Audiobook Connection - Behind the Scenes with the Creative Teams

Matt Strain recently left Adobe, where over the course of 17 years he led teams across marketing, strategy, new business, and research. He is now focused on helping “real people” prepare for the opportunities with AI. Matt and Becky converse about the intersection of AI and creativity, when and how AI might find a place in the audiobook realm, and whether AI will ever replace human narrators. Lear...

Hall of Fame podcaster and teacher Dave Jackson shares tips on creating your own podcast, what mistakes to avoid, and how to grow your audience and monetize your podcast. If you are even considering starting your own podcast, this episode is for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Need to know and understand tips and a deeper dive into audiobook royalties. Ever wondered how they are calculated or why yours are not what you thought they would be? Becky will explain how they work behind the scenes and also how you can come out ahead and set yourself up to win with higher royalties and more control. Learn more about AMPlify Audiobooks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...

What is that ineffable quality that makes an audiobook ok vs great? Should authors narrate their own audiobooks? If not, why not? Host Becky Parker Geist provides some examples and discusses what skills are needed for anyone narrating an audiobook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Into the weeds with words and how they are pronounced! Join Becky for a deep dive for both authors and narrators into how to prepare your project regarding pronunciations, as well as how to determine what’s the best choice when there is more than one option. From fiction and fantasy created words to nonfiction names and places, get the low down on how to approach your pronunciation research and de...

Come behind the scenes with children’s author Kelly Anne Manuel! From inception to publication to audio and video, Kelly is an inspiration! You’ll hear about her journey and learn about the process and her intuitive pursuit of the next steps. The audiobook “boxed sets” of her children’s book series are ONLY available at AMPlify Audiobooks where you can purchase directly from Kelly: https://proaudi...

A fun and enlightening trip into the booth with one of Pro Audio Voices’ narrators Scott Ellis! What are the biggest challenges in being an audiobook narrator? And what’s to love about it? For authors as well as narrators, this episode will entertain while providing tips and insights that will help you in your audiobook journey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s wrong with the audiobook industry? And why and in what ways does it need to change? Becky leads us behind the scenes to discover what has driven the development of AMPlify Audiobooks, what some of the challenges have been in the process, and where we’re headed. AMPlify Audiobooks: Best for Authors : Best for Listeners . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go behind the scenes with Becky and Sam Cooper, Casting Director for Pro Audio Voices. Learn about how casting is done, what questions are asked of authors, and what kinds of things can lead to not getting cast. No matter which side you sit on—author or narrator—there are nuggets for you in this fun interview about casting audiobooks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Got charts or graphs or table? Data-heavy visuals can be a challenge, yes, but they can also be an opportunity to create more value for your listeners. There are many ways to describe these types of visuals, so you’ll need to know what to consider as you decide on your approach. Host Becky Parker Geist leads you through the process to clarify what those considerations are as well as how to impleme...

Saturday, Jun 17, 2023 10am-noon Pacific Time, join Becky Parker Geist for a workshop: Putting Your Audiobook to Work for You. Learn more or sign up at https://bit.ly/baipa-workshop-audio . In this episode Becky discusses audiobook pricing strategies—factors you may want to consider when setting your MSRP—as well as coupon codes and promotional pricing. During the workshop she’ll go even deeper in...

Now available as an option! Launch your project audio first or bypass the other formats and do audio only. With that new AMPlify Audiobooks author-direct sales platform, indie authors and small publishers now have the option to publish audiobooks before the other text formats. In this episode, Becky covers the types of projects that can work well as audio first or only—and some of these may surpri...

Creating an excellent listener experience is always paramount. When a book has elements that will interrupt its flow, what do you do? How do you handle what may look like boulders in the flow of your stream? Becky shares her insights and tips to guide you in your decision-making during pre-production when it comes to things like annotations, images, diagrams, and more. Learn more about your ad cho...

With BookBaby offering AI-narrated audiobooks and Spotify buying up Findaway Voices, the audiobook industry is changing. Find out what you should know about these changes and what your options are for your greatest success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When banker turned author Gayla Turner started writing, she had in mind that someone else would handle the writing since she did not consider herself a writer. Having gotten through the writing and publishing, she thought the audiobook narration would also fall to her to do. Learn more about her process of deciding whether she would be the best narrator option for her book that shares the parallel...

Health coach and author Kathleen Klug is having an impact. Join host Becky Parker Geist for this interview to hear more about what this author is doing to increase her impact with her audiobook. Discover what the audiobook production experience was like for her first time through the process and coming into it knowing nothing about what audiobook production involves. Learn more about your ad choic...

Metadata can be your best friend! Been wondering what you need to know when it comes to ISBNs? The world runs on metadata. Learn the key things you need to know as an indie author so you can make good decisions about your ISBNs, whether your book is in print, ebook or audiobook format - and even the divisions in those basic formats (hard cover, paperback; downloadable or CD, for example). Host Bec...

A full cast or multi-voiced project may offer fun and creative opportunities for podcasting and bonus materials for your project. Join our host Becky Parker Geist to experience how the team developed an interview between CJ Thomas, the author of Top Knotch: Adventures With Our Clueless Human, and the 3 main characters of the book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Joseph Durette started out as a rowdy, authority-provoking rebel just like the teens in his newly-released full-cast audiobook Fight or Flight. Learn not only about the origin story of this audiobook, but also about the decisions to go the full-cast route, with original music and sound effects. Host Becky Parker Geist directed and also performed in it, so you’ll get to hear about both sides...

There are many kinds of interruptive text, from sidebars to footnotes. How do you decide which to include—especially when talking about footnotes—and which to omit? Do you need to be consistent throughout? When you’ve got ones that really matter, how and where do you insert them? Get the answers to these questions and more in this in-depth episode on interruptive text like footnotes. Learn more ab...

The unstoppable and incomparable story specialist Donna Griffit has been coaching and guiding entrepreneurs over the last twenty years in telling their power stories—the stories that stick, the ones that sell, those that people want to hear. Donna was tuned in to opportunities from childhood, starting her first successful business as a party clown when she saw a need. Now working with the leaders...

The last two weeks of March, our podcast will be taking a short break. This is because our host, Becky Parker Geist, will be attending the APAC conference in New York. We'll be back with new episodes and exciting news on April! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The last two weeks of March, our podcast will be taking a short break. This is because our host, Becky Parker Geist, will be attending the APAC conference in New York. We'll be back with new episodes and exciting news on April! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Patricia Sullivan, author of Overland Before the Hippie Trail, is a world traveler. As a young newlywed, she and her husband decided to travel and work. A planned trip of a few months that turned into two years and the adventure of a lifetime. As an author, as soon as she released her book, people started asking when the audiobook would be released. So Patricia set off on her next adventure: getti...

Why did you write your book? What is your gift to the world and your audience? These “why” questions are actually foundational to how your audiobook can make a greater impact. Becky Parker Geist guides us through both the questions to ask ourselves and also the techniques we can use when we’re ready to make important Call To Action (CTA) production choices for our audiobooks. For more info: https:...