http://crowdfactory.com, HarperCollins has a a campaign as part of their BookPerk.com site which allows readers to get great deals from their favorite authors. If you are a logged-in member, you now can vote up your favorite author to get them featured as a daily deal. Once you vote, you are prompted right into a Facebook share flow from Crowd Factory. Read on!

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Getting the Word Out
PW takes the pulse of the latest innovations in audiobook marketing.
By Shannon Maughan
May 16, 2011
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page: 1 | 2
The Audio Publishers Association is set to kick off its 14th annual June Is Audiobook Month
campaign, designed to celebrate the industry and bring greater awareness of audiobooks. As
formats and consumer habits have changed over the past 10 years—sometimes dramatically—
audio publishers have kept pace with evolving marketing efforts. We checked in with the APA
and publishers to see how they've been getting audio titles heard.
On June 1, more than 50 popular authors and narrators will take part in a coordinated social
media blitz, championing audiobooks on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and author blogs as part
of the APA's Author Advocate Initiative. David Baldacci, Meg Cabot, Michael Connelly, Cory
Doctorow, James Patterson, and Lisa Scottoline are among those lending their voices to the
effort. The program is at the heart of APA's June Is Audiobook Month. The APA estimates that, in
2010, the Author Advocate Initiative reached approximately four million people. "For certain
fans, it makes a difference coming from an author," says Stephanie Hargadon, associate
publicist for
Macmillan Audio. She notes that when, say, Chelsea Cain plugs Sue Grafton's audiobooks, "The
numbers we're going to reach when these authors talk to their fans is huge."
Also in June, the APA will name the winners of its Get Caught Listening viral video contest.
Contestants were asked to submit an original short video (three minutes or less) promoting
audiobooks. From June 1 to June 25, the public can vote on 10 finalists selected by the APA. The
top three fan favorites will win a $5,000, $2,500 and $1,000 cash prize, respectively.
Tech Savvy
As the APA's push demonstrates, social media and Web technologies are playing an ever larger
role when it comes to reaching consumers. Audiobook publishers routinely use Facebook pages
and Twitter accounts as well as blogs and e-newsletters to alert consumers to new titles and
various promotions. Dedicated Web sites—featuring product discounts, audio and video
downloads, sound clips, and excerpts—are de rigueur. When Tantor Audio launches its
THIS WEEK'S MOST POP
Tantorious! podcast in June, it will join a number of other publishers, including Penguin Audio,
Simon & Schuster Audio, and Random House Audio, who already make their podcasts available Best Books of 201
1
on iTunes.
2 Possible Borders S
A number of publishers are now adding tech elements to their packaging for CDs. With its Snap Borders Hearing E
3
to Listen campaign, Brilliance Audio is one of the latest companies to place two-dimensional QR
codes (a "quick response" graphic, in this case linked to audiobook content) on its packaging. 4 Creditors Committ
Consumers and library patrons can scan the QR code with a smartphone barcode-scanner app Become Showdown
to get a free audio excerpt of the title. The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel was the first More Borders Rum
5
title to get the QR treatment, and Rick Riordan's May 3 release, The Throne of Fire (the Kane
Chronicles, Book Two), is among other new titles sporting the code. 6 Amazon Removes
Manga from Kindle
A QR code linking readers to an excerpt by narrator Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl) came into play 7 Amazon As Publish
when Simon & Schuster Audio tackled a multifaceted launch last month for the teen book City of tailers
Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare. Director of marketing Sarah Lieberman described some of the
key elements including a video q&a with narrators Westwick and Molly Quinn (Castle) that was 8 S&S, Penguin, Hac
featured as an exclusive on EntertainmentWeekly.com. Special recorded messages from both Online Book Site
narrators to their fans garnered 225,000 previews before the audiobook's release. 9 Harper, Donnelley
Chain Deal
Social media not only allows audio publishers to get the word out, it also enables consumers to
have a voice—sometimes literally. HarperAudio will release a new full-cast recording of American 1 0 GSU E-Reserves Tr
Gods by Neil Gaiman on June 21 to mark the 10th anniversary of the original publication of the
hardcover book. To herald the special commemorative edition, HarperAudio has created a
contest through Bookperk.com—the HarperCollins site described as a "Groupon for books"—in
which fans were invited to submit an MP3 audition for a speaking role in the audiobook
production. The winner will be flown to and hosted in New York, and coached by Gaiman himself
BLOGS
in the studio. Gaiman made a video plug for the contest on Bookperk and has been blogging
and tweeting about the judging process (from May 6: "Finished listening to the 20 Round 1
finalists in the AG Audio contest. If I'd known it was going to be this hard. Sigh.")
Beyond Her
Listeners can get in on the act in other ways as well. Random House Audio and Overdrive are Book
partnering on a Lend Your Voice project in which fans can participate in making a crowd-sourced Barbara Vey
recording of L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz. During the American Library Association's annual Visiting the
conference in Washington, D.C., June 25–27, the publisher will set up an on-site recording Greater Detroit
studio in OverDrive's Digitalbookmobile. Once all the voices are recorded and edited into a Romance Writers of
production, it will be posted online. America

2. I was invited by the
AudioFile magazine launched its Audiobook Community (audiobookcommunity.com) Web site last Greater Detroit
year, aiming to bring together a forum for all listeners to connect with each other as well as Romance Writers of
publishers, authors, and narrators. The Sync group within the social networking site America (GDRWA) to
(audiobooksync.com) is devoted to YA/teen audiobooks. Several publishers jumped on board speak at one of their
meetings. ...
last summer to promote their titles via a Sync free download program and are back again this
year.
ShelfTalker
Josie Leavitt
Beginning June 23, two complete audiobooks (a current title thematically paired with a classic BEA!!!
one) offered through the Sync site are available as free downloads for a seven-day period. I can't believe BEA is
Scholastic Audio's Shiver by Maggie next week. Where has
the time gone? I feel like
Stiefvater is available June 23–29 and is paired with Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. it's a month earlier than
Storm Runners by Roland Smith, also from Scholastic Audio, is teamed with The Cay by Theodore I'm ready for. You
Taylor, available August 11–17. Scholastic Audio's product manager, Sean McManus, notes that wouldn't think a trade
during last summer's run, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins generated 2,500 downloads. show would be so hard
HarperAudio is taking part in the Sync program for a second year running as well; its title The to prepare for, but
Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney is teamed with an edition of Beowulf there's always a lo...
translated by Frances B. Gummere and available July 14–20, and Immortal by Gillian Shields is
matched with Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë for the August 4–10 free downloads. Genreville
Rose Fox
As audio technologies continue to be refined and various types of playback devices become Make Your
Nebula
more affordable, audiobook publishers are exploring ways to use devices in their marketing
Award Predictions
plans. Next month, Hachette Audio is teaming with a startup tech company, Playbutton It's almost Nebula
(www.playbutton.com), to create an audio sampler as a BEA giveaway. A Playbutton is a Awards Weekend! Who
wearable button that plays music or other audio through a headphone jack. It comes loaded do you think will win?...
with content, and sports original artwork on the front and simple controls on the back. The
buttons are 4.5 cm. in diameter, and listeners attach them with a traditional pinback. "I think the
button is really eye-catching—so booklovers at BEA will hopefully want to wear them," says
Megan Fitzpatrick, senior manager of marketing and publicity for Hachette Audio. The sampler
clips include a full David Sedaris story from his most recent collection, a bit of Tina Fey's
Bossypants, a story narrated by Alan Rickman, a song sung by Tim Curry from the audiobook
edition of Despicable Me, and some summer sneak previews of Jeff Abbott's Adrenaline, Rachel TOP BESTSELLERS
Simon's The Story of Beautiful Girl, James Patterson's Now You See Her, and a new audio edition
The Fifth Witness (abr.
of Luis Alberto Urrea's The Devil's Highway, narrated by the author.
Bossypants (unabr.).
In September, Scholastic Audio will use an MP3 player to promote the latest title in the
bestselling 39 Clues series. 39 Clues Book 11: Vespers Rising by Rick Riordan, Peter Lerangis, Summer and the City
Gordan Korman, and Jude Watson will be on approximately 50,000 players that will be Charlie the Ranch Dog
distributed within the Scholastic Book Clubs. According to McManus at Scholastic, once kids
purchase the device, they will be able to use it like any standard player to download other Twilight saga
purchased audiobooks or music. Dead Reckoning
page: 1 | 2 Bossypants
Worth Dying For
Related Topics and Links: Heaven Is for Real
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THIS WEEK'S STARRED
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