Audiobooks are a fantastic growth market for authors and entrepreneurs looking for new ways to expand their audience, boost their income and increase their influence in their unique market.
In addition to providing a new revenue source, audiobooks open new markets and new audiences to you that you might never have reached otherwise. And audiobooks allow you to reach a greater audience to increase your discoverability and boost your credibility as an author.
In today’s market there are more opportunities to share an audiobook than ever. Sure, you can list yours on Amazon Audible – and we can help you with that. But big-name services like Amazon come with big commitments. For example, authors who use ACX to produce and sell audiobooks only on Amazon Audible and iTunes are entered into a 7-year exclusivity agreement and share royalties with the producers.
In an industry that often requires extensive contracts and staggering fees, we don’t recommend locking yourself into a long-term contract that limits your options. Many authors today are choosing to record their own audiobooks and retain control of their products and royalties by using other venues such as:
Podcasts
Google Play
CDs
USB flash drives
Downloads from your website or shopping cart
When it comes to building a business, nothing is quite as powerful as selling or sharing products in a way that allows you to collect customer contact info and cultivate loyal connections. Selling audiobooks, physical books, or any product from websites or shopping carts you control allows you to do that. Handing your products over to Amazon does not.
(For more details regarding the pros and cons of using Vervante as opposed to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (aka CreateSpace), Audible, and similar online retailers we recommend reading this article.)
How to list your audiobook on Audible
If you love Audible and want to list your book there, Vervante offers Audible listing services. Working with Amazon’s ACX program, we can list Vervante author’s audiobooks on the Audible service. If you want the option to both sell on Amazon AND through your own website or other options, you can have the best of both worlds by selecting their non-exclusivity contract that allows more freedom, but with lower royalties (see details below).
Audiobook technical requirements
Audiobooks files must adhere to the following requirements in order to meet ACX standards and be published through Amazon, Audible and iTunes. Even if you are recording your own audiobook to sell on your own website, following these guidelines will ensure a high-quality audiobook that your audience will enjoy listening to.
Audiobook files must:
be consistent in overall sound and formatting
include opening and closing credits1
be comprised of all mono or all stereo files2
include a retail audio sample that is between one and five minutes long3
Each uploaded audio file must:
contain only one chapter/section per file4
each file’s section header must be read aloud5
have a running time no longer than 120 minutes
have room tone at the beginning and end and be free of extraneous sounds
measure between -23dB and -18dB RMS and have -3dB peak values and a maximum -60dB noise floor
be a 192kbps or higher MP3, Constant Bit Rate (CBR) at 44.1 kHz
More audiobook technical details
For opening and closing credits, at minimum opening credits must note the name of the audiobook, the name of the author, and the name of the narrator. Closing credits must at least say something to the effect of “the end.”
Mono files are strongly recommended. We recommend mono for audio consistency and ease of uploading.
The sample file is what potential customers will use to preview of your audiobook before purchasing. Each sample file should start immediately with narration, not opening credits or music. No explicit material is allowed.
Opening credits and closing credits must be their own separate files. This helps listeners to easily navigate between sections.
Reading the section headers aloud helps listeners know what section of the book they are listening to without having to look at their player.
QUALITY CONTROL: Be sure to schedule a full quality control listening session to your audiobook before submitting the files. Do it yourself, hire or have someone listen to the audio in its entirety from start to finish to ensure all edits are done properly and the audio matches the book. This is crucial to avoiding errors that can hurt your reputation.
SELLING FROM YOUR OWN WEBSITE: If you make your audiobook available for purchase and download from your own website or shopping cart, you retain the full proceeds from each sale. This can be done digitally, or by sending your customers the audiobook on CD or USB thumb drives.
SELLING THROUGH AMAZON ACX: Royalties for audiobooks sold through ACX via Audible.com, Amazon.com, and iTunes are dependent upon the distribution and production options you select. If you choose to distribute exclusively to these three channels, you will earn 40% for the duration of a 7-year exclusivity agreement. If you choose to produce the audiobook using the Royalty Share option, you will earn 20%. If you choose to distribute your audiobook non-exclusively, which means you retain the right to sell your own audiobook through other retailers (including yourself) you will earn 25% and retain the right to distribute your recording at your discretion.
Download our free audiobook guide
More information about distribution, sales, royalties and more can be found in our free Audiobooks Expert Guide on the Vervante website.
How to list your audiobook for sale
If you want to sell or share an audiobook and would like to talk to one of our audiobook publishing professionals, email [email protected] or schedule a 1-on-1 phone call by clicking here.
Your book deserves a voice – let us help you share it with the world!
We're constantly amazed by the clever, unique, brilliant and beautiful books and products our customers create. Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeanna Gabellini, Master Business Coach, Law of Attraction expert, and author of the “Speed Dial the Universe to Double Your Profits” journal.
The story behind Jeanna’s inspiration
Q: What inspired you to create this journal?
A: This journal was created out of frustration. I used to have several different notebooks and journals, each one with a different focus. I had my daily gratitude lists, my intentions for the day, my great ideas, and visions for my future. I also had a slew of other journals where you fill in certain sections daily, but they were never quite right for me. My coaching clients were having similar frustrations, so… I decided to make a journal that would include the best processes I’ve found for mastering the Law of Attraction, raising your vibration, and setting yourself up to receive.
Q: What advice would you share with other aspiring authors?
A: Create the product you want and need. What would allow for more ease, flow, and joy in your day? Then leverage your expertise with an info product. And get your clients involved before you even introduce it… so they're already "hooked" on the solution you will provide.
Q: What do you love about this journal?
What I love about this journal is it gives you a shortcut to infinite ideas, solutions, and connection while shifting your energy, focus, and expectations to create more of what you want, every day. In just 10 minutes a day. I also love hearing daily, about the awesome results my clients receive in their lives and their businesses!
About “Speed Dial the Universe”
The Speed Dial the Universe journal shares a 6-step, 10-minute money-magnetizing process that sets you up to receive everything you want in your business. With all of the to-dos, demands, and craziness of your business, it’s easy to stumble into each day without taking the time to get focused, set your priorities, raise your vibe, and deliberately create what you want.
The Speed Dial process is an easy-breezy way to create a whole new level of prosperity, profitability, and manifestation power. Because when you’ve got the Universe on speed-dial, anything is possible. This journal guides you through 6 Steps to:
Choose how you want to feel, let go of your past stories, and amp up your vibe for maximum manifestation.
Clarify your top priorities and inspired actions for the day so you spend your time and creative energy on what matters most.
Delegate all the to-dos, demands, and desires you don’t want to deal with to the Universe (and watch what happens!).
Be an idea machine for new strategies, products, and services that put your business on the map and pay off big time.
Shift your focus, energy, and expectations to easily manifest your deepest desires and realize your wildest dreams.
Expand your capacity to receive and flex your manifestation muscles by clarifying and claiming your most outrageous dream biz.
6 Simple Steps + 10 Minutes a Day = Whatever You Want!
If you enjoyed this article and would like your Vervante product featured in our newsletter and blog email [email protected] with the following information:
250-word overview of your product
URL link for the landing or sales page for the product
High-res image(s) of the product and/or author
Your creativity inspires us and your success deserves to be shared!
“Can I use song lyrics in my book without getting permission?”
“What about quoting someone? Is that allowed?”
This and other fair use/permission issues are frequent questions we hear from authors wondering what the legalities are for using things like quotes, poems, lyrics, song titles, scriptures, and more in the books and products they are creating.
These are good questions and something every writer should have a basic familiarity with. Whenever you want to directly quote, excerpt, or reproduce someone else’s work in something you are writing, you should consider whether or not you need legal permission to protect yourself and your business from potential future problems.
Some of the things you may want to quote or reuse will fall under the “Fair Use” umbrella, which means you don’t need permission as long as the way you’re using it does not impede on the owner’s rights. Other things, however, are legally protected by copyright and should only be used after acquiring permission.
Q: Can I quote a celebrity or influential person like Oprah or Richard Branson in my book?
A: This is one of the most common questions we get. The answer depends on how you are using the quote. A quote used within a book, article or social media post to support the topic in a positive or neutral way is usually OK. Creating something that entirely depends on quotes from other people is NOT OK.
Here’s an example:
DON’T NEED PERMISSION
If you use a few brief quotes by Steve Jobs, Richard Branson and Tony Robbins in a book discussing entrepreneurship, that would fall under fair use.
If you are creating a planner or journal that contains quotes as a small part of the product, but it is filled with a lot of other information created by you such as instructions, motivations, education, art, etc., you are probably safe as well.
**But be sure to provide attribution – it’s just the right thing to do. More about that below.
NEED PERMISSION
However, if you write a book of quotes, or create a deck of cards or other merchandise that contains nothing but quotes from celebrities, influencers or other famous people, that would NOT fall under fair use and you DO need permission.
The following is a quick roundup of common issues we get asked about and whether they need permission or not. Please note that this is not a full list and we are not copyright lawyers, so it’s best to do further research if you are unsure. This article by attorney Howard Zaharoff in Writer’s Digest magazine called “A Writers’ Guide to Fair Use” is a good resource. Another good one is How to Legally Use Quotations. You can also check out The Library of Congress online search engine for copyrighted works at the Copyright Office website.
You DO need permission to use:
Song lyrics or poems (even partial ones). Songwriters are very protective of their rights—and permissions can be very expensive and difficult to obtain. There are a couple of exceptions, though:
If you’re quoting a song from before 1923 you don’t need permission. All works before then are in the public domain.
Hymns that are in the public domain fall under fair use. Not ALL hymns are free to use, though, so be sure to check.
If you’re writing song lyrics as part of a scholarly work or a critical review, you may have permission under fair use.
Art or photography that is copyrighted. Best practice is to use photos or images that are public domain, licensed creative commons, stock images, or belong to you.
Quotes from famous people if they are used as a book title or as a majority of the book contents.
Quotes from "new" versions of the Bible published after 1923 (see section below)
You DON’T need permission:
To use quotes from famous people as long as they are used in a brief and positive or neutral way to support your independent work - and with proper attribution.
To quote or reference the title or author of a work such as books, poems, movies, TV shows or songs.
To link to something online from your website, blog, book or other publication.
To quote books or other works published before 1923
For news stories or scientific studies. Shorter quotes, references and paraphrasing is usually ok without permission. Copying large amounts of a story or study, however, may require permission from the writer or publisher. Most sites have a policies/procedures page that will note their preferences.
Recipes (although this falls into a bit of a gray area – for more info read this article by attorney Sara F. Hawkins.)
To quote scriptures from Bibles published before 1923 (see section below).
Quoting from the Bible
Any work published prior to 1923 is in the public domain and falls under fair use. This includes older translations of the Bible including:
King James Version
Revised Standard Version (but not the NRSV)
Duoay-Rheims
Young’s Literal
Darby
JPS Bible (but not the New JPS nor the Jerusalem Bible)
However, “newer” versions of the Bible have some pretty strict copyright guidelines and should be researched. Here are a few examples:
As you can see, permissions vary from translation to translation. For example the ESV allows for the use of 1,000 verses without permission as long as those verses are not a complete book of the Bible or the entire text of the book you are creating. But the NIV allows for only 500 verses. If you plan on quoting from the Bible in your next published work, be sure to research the copyright and permissions guidelines for the specific version you are using.
Best practice: Attribution
A good rule of thumb, no matter what, is to always include proper attribution when quoting or paraphrasing someone else’s work within your own. Acknowledge the original source of the material, who and where it came from, links to websites if applicable, and your reason for using it.
When in doubt
When it comes to fair use and permissions, most experts agree: When in doubt, leave it out. Want song lyrics? Make some up that fit what you’re writing. Need an inspirational quote? We’re sure you can think of a great one – and now you’re the quotable person and people will want to quote you in the future! The books and products you’re creating are full of your creativity, passion and ideas. And that’s what people want to hear the most.
** Please note, this article is for informational purposes only and is not to be considered legal advice.
Audiobooks are a fantastic growth market for authors and entrepreneurs looking for new ways to expand their audience, boost their income and increase their influence in their unique market.
The story behind Jeanna’s inspiration
The Speed Dial the Universe journal shares a 6-step, 10-minute money-magnetizing process that sets you up to receive everything you want in your business. With all of the to-dos, demands, and craziness of your business, it’s easy to stumble into each day without taking the time to get focused, set your priorities, raise your vibe, and deliberately create what you want.
“Can I use song lyrics in my book without getting permission?”