Karen@KarenCommins.com

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™

Narrators

A DEAL You Can Get Any Day And Is Good All Year

The Monday after Thanksgiving is known as Cyber Monday, when lots of people are on their computers shopping for deals. Friends, have I got a DEAL for you!

I spent the morning searching for a special item to add to one of my collections.

This prize doesn’t cost much and can be purchased for the same low price any day of the year.

I’m talking about a library card — not just any library card, mind you, but a non-resident library card.

Of course, you should start your collection of cards with one from your city or county library. Most libraries offer local residents a free card since the library is funded through tax dollars. Learn what your local library has to offer and use it.

However, you’ll discover that getting a non-resident card to a second library system may be very useful since libraries offer different digital services. You’ll want to shop around for 1 or more non-resident library cards that fit your needs.

In addition to the cost of the card, you’ll need to determine whether the library accepts on-line registrations. I viewed at least 2 dozen library sites across the country, and most libraries require you to apply in person.

The cost for a non-resident library card is usually minimal, although some places like Kalamazoo, MI charge a 3-digit figure equating to a resident’s property tax.

Once you acquire the library cards you need, their benefit to your career as an audiobook narrator can be immeasurable in at least 4 ways:

Performance

I listen to audiobooks every day. I’m not only listening to the story, but I’m critically listening to the narrator and production quality. Each one is a mini-masterclass in performance technique that aids my own interpretations.

Overdrive, Hoopla, and Recorded Books are the largest services that supply digital audiobooks to libraries. Two libraries with Overdrive accounts choose different audiobooks for their patrons to download. With multiple library cards, you’re sure to find an audiobook you want to hear.

Periodicals

I went shopping for my 2nd non-resident card this morning because I want to read Publishers Weekly (PW) magazine. Sure, I could pay the $180 subscription fee on Zinio.com to get a digital subscription or the $249.99 to Publishers Weekly for them to cut more trees and deliver the magazine to my house.

I’d rather pay much less and support a library at the same time!

I had noticed that my 2 libraries both offer magazines through their Recorded Books portal (formerly Zinio). As an aside, my libraries also have other fabulous options from Recorded Books, such as ArtistWorks for art and music instruction! Neither had Publishers Weekly in their account, so I searched Google for a library that does. I’m planning to head over to a neighboring county tomorrow and pay $30 for a year’s access on their non-resident card.

TIP: Some libraries listed PW in a PDF as an available title, but I had to look at their actual magazine page to determine whether it really was included. If they have it, be sure they are showing the current issue as I saw several sites that indicated it was limited to archives. Also, some libraries have Flipster accounts for their magazines. I don’t know whether Publishers Weekly is available from Flipster.

Polylinguist

My library cards can help me achieve my long-held goal of becoming polylingual. (Most people would say “multi-lingual”, but that word wouldn’t fit with my alliteration.) Both of my cards give me on-line access to Mángo Languages. Even if I don’t take an entire course, it’s helpful to listen to these conversations when working on accents for an audiobook.

Proficiency

I got my first non-resident card from the nearby city of Smyrna a few months ago after learning that some libraries give card holders access to the fantastic on-line training site Lynda.com.

While they aren’t audiobook-specific, the Lynda video courses are professionally created and come with a transcript and materials. You can preview the Pro Tools 12 Essential Training at this link, but classes on every popular DAW are available. In addition to courses on DAWs, Lynda offers loads of classes in marketing, social media, web site design, and other topics useful to your audiobook business.

Like the magazines, Lynda is a subscription site. You pay either monthly or yearly. They charge more for the plan that includes the exercise files. When I started with Lynda in mid-2015, I paid $34.99 per month for the courses and exercise files. Last December, I paid a discounted price of $242.89 for a year.

In contrast, my Smyrna Library card cost $50, and I get to take advantage of all the other services from the Smyrna Library as well.

As you can see, the cost savings of the library cards over the regular price of these subscriptions is a DEAL!

Do you have a library card? Please leave a comment and let me know how you use it!

 

Updated 6/6/19 to change Recorded Books and Zinio references

How to use Karen Commins’s Audiobook Twitter lists

You can easily find other audiobook publishers, bloggers, narrators, and enthusiasts by signing into Twitter and subscribing to one or more of my 4 comprehensive lists of audiobook tweeps. I believe that I have developed the most thorough lists of audiobook folks on the Internet! I continue to update these lists as I learn of people who should be included.

Each Twitter list is for reading tweets from a curated group of people. You can’t tweet to the list.

Its usefulness lies in the fact that all of these people are grouped together in one place. You’ll be able to stay focused on audiobooks and correspond with audiobook folks without following all of them individually.

To subscribe to any of my Twitter lists:

Using your browser, login to Twiitter.
Click on one of the links above.
From the List page, click Subscribe to follow the list.

You can follow lists without following the individual accounts in that list.

How to find and contact audiobook reviewers on the list

If you click on Members, you can see the description of their Twitter profile. (See the picture.) You may be able to tell at that point whether they are a good candidate to review your book.

You also can click on each one and see their tweets and link to their web site.

Once on the reviewer’s web site, you can look at their review policies and get their email address. This page from the Geeky Blogger’s Book Blog outlines details you’ll want to include in your pitch.

The publisher list has over 100 employees from various audiobook companies. The list makes it easy to reply to and/or retweet them, which is a soft and convenient way of keeping your name in front of them!

I hope this info helps! I encourage you to create your own lists of authors and others who are important to your career. You can choose to make your lists private or public. If you have other questions about Twitter lists, check out this page from the Twitter help center.

If you’d like more tips about being organized for success, check out my blog article Putting the “I’ In OrganIzed, I use Evernote.com as my info and idea storehouse. If you decide to get an Evernote account, I’d love it if you used my referral link.

 

Last updated 8/14/20 to change to new Twitter URLs

6/11/19 to include link to podcasts

19 June 2018 to correct a link, include a comment about the publisher list, and add a couple other explanatory lines

1 December 2017 to include links to Literate Housewife and Geeky Blogger’s Book Blog

 

A Place For Everything…

…and everything in its place. As you know, I do so love to be organized! In fact, many people have told me that I have an unusual talent for curating, organizing, condensing, and disseminating information that is relevant to them.

With that point in mind, I decided it would helpful to list all of my audiobook-related resources in one place. (Last updated 29 May 2017)

Guides:

Audiobook Resources For Authors is a curated list of articles that are grouped to take authors through the stages of production from thought to final product.

My Audiobook Marketing Cheat Sheet contains oodles of ideas for specifically publicizing and marketing the audiobook edition.

Authors and narrators will benefit from subscribing to 1 or more of my 5 Twitter lists of audiobook people and organizations.

Articles:

My blog articles are separated by those of most interest to authors and those more useful to narrators. Each section has a different sidebar.

I’ve also published a number of articles on other sites of benefit to both authors and narrators.

Videos for Authors:

Setting Sail In Audiobooks: A Guide for Authors and Publishers  

In this 41-minute video, I:

— explore the audiobook landscape (beginning at 2:43)

— explain reasons every author should produce audiobooks of their books (beginning at 7:23)

— demonstrate Amazon Whispersync capability between an audiobook and Kindle ebook (beginning at 10:19)

— offer specific tips about ways to write with audio in mind (beginning at 12:09)

— advise the viewer about the audiobook production process and gives concrete information about using ACX.com to create an audiobook, including payment for production costs and distribution options (beginning at 22:04)

Demo of Kindle eBook and Audible Audiobook Whispersync (3:04)

Videos for Narrators:

I always run this test to check for graphic romance scenes in books before I audition. (1:18)

In this 2:26 video, I demonstrate how my editor and I use iAnnotate software during the corrections process.

If you’re editing your own audio, I show how to remove mouth clicks in this :41 video.
 

Upcoming Webinar on Acquiring Audio Rights

Since 2006, I’ve had the dream of publishing my own line of audiobooks. I partially fulfilled that dream in 2014 when I used works in the public domain to start Jewel Audiobooks, my audiobook publishing company. However, I’ve always wanted to publish contemporary titles.

I haven’t done so because I don’t know how to acquire the audio rights needed to produce these audiobooks. I’ve extensively researched the topic on-line, and I even bought a book titled How Authors Sell Publishing Rights. Unfortunately, everything I found was vague and didn’t answer my questions.

I decided to consult an attorney who specializes in intellectual property and publishing.

Even better, why not talk to an attorney who’s also a Grammy-winning audiobook producer!

Best idea of all, why not host a webinar so other narrators can learn with me!

I’m thrilled to announce that Jessica Kaye will be my guest speaker on the webinar titled How to Acquire Audiobook Rights!

We’re meeting on Tuesday 9 August at 8pm ET/5pm PT, and the cost is $49 per person.

Jessica has over 25 years experience in audiobook creation and publishing. She’s the founder of Big Happy Family Audio, an audiobook distribution company, as well as an attorney in the firm Kaye & Mills. 

If you’re interested in learning how to acquire audiobook rights, click here to get more information and to purchase the recording and materials.


 

How I Met the Love of My Life

A few weeks ago, Drew and I finished narrating the audiobook 125 Ways to Meet the Love of Your Life by Dr. Jan Yager. If I were single and hoping the meet the right person, I would  buy this audiobook in heartbeat!

Once we finished the production, we were inspired to create a 2:28 video to describe how we met in the style of the interviews from the popular movie When Harry Met Sally. Enjoy!


 

I #LoveAudiobooks!

June  is Audiobook Month! To celebrate, the Audio Publishers Association (APA) kicked off a video campaign titled “A Good Audiobook Speaks Volumes” in which authors and narrators share why we #LoveAudiobooks!

I had such fun in creating this 2:01 video, which premiered today on the Audiobook Community Facebook page. I hope you enjoy it! If you also love audiobooks, please tell me your favorite audiobook in the comments. I’m always searching for my next good listen! 🙂