Got word today that a rather big-name narrator is able and willing to do the Glory audiobooks that Podium is handling for us. Who your narrator is matters quite a bit in the audiobook world, so it’s really exciting news.
Glory is the little series that could. We have two books out—just two—with a third in the works—and we cleared five figures just this month in revenue. Granted, much of that is the advances Podium paid out for the upcoming audiobooks, but still; it’s revenue off this series we’ve watched just kind of plug away happily. Not entirely on its own. I can tell we’re running Amazon ads constantly. I’d actually love to see how much we’re spending, which I can do. Just need to talk to Craig’s ads guy. But, largely speaking, we haven’t thrown much money at the series. It sells almost entirely on the strength of its package: the story hook is solid, the covers and blurbs are on-genre, and the reviews are good. Readers, for the most part, walk away from book one—or even just the first couple chapters if they’re trying it out to see if they like it—happy.
Working with Craig has a ton to do with that. I suppose I should mention that the series launched entirely on the strength of Craig’s list. Completely. If I’d launched this book on my own, it would have landed to crickets. I’m not saying I couldn’t have figured it out on my own eventually; what I am saying is that Craig’s already figured out how to do all that. It was a major reason I reached out to publish with him in the first place; that and he’s actually been in the military. I haven’t. I needed his perspective to get things right. And apparently we’ve gotten them “right-enough.”
I’ll never have his authenticity. Not completely. As it should be. I have no desire to trick anyone. But what I hope is that my perspective adds to the story rather than detracts from it.
Anyway…still kind of under the weather, which is really annoying. Not back yet completely. We’ll see how tomorrow goes. Night night.