Selling podcasts/audiobooks is it possible?

I know that podcasting is very new, and even audiobooks quite new. Audiobooks are selling (even on the iTunes site) for good money, whilst podcasts are all free.

Fair enough if the content is quite different. However, if you put together a podcast, or series of podcasts that teach something useful - how to play the trumpet or write a good dashboard widget, say - wouldn't it be nice to be able to sell the course?

My idea would be to have an introduction that is free and covers the topic briefly to give an idea of your style, pace and method. This might be enough for many. If they like it, however, they could then pay to subscribe to the rest of the podcasts/chapters/installments.

At the moment, it would be necessary to write an audiobook to do this. However, most audiobooks are made from existing published books. I'd like to produce a new book, entirely in audio to teach a subject (that I teach already) and put it out there for people to buy.

Is this possible?

What is the best way of doing this?

Is it possible to use iTunes Podcasting for this?

How, if you can't use podcasting, can you get a new audiobook (that isn't based on a print book) into the iTunes audiobook shop?

G5, Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Posted on Jan 25, 2006 12:14 PM

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4 replies

Feb 20, 2006 6:31 PM in response to Peter Brooks7

Check out iAmplify.com You can publish your own audio book there. I haven't done it myself yet, but I am exploring options. Other possibilities for self-publishing are Lulu.com and CafePress.com

I believe that each of these allows you to set your own price depending on how much profit you wish to make. There is no up-front cost to you - the publication costs are built into to the purchase price.

At iAmplify, you can publish an mp3 audio version of your book - it is similar to Audible.com.

On Lulu, you can publish a hardcopy of your book, an electronic download, a DVD, an audio CD, or an mp3 download.

On CafePress you can publish a hardcopy of your book, an audio CD, or a DVD. I don't think they do mp3, but if you want logo wear to go with your book this is the place.

Artists can submit their music albums to iTunes for sale. I don't know if iTunes accepts audiobooks. You might be able to find out here:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/musicmarketing/

Good luck!

Mar 16, 2006 1:51 PM in response to Peter Brooks7

Ricky Gervais is supposed to be now a paid-for-podcast:

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/02/20/rickygervais_podcastpaid/

He's going through Audible.com, so you should go through there if you're interested in selling content as MacMuse suggested.

My personal opinion is that podcasting is meant for delivering episodic content that is constantly changing and dynamic. Your audio book idea sounds more appropriate for the audible.com section rather than in the podcast section.

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Selling podcasts/audiobooks is it possible?

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