Friday Poll With a Point: Audiobook Pricing

[jeriendhal]

The last of the corrections have been made to the audiobook edition of Captive of the Red Vixen and I've sent payment to David Dorse for his work. At this point all that needs to be done is for the new cover art to be provided by Meg Syverud and a technical evaluation to be done by Audible.

So now seems to be a good idea figure how much I'm going to charge for the darned thing. The problem is four and a quarter hours it's a novella, not a full novel, so I can't really justify going too high on it. On the other hand, going less that $14.95 might be foolish, since I might lose the people who have Audible monthly subscriptions and pay that much per month for any of the books they get on their monthly credits, and might not want to waste it on something cheaper.

Opinions welcome...

[Poll #1982715]

Comments

[allah-sulu.livejournal.com]

No idea, really. Apart from CotRV on KS, the last time I bought an audiobook they were still selling them on cassettes.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

May I just say how brave I think you are for even *doing* an audio version? I've thought about it and keep backing away very slowly.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Honestly? The production part was easy (aside from getting the new cover art). I just posted the request for a narrator at acx.com and saved the original manuscript as a PDF file at Daniel Dorse's request. After that it was just a matter of listening to mp3 chapters he uploaded periodically to approve the or ask for corrections.

Funding was a bit stressful, but if you get haikujaguar's From Spark to Finish it'll lead you through the steps to set up your Kickstarter campaign to fund production. And even that isn't necessary if you find a producer willing to do it for a 50/50 split in the sales revenue.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I know I don't have enough fans for a Kickstarter, alas. Maybe someday. And I could do my own cover art. But the part of the production end that scares me is trying to choose a reader.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Don't count yourself out. *I* wasn't sure I had enough fans, but I did it, and if you spread the word on any forums you frequent and perhaps the Bujold list you might be surprised.

Choosing the reader is actually the easy part. For one, you might get David like I did, though I had two other auditions submitted to me that were too bland to use. He's actually in a bit of a soft spot with his schedule, which is one reason I got him for as reasonable a price as I did.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

You have a lot more material out there than I do. I've only got the six books so far. You've also wisely gotten yourself into a good niche. I haven't been able to locate my "tribe" yet, if you know what I mean.

Maybe someday I'll do it, but it's not on my horizons yet.

[zarpaulus.livejournal.com]

$10 sounds pretty good for a four hour audiobook on Audible.

I've spent money outside of my subscription for short ones. I save the subscription for big ones that are more than eight hours and are more expensive than the monthly cost.

[natf.livejournal.com]

I've spent money outside of my subscription for short ones. I save the subscription for big ones that are more than eight hours and are more expensive than the monthly cost.

That is how I am playing Audible, as well. Especially because I am only about to enter the third month of my three month trial (£3.99 pcm instead of £7.99).