Archives for 2018

Are QR Codes Still Used?

8 July 2018

Updated 17 September 2022

After poring over my Audiobook Marketing Cheat Sheet, an author recently asked me whether QR codes are still relevant and in use.

I responded that the answer to that question depends on who you ask. You’ll find compelling arguments on both sides, but the codes seem to be regaining their popularity.

Lifehacker reported in April that Apple iOS 11 and some Android phones can read QR codes natively, so you no longer need a special app to scan them. Presumably, Apple wouldn’t spend the time and cost to develop this feature if no one wanted to use it. You simply click on the smartphone camera app, point it at the code, and the operating system will scan and convert it for the browser.

This SocialMediaToday article, also from April, talks about Facebook rolling out QR codes for Pages and links to an article about the popularity of these codes in Japan and China.

I agree with the assertions in this article that QR codes continue to be good tools as long as you use them correctly — i.e., only on printed materials though they will scan from the screen — and keep the linked content updated and optimized for mobile access.

I decided to post this article on my blog for narrators because I have a QR code on the back of my business card that links to my web site. This way, I can hand out my business card to someone, and they can instantly connect to and HEAR my demos.

My web site URL is in my email address. Many people would prefer to type it, may not have the ability to scan the code, or may not understand the code.

Since my logo looks like a vacation postcard, I positioned the QR code on the back where the stamp would be on a real postcard.

I even have a QR code on my résumé. If I ever need to leave a printed copy with someone, they can scan the code and go to my web site.

For what it’s worth, I used business card CDs before I moved back to paper cards with QR codes. While they had a “WOW” factor, they were expensive and time-consuming to produce. In addition, if I changed my demos, I couldn’t update any business card CDs on hand because I had to burn the files onto the CD. What’s worse, people sometimes had difficulties in playing the small, rectangular CD on their system. Today, so many computers are sold without CD readers that I would advise narrators to avoid making CDs.

I also would avoid using business card thumb drives unless you are sharing them with someone who is expecting to receive files from you.

This article includes a section creating and using QR codes in your marketing. You can use these ideas whether you are promoting a particular book or yourself as a narrator.

Updated in April 2019 to show 3 recent examples illustrating that QR codes are becoming even more entrenched in business:

1. Longhorn restaurants print QR codes on the dining check. You can scan the code in their app and pay for your meal without waiting for your server, saving time for everyone. This measure also gives you added security over your credit card as you never hand it to anyone.

2. Chateau Elan, a resort and winery near my house, must be following my lead as they include a QR code on their business card. Once you scan it, you’re taken to their TripAdvisor page so you can leave a review.

3. VOAtlanta assigned each attendee a QR code in the event app. Rather than swapping and keeping up with business cards, attendees could scan QR codes and have the other attendee’s app profile page added to their contacts within the app.

6 Low-Cost Avenues For Greater Audiobook Sales

4 April 2018

Congratulations! You’ve got a brand new audiobook! It’s time to get the word out about it!

I minored in marketing while in college and have always loved to think about marketing ideas. Sandra Beckwith at BuildBookBuzz.com recently asked me a number of questions related to audiobook marketing. Our interview was posted today, and you can read it here.

A while back, I wrote 2 articles on the ACX.com blog to address this very topic. In Part One, I explained some reasons why people are resistant to listening to audiobooks. I then offered 3 ways to make your audiobooks more discoverable to an audience, including an invaluable site to use when developing a promotions calendar.

Part Two contains 4 more ways to promote your audiobooks and includes some very specific tactics about several social media sites, such as instructions about adding the audio edition of your title to Goodreads and subscribing to my Twitter list of audiobook reviewers and bloggers.

While I encourage you to mine those articles and their comments for their wealth of actionable steps, I’m excited to share these 6 low-cost avenues of audiobook promotion.

Author Mentions

The number one thing that any author can do to sell your audiobook is to consistently alert your fans that you have an audiobook available!

Any time you promote your book, make it a habit to say that the audiobook is also available.

I have been astonished and dismayed by the number of audio rights holders who use ACX to create their audiobooks but then do little or nothing to promote the finished product. The audiobook won’t sell itself!

Some narrators like me heavily promote our titles. However, narrators generally can’t spend much energy marketing any one book as we are constantly recording the next one. The author is the person who wrote the words in the book and has the fan base who most wants to know about — and is most likely to buy — an audiobook edition.

Here are some easy ways to constantly update your fans specifically about your audiobooks:

Write progress reports on your blog during audiobook production.
Add a blurb about or even a link to your audiobook in the front matter of your other editions.
Create a sales page on your web site specifically for your audiobooks, or add links to the audiobooks along with the print editions on your site. Include the audiobook “buy” links from Amazon, Audible, and iTunes every time you mention the book (your web site, blog, social media, interviews elsewhere, etc.)
Notify your email list about all new audiobook releases.
Conduct an audiobook event on Facebook to celebrate release day or some other occasion in your promotions calendar.
Host a Google Hangout On Air or a Zoom chat with your narrator and invite your fans to participate in the live stream. Fans love to have a look behind the scenes! Once the event is over, the recorded video of the Hangout is posted on YouTube. You and your narrator could then share that video on your blogs and social media sites for even more coverage.

Audiobook Boom

The popular AudiobookBoom.com site is the brainchild of fellow audiobook narrator Jeffrey Kafer. Audiobook Boom is kind of like BookBub in that it is a paid service where authors and publishers highlight certain titles. However, Audiobook Boom is only for audiobook promotion, and the weekly email newsletters are sent to subscribers who are audiobook listeners.

You pay $10 per title for a Listen & Review ad. If you used ACX to create your audiobook, you will automatically receive 25 Audible promo codes so you can give copies of your audiobook to eager listeners. With a Listen & Review ad, you’ll quickly receive a number of requests for your book from people who are willing to review it.

Whispersync

If you publish an edition of your book in Amazon’s Kindle format, your audiobook is eligible for the Whispersync feature. This amazing technology allows people to switch seamlessly between the Kindle ebook and the Audible audiobook.

I created a 3-minute video that demonstrates Whispersync in action.

Whispersync also increases sales of both editions. Amazon offers a discount on the audiobook if the buyer first purchases the Kindle edition. In fact, some people will buy the Kindle book simply to get the audiobook at a discount.

If you promote your free ebook on services like BookBub, you can expect to see an immediate ripple effect of sales of your audiobook edition. For instance, a recent Kindle Free ad on BookBub resulted in over 300 audiobook units sold the same day! The royalties from the audiobook sales might easily exceed the cost of the BookBub listing!

QR Codes

You’ve probably seen the square black and white boxes on coupons, in magazines, on store shelves, and on actual products. These boxes are called Quick Response, or QR, codes, and you can create a QR code on-line for free.

QR codes link to some content of your choosing on-line and can create a deeper level of engagement with a fan. People with smart phones can use an app that takes a picture of the QR code and immediately sends them to your link.

You could print the image of a QR code on a business card, postcard or flyer that you mail or hand out at your live events. If you have a print edition of your book, you could include a QR code in it.

After scanning your QR code in her phone app to read them, the recipient’s browser opens to the link you used when creating the QR code. For example, you might create a QR code link that sends people to your audiobook edition on Audible, plays the MP3 of the audiobook retail sample, or calls up the YouTube video of your Google Hangout with your narrator.

As you can see in these pictures, I have a QR code on the back of my business cards. Once scanned, my QR code will bring up my web site in the phone browser.

Podcasts

A podcast is defined as a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player.

With the proliferation of smart phones, podcasts are enjoying increased visibility and popularity, and they are a perfect platform for audiobook promotion!

In a Kindle Direct Publishing newsletter, author Hal Elrod, who has sold over 100,000 copies of his self-published ebook, said, “I can confidently say that the number one key to driving book sales has been securing interviews on other people’s podcasts!”

He further commented, “A great place to start is to look on iTunes in the “New and Noteworthy” section to find podcasters who are new (so they’re not inundated with requests) but are gaining a lot of momentum and listeners. Google them, go to their websites, and reach out to tell them how you and your book would add extraordinary value for their audiences!”

You can also seek out interviews on established podcasts. Harper Audio Presents usually features author interviews, even if the author was published elsewhere. In fact, you’ll find many more terrific podcast possibilities by looking in the iTunes store under Podcasts/Art/Literature.

You even can create your own podcast and host it on your web site and/or Soundcloud. For instance, my colleague Ann Richardson and I recorded each of our InD’ear columns and uploaded the recordings to our Narrators Helping Authors Soundcloud account. If you hold a Google hangout with your narrator and/or fans, you can extract the audio and repurpose it as a podcast.

Radio Shows

A podcast interview is valuable experience and can definitely drive sales, but a real radio station has many more listeners. However, unless you’re a celebrity author, the media probably won’t come looking for you. As with podcasts, you can contact local radio stations and ask to be a guest on a show.

According to morning show host Wayne Kelly, the key to booking radio interviews is that you do NOT want to approach the producers as an author promoting a book! The producer could fear booking an introverted author who would provide no value to the listeners. Instead, you would position yourself as someone who increases audience interest with your specialized insight and comments about current stories.

First, keep a list of topics covered in your book. Authors who research topics for fictional stories would develop expertise in those areas. When it’s time to publicize the book and audiobook, look for hot topics in the news which tie into your subject matter knowledge.

Google stations in your locale. You then can find them on social media and/or call the station to ask for the email address of the person who books the most interviews.

As you can see, you can market your audiobook with your book and as a standalone product. Want even more ideas for audiobook marketing? You’ll find them on my Audiobook Marketing Cheat Sheet! If you have questions, please leave a comment on the blog or book a personal consultation on my Shop page.

Most of this article originally appeared in the February 2016 issue of InD’Tale Magazine. I’ve updated some of the info and links.

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Audiobook Resources for Attendees of VOAtlanta 2018

2 March 2018

As a user of ACX.com since it was in its pre-launch beta test and an Audible Approved Producer, I was delighted when Scott Jacobi, Marketing Director at ACX, asked me to speak on his panel today at this year’s VOAtlanta Conference.

Scott is moderating the panel titled Chapter One — Creating Your Audiobook Career. My fellow panelists are Greg Cooler, Director of Production for ListenUp Audiobooks here in Atlanta, and Andrew Gallagher, the QA Supervisor and Production Evangelist at ACX.

Since we have a wealth of topics to cover in 1 hour, I thought it would be helpful to provide attendees with this curated, short list of companion articles from ACX’s and my blogs. Obviously, you’ll find lots more useful content to aid your career on both our sites!

Choosing and Learning Your Software

ACX Studio Gear Series Part 2: DAWs

7 Places to Learn Audio Editing for Audiobooks

A Critical Ear: The ACX Reference Sample Pack

Editing and Spacing with Alex the Audio Scientist

Regarding Room Tone with Alex the Audio Scientist

File Management with Alex the Audio Scientist

Choosing Good Royalty Share Projects

Picking the Right Royalty Share Projects

Karen’s Primer on Narrating Royalty Share Audiobooks

To Voice Royalty Share Audiobooks… Or Not.That is the question

Time Management

Simple Math About Audiobook Rates

How To Act Like an Audiobook Narrator

4 Keys to Becoming a Successful ACX Audiobook Producer

3 Ways to Increase Your Computing Power

Putting the “I” in Organized

Top 10 Q&A About Audiobook Production Although I wrote this article for authors, it answers many questions for narrators.

Outsourcing From A Narrator’s Perspective

Video: Why Use Evernote for Audiobook Pronunciation Research

Video: Using the iAnnotate App in the Corrections Process

Reviews

How do you respond to criticism?

How to Submit Your Audiobooks for Review in AudioFile Magazine

How to use Karen Commins’s Audiobook Twitter Lists

Other Important Resources

ACX Blog

ACX channel on YouTube

AudioEloquence.com for pronunciation research

AudioFile Magazine

Facebook group Indie (ACX and Others) Audiobook Narrators and Producers — You must have a profile on ACX to join this group. The comprehensive group FAQ that I created and maintained will answer more questions that you realized could be possible!

ListenUp Audiobooks

Vetted audiobook coaches linked in the Connections section of my NarratorsRoadmap.com home page

Twitter accounts: ACX Karen Commins ListenUp Audiobooks

Updated 10/8/21

7 Places to Learn Audio Editing for Audiobooks

21 February 2018

In my last article for narrators, I wrote about 3 ways to become a computer super user. One piece of software that all audiobook narrators need is a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Coaches and new narrators often ask me where they can learn how to use their DAW.

The 7 options listed below in no particular order will help you learn the DAW software.

1) The Deyan Institute offers classes in Pro Tools for Production and Pro Tools for Post-Production, as well as an option for 6 hours of Pro Tools instruction.

2) Edge Studio offers webinars in Audition, Audacity, Pro Tools, Reaper, and Twisted Wave.

3) Global Voice Acting Academy has several webinars on recording and occasionally offers classes.

4) Lynda.com is a FANTASTIC site with professionally produced video courses on Pro Tools, Audition, and Studio One, plus tons of other courses on things like WordPress, marketing, etc. Anyone can get a free 10-day trial using this (affiliate) link.You may be able to access Lynda for FREE with a library card as described in this article.

5) YouTube overflows with how-to videos for numerous DAWS. One excellent source for Studio One videos is the Red Baarns channel created by audio engineer Don Baarns. He also has created tutorials that show how to use iZotope RX products to clean up your audio.

6) Udemy.com offers a number of courses in Audacity, Adobe Audition, Reaper, and Pro Tools. I haven’t used any of these courses, but some of them look pretty comprehensive.

7) You might find a course at a local college or hire a student to teach you. For example, I took an enrichment class on Pro Tools offered on successive Saturdays at the Art Institute of Atlanta.

By the way, if you learn the basic shortcuts keys discussed in the previous article, you have a head start as they will work in your DAW!

Updated 4/19/18 to remove links to deleted courses on VoiceOverExtra. com and add the link to Udemy.com

3 Ways to Increase Your Computing Power

17 January 2018

An interviewer once asked me what I learned while working in information technology that helped me in my profession as an audiobook narrator. A 25-year career in a variety of IT positions including programmer, network and email administrator, and technical specialist certainly gave me an ease and confidence about utilizing a wide variety of software on my computer. I want to share 3 things that will help make you a computer super user.

1. Learn as much as you can about each software package that you use, especially its shortcut keys.

This tip is not only the #1 tip on this list, but it’s my #1 tip about how to improve your work flow.

Moving your mouse to select menu options takes longer than pressing a couple of keys to accomplish the same thing. Those extra few seconds may not seem like much on a single action, but they really add up over time. I saw one study that said office workers could save 8 days in the course of the year by learning shortcuts.

Software operations are transferrable skills. If you will spend a little time to learn the shortcut keys to copy and paste in one application, you’ll use the same keystrokes in all of them. Also, if you decide to move from a PC to a Mac or vice versa, the same basic keystrokes will perform the same functions.

Below are 10 common keyboard shortcuts dealing with text that work across applications. I use them all of the time! First, you highlight the text on which to perform the operation, then press the shortcut keys.

On a PC, you press the CTRL key in combination with another; on a Mac, you press the CMD key. Since I use a Mac, I’ll list the keyboard shortcuts for it.

Copy CMD-C
Paste CMD-V
Cut CMD-X
Bold CMD-B
Italic CMD-I
Underline CMD-U
Undo CMD-Z
Add hyperlink CMD-K
Select all CMD-A (no initial highlighting needed)
Find CMD-F

In addition to common tasks, each software program has shortcut keys for functions specific to it. For instance, when I was editing my audiobooks in Pro Tools, I decided to learn a few specific shortcut combos in it. Once I incorporated these 6 time-saving alternates, I felt my productivity improved by a quantum leap rather than a baby step.

Insert Silence Shift-CMD-E
Paste Special/Repeat to Fill Selection Option-CMD-V (I use these first 2 shortcuts back-to-back to insert room tone in my recording.)
Batch Fades CMD-F (often used after pressing CMD-A to select all clips rather than simply fading between 2 clips at a time)
Consolidate Clips Option-Shift-3 (again after pressing CMD-A to select all clips)
Export Clip as File Shift-CMD-K
Memory Locations Window CMD-5 on number pad

Don’t feel like you have to learn all the shortcuts available in your software! To start, pick 3-5 of the things you frequently do in a single program. As you mouse through the menus to find your selection, notice if the option lists some keystrokes on the line. Write down those keys and use them the next time you need to do the same task.

Of course, an even speedier method of finding the shortcut keys for any program is to search for them online. Even Google’s Gmail has keyboard shortcuts.

With a little practice, the shortcut keys will be absorbed into your kinesthetic memory. You’ll do them without even thinking and get faster every day!

2. Choose your operating system and software upgrade dates very carefully.

Don’t upgrade your operating system the moment Apple or Microsoft releases a new update. Also, don’t upgrade in the middle of a book if you can avoid it. The cutting edge of technology is often the bleeding edge of technology!

New operating systems often cause existing programs to fail because other developers may not have modified their application. If you’re using Pro Tools, you’ll want to check the Pro Tools Operating System Compatibility Chart before you make any updates.

If your system is stable and satisfactorily performing all of your tasks, assess whether you truly need an update. I’m still running Mac OS 10.10.5, also known as Yosemite. Apple has released 3 new systems since the time of my last OS update.

I initially didn’t upgrade because Pro Tools, which is my most important software, wouldn’t run on the new operating system. I am also still running Pro Tools version 11.3.1, which is not the latest for that program. However, I didn’t see any features in the latest version that I had to have, so I haven’t spent the money to upgrade.

If I upgrade my OS now, I’ll also probably have to upgrade Pro Tools. According to the chart linked above, my version of Pro Tools isn’t guaranteed to run on a newer OS.

People worry that Apple or Microsoft won’t support their OS if they fail to keep up with upgrades. At some point, that statement becomes true. I’m simply saying that you need to be in control of the decision to upgrade your system, not the manufacturer. You should be okay as long as you have a safe copy on DVD or USB drive of the installation software in the event you need to re-install the OS after a system failure.

3. Keep calm, and compute on.

Errors sometimes occur on even the most stable system. When troubleshooting, always retrace your steps to the last time the system was operating correctly. What changed in the meantime?

Use your favorite search engine and enter the exact error message of any software to learn how to troubleshoot it. You most probably aren’t the first person to experience an error. In fact, your search results usually will include numerous sites. Sometimes you’ll have to extrapolate from others’ situations in order to solve your problem.

Once I find solutions to any computer problem, I save them in an Evernote notebook. That way, if the issue re-occurs, I’m not reinventing the wheel to find the answer.

We had this saying in IT: “the only day you need to do a backup is the day before your system crashes.” You never know when a system will malfunction, but Murphy’s Law increases the probability that it will happen when you can least afford the time — and possibly money — to deal with it.

In addition to doing regular backups on another drive, I highly recommend that you include some measure of off-site storage in your data safety and recovery plan. I learned the hard way that having only one copy of critical data is asking for trouble. In the early 2000s, I was editing one of my first audiobooks when the drive crashed. I had to pay to get the data recovered.

Now, at the end of each day’s recording session, I copy my book files to Dropbox. If my computer fails or, worse, something happens to my house, my audiobook files are safely stored in the cloud.

In case you don’t know, I love my computer and computing devices! By following these 3 tips, I hope you will feel more empowered when you are in front of your computer.

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™