in buying your audiobook.
2) Gather Reviews
Since your landing page should feature reviews, the next tip we have is to gather reviews for your audiobook. Reviews are important for any book whether it’s an audiobook or printed copy.
You need to leverage any opportunity you can to gather reviews as a vital step in a reader's decision-making process is checking reviews before purchase.
You can gather reviews by sharing free copies of your audiobook to select readers in exchange for them leaving an honest review. You can also reach out to professional book reviewers and ask them to review your book. Audiobook review sites are also useful such as AudioBookReviewer.
Once you have your reviews, use this in your audiobook promotions. Make sure to publicize this everywhere. It should be on your website, landing page, social media, etc.
3) Pick an Audiobook Narrator
The voice of an audiobook narrator sets the tone for the book and cultivates a unique reading experience. If you are an established audiobook author, consider narrating the book yourself. Listeners are already familiar with your voice and associate it with your work.
If you are a first-time audiobook author, consider hiring a narrator with previous experience. This might be an individual who is already well-known within the audiobook realm and is appreciated by listeners for their engaging delivery. Selecting the appropriate narrator can significantly impact the experience your book provides, serving as a unique selling proposition.
4) Announce Your Audiobook is Available for Pre-Order
Making your audiobook available for pre-order is a great way to generate buzz around your book. You likely have a social media presence that you can leverage for this announcement. If not, you should start creating one as it’s essential to marketing your book.
You can also generate an email list from your website. Suppose you are a new author and have not generated an email list. In that case, you can generate one through emails you have collected from your network including friends, family, business colleagues, fellow authors, etc. Once you have collected an email list, send out an email announcing the availability of pre-orders for your audiobook. Make sure to put this out on your social media and website to encourage sales even before the initial launch.
5) Utilize Email Marketing
On the topic of email lists, email marketing is a great tool to use to promote your audiobook. You can gather an email list through your website, social media, at events, etc. If you are having trouble gathering an email list, consider reader magnets such as giveaways, a free audiobook, discounts, etc. You must give readers a reason to sign up for your newsletter.
Once you have generated an email list, use this for email marketing. This serves as an excellent way to sustain engagement with your audience and uphold interest. Through email marketing, you can unveil book launches, extend discounts and promotions, distribute exclusive content, and more. This helps to foster a connection between readers and the author, increasing the likelihood of purchase.
6) Announce Your Audiobook Launch Date
The first week of your book launch is the most important. Sufficient marketing needs to be done before the launch date to ensure a successful first week.
Utilize the email marketing we previously discussed to announce your launch date. This will make readers aware of when the audiobook will be available for purchase. You should also promote your launch on social media and your author page. Make sure to share this everywhere!
You can’t expect one post or email to be enough. You have to maintain consistent messaging leading up to the launch. After making a big announcement for the launch date, make sure to follow up a couple of days after in case anyone forgets. Include the book reviews you have gathered to show the positive comments that others have about your book. You can also consider offering an exclusive discount to those who purchase in the first week. This will help to amp up sales for the launch of your audiobook.
7) Use Social Media
As we previously mentioned, social media plays a pivotal role in promotion. You will use it to announce your launch date, establish your following, author brand, and more. This is why establishing a social media presence and utilizing it well in advance of your launch is so important.
You must start early to build a following and establish your author brand. This is especially important for new authors who don’t have a following yet. Social media is an outlet where you can share everything with your followers. You can post snippets of your audiobook so readers can experience the quality and voice of the narrator. You can also share quotes from your book, reviews, exclusive content, audiobook covers, announcements, etc. All of this contributes to generating engagement and interest in your brand and audiobook.
8) Share Audio Snippets
A vital part of an audiobook is the voice of the narrator. When you listen to the book, you can hear the emotions and detect verbal cues that curate a unique experience. It’s important to leverage this uniqueness in your marketing.
Using your email newsletter, website, and social media page, you can share snippets of your audiobook also known as audiograms. This will allow readers to get excited about your book before launch. This can also be used as a reader magnet to get more sign-ups for your newsletter.
9) Produce an Audiobook Trailer
Similar to how we watch a trailer before a movie, an audiobook trailer can also serve as a great tool to intrigue readers into reading your audiobook.
Your audiobook trailer should be short and sweet. It should give readers a taste of the narration style, and storyline and highlight the best elements of your book. This trailer can be used across all your marketing platforms including your landing page, website, social media, etc.
10) Paid Advertising
It can be a lot of work to produce an audiobook and promote it. That’s why using paid advertising can be very effective. There are a multitude of avenues for paid advertising including Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Chirp, etc. You will have to do some experimenting to find the right one for you.
There are a few things you need to consider before using paid advertising. You need to define your target audience to create more targeted ads. You likely have already established one while writing your book, and making your website and social media. Once you have done that, you will pick the platforms you want to use for advertising. You also want to set a budget that is reasonable as paid advertising can be expensive. Many steps will follow in the paid advertising process but these are some of the first steps to take.
11) Audiobook Promotion Services
Sometimes, it’s not enough to do it on your own. You might want to consider the help of audiobook promotion services. A good example is Chirp which is a special form of paid advertising. They use extensive email lists to promote your audiobook. To use Chirp’s service, your books must be discounted as they usually favour discounted authors. Discounts can be used as a promotional tactic so this can actually provide more benefits than just qualifying you to use Chirp.
12) Influencer Partnerships
Prior to the launch of your book, make sure to reach out to influencers in the audiobook space to promote your book. You can also reach out to those who are not in the audiobook space but are well-known to your target audience. For instance, if you are writing a book about the cosmetics industry, you should ask a beauty influencer to promote your book. You can ask influencers on TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, bloggers, and much more.
These influencers can share your audiobook with their audience and talk about their review of your book. This will help to increase the reach of your audiobook by leveraging the credibility of a well-known influencer in the space.
13) Online Audiobook Communities
Many online communities exist for audiobooks, authors, and literature. This is a great way to make connections with other authors or readers in the community. Ensuring you stay active on these platforms will get your name out there and help you to establish genuine connections.
When the time comes around, you can use these communities to share your audiobook and reach out to readers, or other authors to help promote your book. Make sure you offer your help to others in the community so that when you ask for help, they are willing to lend a hand.
14) Link it Everywhere
Since you have a landing page, you need to make it known. Link it everywhere. This can be in your social media bio, blog, email signature, etc. You can also utilize QR codes and feature these on your business card, at in-person events, and much more. This makes it easier for individuals to stumble across your site and discover more information about your books. If you don’t promote your pages, people might not know where to find more information which can deter them from buying your audiobook.
15) Audible Author Page
With Audible being a top player in the audiobook space, you will likely release your audiobook on this platform. While you are at it, an Audible author page will act to be an important marketing tool.
Your Audible author page is a reader’s one-stop-shop for learning more about you. It will feature your author image, bio, and all your works. It’s important to establish this page early on so readers who use Audible know where to find you. Make sure your author branding is consistent between your image, bio, and all your other marketing platforms.
16) Go On Podcasts
Podcasts and audiobooks go hand-in-hand. They both allow people to listen to something on the go. That is why it makes so much sense to promote your audiobook on a podcast.
Take the time to do your research and find a podcast that is suited to your brand. If your book talks about being a first-time mom, go on a podcast hosted by moms who talk about their life experiences. Through this, you can reach a similar target audience that isn’t identical to yours allowing you to broaden your reach. The episode can feature your audio snippet, you can talk about your book, and the process, and provide exclusive content. You can also use this as an opportunity to share your audiobook with the podcast host and gather another review.
Also, if you’re a company owner/leader and want to start your own B2B podcast to meet top decision-makers in your industry to grow your business, while at the same time gaining an audience in your niche for your audiobook, you can work with a podcasting partner. They can handle the entire process, all you would need to do is have one conversation weekly or bi-weekly, fully remote.
17) Giveaways
Some audiobook distributors will provide a set number of promo codes to authors. This allows for authors to get free copies of their audiobook to their listeners. Although it might seem small, this is important to leverage.
You can promote this on your social media as a giveaway. In exchange for engagement such as a like or follow, followers will be entered into a draw for a promo code. Not only will this improve your social media presence allowing for more effective social media marketing, but it will also generate buzz for your book and increase interest from potential readers.
18) Reach out to Libraries
Libraries love to work with local authors. Go in person to a couple of libraries near you and leave a copy of your business card that links to your landing page. This will give them the chance to learn more about you and your work.
If they are interested, they can promote your audiobook at the library and on their website where customers can find a link to purchase your audiobook. You can also arrange an in-person event to promote your audiobook and meet some readers.
19) Discount Your Audiobook as an Upsell
Customers who opt for your audiobook may still desire an ebook or hard copy. For such readers, providing a discount on the audiobook when they purchase the ebook or hard copy can boost overall sales and further promote your audiobook, particularly to those who initially preferred the ebook or hard copy.
For audiobook and ebook promotion, Amazon has an option built-in through Whispersync. It allows users to switch between the ebook and audiobook without losing their place.
20) Bundle Your Audiobooks
Once you are no longer a first-time audiobook author, you might consider bundling your works. By this time, you've probably cultivated a devoted fan base keen on exploring all your creations. You can bundle multiple works into one discounted set. This might attract readers who initially planned to purchase just one book but are now enticed by the bundled discount. This tactic not only boosts sales but also enhances exposure for your other audiobooks, potentially reaching readers who might not have considered them individually.
21) Upload a Sample Chapter
While your audiobook trailer provides an overview of your book, uploading a sample chapter can further your promotion by hooking readers into the storyline. This gives readers a taste of what the narration and book are like. Usually, a sample of the first chapter will be the most effective as it starts the story and will draw readers in without revealing too much.
Conclusion
You’ve made it this far in creating your audiobook, now it’s time to take the first step in promotion. Make sure to start early and carefully craft your plan. A well-thought-out promotional strategy can truly make a significant impact. It's time for you to take the first steps toward a successful audiobook launch.
Written by Kaitlin Duong
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Jony Studios is a client-focused media production studio offering audio/video production, B2B podcasting, and audiobook services. They have worked with a wide range of clients from small businesses to larger organizations such as Penguin Random House, Amazon, University of Waterloo, Freakonomics Radio and many others.
