The results are in, and the stonking majority view is that pre-production pre-orders are the way to address the new royalty reality imposed by the audiobook platforms.
The proposal is that the next title will be offered as a pre-production pre-order, meaning that production will start when we’ve raised the funds and, if we fail to do so, everyone gets their money back.
Early backers will get the finished book months before everyone else, and the cost will be less than a month of Audible, but there’ll also be bonus bits for those who’d like to help reach the goal early.
The False Clue of the Twisted Red Herring’s Footprint
Pre-production pre-purchase backer packages
Recent changes in audio book sales and royalties calculations have meant that the amount retained by the platforms, after production costs, has gone from ‘everything’ to ‘quite a bit more than everything’ and, sadly and bluntly, the current model for Anty Boisjoly audio books is no longer viable.
There may be a way, however, of not only keeping audio books in production but reducing the cost by cutting out the middleman.
The proposal is pre-production pre-orders. Essentially, listeners buy the audio book before it exists, and when the cost of production has been raised, the book is produced and backers get early access. The investment would be less than the cost of a single month of Audible and each title would need slightly over 200 backers to get made, but if the target isn’t reached then everyone would get their money back.
This little poll is intended to gauge whether or not we should try this new method. I’d really appreciate your honest views.
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