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To Audiobook or Not To Audiobook?

by aliveder
18 replies
Hi guys and gals, I have a bit of a conundrum. I am releasing an eBook at the end of the month. It is in the womens' health niche. I have a pure psychological question for you all.

My question is if I should create an audiobook as a free bonus, and if it will give me a competitive edge against other people in my niche who have created similar products.

I do not want to create this as an upsell, I already have a very good upsell. I just want to see if this sort of "serious topic" would be even listened to in the car or train. Or would women just want to sit down and read it at home, taking notes.

I do not want to invest a few hundred dollars into getting it made if it won't be something that could be a deciding factor between me and a competitor's product.

I already tried recording it myself, playing around with audacity, but it is much more complicated than it seems, getting my voice to sound like an adult woman's and when changing pitch, not having my voice sound like a transvestite's. Equalizing my vocal recording.

I create all my bonuses from scratch, and I take pride in all my products made. I know the audiobook will add value, but is it worth the opportunity cost?
:confused::confused::confused::confused::confused: :confused::confused:
#audiobook
  • Profile picture of the author smadronia
    Originally Posted by aliveder View Post

    Hi guys and gals, I have a bit of a conundrum. I am releasing an eBook at the end of the month. It is in the womens' health niche. I have a pure psychological question for you all.

    My question is if I should create an audiobook as a free bonus, and if it will give me a competitive edge against other people in my niche who have created similar products.

    I do not want to create this as an upsell, I already have a very good upsell. I just want to see if this sort of "serious topic" would be even listened to in the car or train. Or would women just want to sit down and read it at home, taking notes.

    I do not want to invest a few hundred dollars into getting it made if it won't be something that could be a deciding factor between me and a competitor's product.

    I already tried recording it myself, playing around with audacity, but it is much more complicated than it seems, getting my voice to sound like an adult woman's and when changing pitch, not having my voice sound like a transvestite's. Equalizing my vocal recording.

    I create all my bonuses from scratch, and I take pride in all my products made. I know the audiobook will add value, but is it worth the opportunity cost?
    :confused::confused::confused::confused::confused: :confused::confused:
    I don't know how to answer this from a marketer standpoint, but from a buyer's standpoint, audio would be a huge addition in perceived value for me, personally.

    I spend a lot of time driving, and so I love audiobooks, or audio tracks. I find it's a good way to learn while working, and it keeps me from falling asleep behind the wheel and killing people.

    Will an audiobook help you sell more? Maybe, if you market it well as an addon.
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  • Profile picture of the author Greedy
    See how the regular book does first.

    Then decide.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Galt
    Everybody learns in different ways. The more modalities you can offer, the better. With that said, if this is your first foray into this particular marketplace, I'd try to limit the upfront cost of the audiobook until you can test demand.

    Have you checked on Fiveer for a potential voice-over supplier? Maybe that's a way to trim your upfront cost.
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    • Profile picture of the author Snow_Predator
      If you've already got lots of other bonuses, then an audiobook will only add so much perceived value.

      This is just another one of those things you'll have to test I'm afraid. It's a bit of an expensive test, so I'd wait until I had enough gold in my purse (sorry, I'm reading "The Richest Man in Babylon" at the moment, and it seems Babylonian men carried 'purses' rather than wallets... and there was gold, everywhere!).

      Over at Odesk many moons ago, I had a 75 page tablet.. I mean 'ebook' voiced over (VERY professionally) for $80. Just checked, it was 18215 words. At 185 words per minute, that's 98 minutes - less than a dollar a minute - WAY cheaper than Fiverr, unless you're looking for an indian voiceover guy who's fresh off the boat. Some of these guys will do an hour for 5 bucks, lol but don't expect the audio to sound ANYTHING like your ebook, or be able to tell it apart from an audio narration of the Bhagavad Gita.

      Bottom line, don't go to Fiverr for an audiobook, you'll get totally ripped off. Fiverr is great for short 1-5 minute pieces, but when you get into longer pieces of text, it's MUCH cheaper to get it done over at Odesk and Elance.
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  • Profile picture of the author Snow_Predator
    That last post... who is that guy?
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  • Profile picture of the author Malcolm Thomas
    I would first focus on selling the eBook and seeing how well that sells. Once you begin making some revenue from the sells of your eBook, I would focus on creating an audio product to help beef up the perceived value of the product.
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  • Profile picture of the author Karry
    If I wanted to buy a particular type of informational ebook, it wouldn't influence me to buy one ebook over another just because one had an accompanying audio book.

    I read a lot of books and ebooks. I also listen to audio books every day while driving, exercising, walking the dog, etc. I prefer to read information-type books because for me to absorb the information it requires more concentration than I can spare while listening and driving at the same time.
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  • Profile picture of the author RachelLily
    try both. others love to read their way out, but you know nowadays, too many lazy ones and dont have the time to read. i bet making an audiobook would sound good.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Desi
    @snow_predator very clever
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  • Profile picture of the author Dylan Young
    I love audiobooks myself
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  • Profile picture of the author Rainmakermc
    Use the two forms to promote each other. Sell them independently on Amazon; similar to every other audio book out there, and load them as downloadable files from Itunes, Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Adding the audio portion can only increase sales and revenue.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Hooper
    I've done several and had good results. If it's a good book "a few hundred dollars" should be easy to get back.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheInfoMarket
    Since you already have an upsell in place, here is a good use of the audio book version. Still offer it as a bonus for purchasing the ebook, but only after they sign up for any updates to the product.

    Unless you are requiring customers to enter their email before purchase, you won't have a mailing list of customers. The audio book is the perfect incentive to offer on the ebook download page and it's a win-win for everyone.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bluestarace
    I think you should especially if it makes you stand out from your competition. I personally love audiobooks. It will give them an option to listen to your book while doing numerous activities like driving to work, exercising etc. Plus, the fact that many famous books are now available in an audio format should tell you that the base of audiobook fans is growing.
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  • Profile picture of the author higherluv
    I haven't seen exactly how these things perform, especially since I don't know of any audiobooks in any online product.

    So - in one way, you'll be unique, but in another, you won't know how it will perform.

    So, in this case the only way to know would be just release your book without the audiobook and see how it performs. Then, either use it as a bonus, or sell it.

    As for the audiobook, if you choose to do it, on the one hand, many sellers say that they can sell audiobooks for more than the ebook. They are more convenient in that much easier to go through and finish, and you can listen to it in your car.

    On the other, it would only be listened to if it's interesting to listen to. So... just don't make it boring. Instead, make it jump, like your avatar.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I think you should create an audiobook. I'm a big fan of physicist Brian Greene and his book "The Elegant Universe", but the book is just too long. Instead i opted for the audiobook, and it was better than what i expected. I had bought his audiobook "The Fabric Of The Cosmos" back in high school, and again... it pleased me more than reading the book.

    Outsource the audiobook creation to someone else, and offer it as a "deluxe" option.
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  • Profile picture of the author serryjw
    Just like many above, I LOVE audio books. I have no idea why EVERYONE does do one. There is so many opportunities to listen, vs read. I would highly suggest do it. Speaking as a senior, much easier to listen for an hour than read.
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  • Profile picture of the author JasonBennet
    I will personally test it by promoting the ebook version first. If it is not selling well, you will be wasting your time on money on creating the audio version of the ebook. However, if it is selling well, you can create the audio version of it and give it to those customers who have already purchase the ebook version.

    You will also be able to add it to the website and offer it as a bundle to the new customers. There are times when I also prefer to listen to the audio version of it instead of reading the pdf ebook.
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