Fiona L. Woods's Blog, page 415

Marketing ACX Audiobooks

ACX here I come!Panzer parked the Panzermobile over at Joanna Penn's The Creative Penn blog today. He was looking for ideas for marketing audiobooks. Turns out Joanna had done a post on just that subject.


Not only does Joanna explain how audiobooks are beginning to gain a market share, she also has five tips for marketing your ACX audiobook. In addition there's a section giving tips for choosing a narrator, producing your audiobook and distributing your audiobook to Amazon.

To learn about producing your own audiobook, tootle over to Audiobooks Marketing

Record Your Story And Let Your Readers Hear Your Voice

You record it! No you record it!Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere today and stopped in at Nathaniel Tower's Write, Juggle, Run blog. My bad boy found a post there about recording your short story yourself.

 Tower makes it sound easy. He gives you a microphone suggestion; tells you how to set up your studio; then launches you into making the recording using Audacity. He even gives you a little trick to use when you make a mistake when recording.

Panzer says, "You'll have to Google Audacity and download it. (Mr. Tower doesn't give you a link.)"

If you want to learn how to do your own recording of your short story, tootle over to Let Your Readers Hear Your Voice

Four Markets for Serial Fiction

Looking for markets? Or just a good read?Panzer was out looking for markets for short stories today. He found a post at Indie Reader  by JH Mae that has markets for not only short stories, but serial fiction too.

What is serial fiction you ask?

Well, so did Panzer.

According to the Indie Reader post, it's not exactly like the old serial movies your great-grandmother used to watch, but it is similar in some ways. Today's serial fiction can be a novel released chapter by chapter or a collection of short stories released story by story or even a novella.

Ms. Mae describes four markets for serial fiction, including DailyLit, Eat Your Serial, Jukepop, and Tuesday Serial.

If you're a writer, it doesn't look like these are paying markets; but it could be a way to get your work out to readers and get a following.

Or ... if you're a reader, these could be places to enjoy serial fiction.

If you're interested in checking out serial fiction, tootle over to Serial Fiction

Make a Soundtrack to Your Book Using Booktrack - GalleyCat

Booktrack?Panzer was over at GalleyCAT today.  He's been researching what's involved in adding music to an ebook.

My bad boy found a post at GalleyCAT that has a link to a YouTube video about Booktrack. It turns out Booktrack gives you the ability to add not only music, but sound effects to wherever you want in your ebook.

Our traveling cat captain took the Panzermobile over to  the Booktrack site to check it out on his own. He learned Booktrack works with Google Chrome, Opera, and Firefox. (Sorry Internet Explorer users.) There are several links to tutorials for YouTube videos at the site to help you use the service.

If you want to read the GalleyCAT post about Booktrack, tootle over to
Make a Soundtrack to Your Book Using Booktrack - GalleyCat

If you want to jump right into the Booktrack site, tootle over to Booktrack.

Selling In The Google Play Store

Droid and tablet sales?Okay, Panzer admits it. He had never heard of the Google Play Store. That is until he found a post by R.J. Crayton at the Indies Unlimited site about uploading your ebook to the Google Play Store.

So, what is the Google Play Store? It's a store you can upload your ebook to in either the PDF or ePub format for sale to primarily droid and tablet users. According to Ms. Crayton's post one of the important things an author needs to be aware of is the fact Google discounts the price of your ebook. Of course, this can cause problems with the Amazon price match feature. Fortunately, the post contains a link to a list of prices and the discounts, so you can determine what to price your ebook at.

If you follow the link "a tutorial tomorrow" at the bottom of the post, you'll be taken to a second post which shows screenshots and more instructions for setting up an account at the Google Play Store. According to the second post, it's not easy!

Panzer says, "Hmmm. Access to droid and tablet users for ebook sales? That might be worth all the questions and trouble for authors using the site."

If you want to check out the information on the Google Play Store, tootle over to Google Play Store

Join Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

In case you didn't know, Panzer is a big Harry Potter fan. We bet you are too.

So ... would you like to join the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?

Well ... the school is accepting students. You can sign up and get an Acceptance Letter to the school. You can see from the screen shot above, Panzer has already been accepted.

Panzer says, "Be sure to read the FAQs ... and ... those download buttons there are for software ads, so be careful."

So ... grab your books and prepare to make new friends at Hogwart's. (Hint: This is a fan site ... NOT ... J.K. Rowling's official site.)

If you're ready to join Panzer and go to school, tootle over to Hogwarts

(Thanks to Lynn Viehl for the link to Hogwarts.)

Anne R. Allen's Blog: How to Make the Bestseller Lists: Why Categories a...

Panzer stopped in at his friend Anne R. Allen's Blog. Your intrepid traveler of the Catosphere found a guest post there by Ruth Harris.

Ruth Harris is posting about how to use categories and keywords to get your ebook into the bestseller lists. She explains how to choose the correct categories to increase your ebook's exposure. She also explains how to investigate the keywords that will work best in your niche. You do need to understand, the categories and keywords will get you into the Top 100 for your niche , but that is not a guarantee of the Top 100 in the entire Kindle Store .

My bad boy can tell you how important those category and keyword choices are. His first ebook Cats and Crime has been in the Amazon Top 100 for one, two or three of his three niche categories at least twenty-five days each month since the ebook was uploaded. The screen print above shows his April 24 standing in two of the Top 100 Category Lists.

So, if you're interested in joining the bestseller lists, tootle over to Anne R. Allen's Blog: How to Make the Bestseller Lists: Why Categories a...:

Reading Around the World: INFOGRAPHIC - GalleyCat

Reading around the world.Panzer was over at GalleyCAT today to see what was new there.

He found an infographic about reading habits around the world.  Want to know who finishes the most books? How about who reads the fastest? There's all kinds of interesting facts included.

To learn about reading habits from around the world, tootle over to Reading Around the World: INFOGRAPHIC - GalleyCat

Kobo Is Downsizing

Hmmm. Who will be left?Panzer stopped in at The Star's site to read a post by Kim Nursall about Kobo.

My bad boy discovered Kobo laid off 63 people as part of its "organizational changes." According to the post, Kobo has 400 employees worldwide, so laying off 63 is a pretty big loss. Makes you wonder if Kobo is following Barnes and Noble's Nook example with employee cuts.

Panzer told you Sony is gone. He told you Barnes and Noble has cut whole Nook divisions and now Kobo is cutting employees.

Panzer says, "I think Amazon Kindle is winning. How about you?"

If you want to read about the Kobo downsizing, tootle over to Kobo

Why Dogs R Dumb

He he he!Panzer had to go to the cat doctor today so we're late posting.

We hope you enjoy Cranky Cat's explanation about the intellectual deficiencies of dogs.

Please tootle over to  Why Dogs R Dumb