How did Bassam and the Seven Secret Scrolls move up the list of audiobook best sellers from 90,000 all the way to #18 and hold a top 40 position for almost a solid week?
It was an amazing accomplishment for both Paul B. Skousen and Izzard Ink Publishing to be listed as an Audible best-seller next to the likes of the Game of Thrones and many other best sellers. How did this happen? Was it a massive marketing budget, skill or luck that somehow made it possible for Bassam to sell thousands of downloads in just one week?
Audiobook Foundation
Setting up a solid foundation for your audiobook is critical for building success. One of the first hurdles to cross is deciding if the author should read the book or if a professional should do it. The research shows that for the most part readers preferred a professional narrator. Many listeners who left comments on Audible.com said they wanted a performance and not just a narrator, something that their neighbor or spouse could do for far less money.
While advising author Paul B. Skousen on how best to promote his Bassam book, we shared our facts with him and helped him develop a strategy to enter the audiobook market. By the end of our search for the right narrator, we hired the winner of the Best Voice of 2010, a gifted and talented professional named Mark Deakins. Mark turned the book into a captivating performance.
Audiobook Reviews
Upon completion of the narration, Paul Skousen went to work utilizing the free 25 codes that Audible makes available so he could send invitations to interested audiobook listeners. These 25 wrote reviews to help give other listeners an idea of what the book is about.
Audiobook Success
The end of July 2015 Izzard Ink received an e-mail from Audible saying that Bassam and the Seven Secret Scrolls was selected as an Audible Hidden Gem. This is an annual sale that Audible offers for titles that have a great deal of potential but not very much exposure, yet.
Both Paul Skousen and Izzard Ink were amazed this honor and recognition happened. We are not sure exactly how the book stood out in the sea of over 180,000 but making a high quality professional performance made all the difference. We have been amazed at the success and marketing power of audiobooks and Audible to promote a book by an author new to the whole process. Paul Skousen said he had never really considered doing an audiobook, it was one of his “when I get to it” projects. And thanks to Izzard Ink Publishing, he said, now he has a best seller.
