Hey, Audiobook Fans!
I'm looking for some feedback...
Hey readers, and especially those of you who are audiobook listeners!
I’m looking for a little feedback.
I’ve created a Google form asking a bunch ‘o questions to help me make some decisions about crowd-funding an audiobook edition of my latest Troubleshooters series installment, JULES CASSIDY, P.I., via Kickstarter.
If you’re not into audiobooks, no worries, carry on! (And if you cannot with the Kickstarter, same! I still love you, see you later!)
But if you are an audiobook lover willing to boldly go with me to strange new worlds of indie publishing, do help me out by answering my questions at https://forms.gle/eEyTCLz6XN9Fy9149 .
Here’s what I say at the start of my Google Form:
I’ve put on my producer hat (I’ve produced indie movies and TV series on shoestring budgets) and done the needed research to get an estimated budget for recording an audiobook of this (very lengthy!!) book, and it clocks in at right around $8,000.
This project would, of course, be completely AI-free: recorded by 100% human-soul-possessing voice actors, who are also members of my favorite union, SAG/AFTRA. In particular, I’m hoping our main narrator for JULES will be longtime voice of the Troubleshooters series, Patrick Lawlor!
Also FYI, $8K is the break-even number for this project. It’s possibly a little bit low, because that sixteen-hours-thing is an estimate. It covers the necessary costs of paying the SAG minimum rate to the narrator, and post-production costs for a skilled sound engineer, as well as the following expenses: Union paymaster fee, Kickstarter fee (they take 8% of all money raised, which is not too bad), and a BookFunnel upgrade fee so I can easily share those audiobook files with you.
Note: Payments to me as producer (including running a Kickstarter, which takes some serious time) = $0. Royalties paid to the author (me!) for these Kickstarted audiobooks = $0.
To put it bluntly: I’ll be working for free, to try to get this audiobook made. That’s what breaking-even means in this instance! I love you guys, but I would really love to have this project not cost me any money, hence the crowd-funding!! (Figure it’ll cost another $410 for every extra finished hour of the audiobook if the run time goes over 16 hours--I’m hoping I won’t have to pay that out of pocket, but I’m willing to risk that rather than set the financial goal too high.)
Right now I’m trying to figure out how many readers would be interested in getting an audiobook of JULES via a Kickstarter campaign, with the audiobook delivered to you from BookFunnel as soon as it’s finished (think late spring, early summer, but earlier if we can make it happen!).
If you’re open to offering feedback to help me figure out the details and decide whether or not to proceed with this campaign, please pop on over to my Google form and answer the easy and anonymous questions!! (Thank you!)
Here’s that link again: https://forms.gle/eEyTCLz6XN9Fy9149
For those who are unfamiliar with Kickstarter, campaigns to raise funds for projects like this are “all or nothing.” In other words, if I set my “funding goal” for JULES-in-Audio at my break-even $8000, and that goal isn’t met (ie not enough people back the Kickstarter), the backers’ credit cards are not charged, and the project doesn’t happen. (In short: Funding goal unmet = no audiobook.) Which is a great way to approach it. I can try, and if there’s not enough interest, so be it. I’m good with that.
And I will stress, again, that books that have 146K words (or around 450 pages in hardcover) take hours and hours and HOURS to record. That’s not cheap, especially when paying skilled union actors for their labor—which is something I believe in, wholeheartedly!!
Okay! That’s all for now. The google form can be filled out anonymously (in other words you don’t need to sign into Google to answer the questions), but I do give you an opportunity to drop me your email address if you’d like to be informed if/when a JULES-in-Audio Kickstarter goes live. Be assured: I will only use your email to reach out to you personally, in a carefully BCC’d list from my own email address, for this specific instance.
Thanks so much for your time and attention!
(Also, you’ve got March 28th on your calendars as No Kings Day 3, right? Right! See you in the streets!)
Wishing you peace, light, and joyful inspiration during these dark, uncertain times—with the hope that there’ll be much to be grateful for in the coming days of community, activism, and resistance, brought about by our deep love of freedom and democracy.
Love,
Suz
Already answered the survey.