Build An Empire of Audio Books
578 words | Last Updated: December 16, 2006
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Can you build an empire of audio books? Yes, you can now easily build a web site (similar to those Amazon affiliated web sites) containing a catalog of audio books, but will people buy?
The key to your success lies in driving traffic to your audio book store. And with big names (in the internet) like Joel Comm putting up their sites, you have your work cut out for you.
It helps to differentiate your store. And no, having a different header or color scheme is not enough. Perhaps you can focus on a particular niche? Or you can post your own reviews of some of the featured books.
But if all you're going to do is install a script and instantly create an online catalog of audio books, well... the best of luck to you.
Here's a quick experiment you can try: Sign up as an Amazon affiliate, and drive traffic to their audio books section using your affiliate ID. See how many people you can send over, and how much sales you'll generate.
I've interviewed about 10 people (I know, I know... "huge" sample size) using portable MP3 players and found out they use those to listen to music, not read-aloud books. True, once people see or hear the value of audio recorded books, they'll take the time to listen.
I just hope there's enough "dead time" in those people's lives for them to focus and really hear what is being said. There's this obsession with multitasking that shrinks our dead or free time even more. When will we ever find time to listen to a 10-hour recording of Anatomy of Greed: Telling the Unshredded Truth from Inside Enron (by Brian Cruver)?
And are consumers willing to pay more (sometimes double the cost of the printed edition) for the audio version of a book?
Yes, there will always be paying customers who like to listen. But will your store have enough customers, especially in a web that will slowly be filled with stores like Joel Comm's AudioBookOverload.com and William Charlwood's Read2MeNow.com?
I'll pass. But if you want to give it a go, you'll find more info at Build-An-Empire.com on how you can build your own audio book store.
UPDATES: There's a $1,000 one-time set-up fee and a recurring charge of $50. Check out the comment's in Neil Shearing's Build An Empire by Paul Smithson. And LostBallInHighWeeds ends Make A Million With Audio Books with his credit card safely kept in his wallet.
Also, the sites built with the Build-An-Empire.com script appear to play preview sound files from SpokenNetwork.com (whose traffic as of Nov 18, 2006 did not create a graph worth looking at in Alexa):
Here's the Alexa traffic chart of Audible.com
So, what do you think of the trend? Will it swing back up?
Manuel Viloria is your energetic multimedia internet publishing coach who helps you make $100 a day online. Whether it's through blogging, podcasting, article marketing, videoblogging, email listbuilding, or even through Web 2.0 or social network marketing, you can increase your website visitors today. For more information, please visit Affiliate Marketing Tips | ManuelViloria.com.
First Posted: November 18, 2006 | Filed in: Affiliate Marketing, Ebook Publishing
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You can count me as one of the little guys under the big time marketers. I think you make a good point, but I also think that you fail to see the possibilities in what build and empire has to offer. Once you consider how many people are searching for content rich pages to add to their niche sites, and the fact that we, as build an empire partners, can create those pages on the fly. Well it's really a no brainer!
Just my 2 Cents!
Denise @ http://www.theaudiobooknook.com
Hi Denise!
Great to see a fellow Warrior around here.
You might want to check your domain name, though, because it appears Spoken Network owns TheAudioBookNook.com
It's better if you have it registered under your own name, similar to Joel Comm's AudioBookOverload.com (Come to think of it, even William Charlwood's Read2MeNow.com is registered by Spoken Network...)
Anyway, I do see the possibilities of what Build An Empire has to offer, especially if one can drive enough traffic to their own audio book site. I mean, look at SpokenNetwork.com which didn't show anything in Alexa last November 18. Now check out the spiked graph in late November, plus the fact that it now has 4,646 inlinks!
If they can do it, then other similarly motivated audio bookstore entrepreneurs can also do it. I guess I'm just not in that group at the moment.
At any rate, here's wishing you success in your chosen business. I hope I'll be able to send traffic your way....
Yes, That is how my domain must be, as far as Joel's.... I don't know. I can only assume that site is not the main site through build an empire. I don't want to assume, because you know what assuming does!!! Anyway, my goal at this point is to just get the word out about my site and make TheAudioBookNook and name and site not to forget! Thanks for the encouragement and any traffic you send my way.
Denise
Well i got involved with the audio book franchise with spoken network and i think it is going to be awesome and the future looks bright with a lot of new features they have coming in the future and audio book sales are increasing every year. I hope my site can give the audio book audience a great experience in listening to quality audio titles .
LISTEN2MENOW.COM
Good luck and have fun, Geoffrey!
I wonder, though, why Spoken Network is listed as the registrant of your domain name. Shouldn't it be under your name?
Anyway, it's now a matter of sending traffic to your site.
I tried ordering an audio book from your site, and I was brought to SpokenNetwork.com, which made me feel that this is similar to those Amazon affiliate sites, only the focus is on audio books.
In terms of customer experience, therefore, it will be the same regardless of which site we go to, because we eventually end up in SpokenNetwork.
What will differentiate your online audio book store? Your pre-sales relationship with your site visitors. I'm already seeing other audiobook stores attempting to build that relationship with potential customers.
Hi Manuel,
Spoken Network is listed as the registrant of all the domain names.
This is to ensure that all customers have continued access to their library of books they have purchased if the site owner ever dropped out.
Thanks for the info, Tom.
For a while there, I thought that customers were kept in the main database of Spoken Network. Now, it looks like there are as many customer databases as there are audio book sites in the Spoken Network collection of sites.
In this case, it looks to me that the affiliate / site owner does not own the site afterall. I wonder if that lack of ownership will affect their motivation to promote the affiliate site.
Hi Manuel,
I am also testing the waters, with a tiny Amazon Store built around one of my sub-domains. Lets see how things shape up.
Nice article.