If there are cues that might guide you this way or that, are you hearing them?
Are you even listening?
My audio metaphors aren’t accidental here as I fall deeper and deeper in love with audio.
I was listening (note: not reading, but listening) to Joanna Penn’s The Creative Penn podcast the other day and she was talking about podcasts in general and her guest said that audio is especially popular with busy, successful people. These busy people listen to audio because they often don’t have time to sit down and read. But audio can be consumed in the car on the way to work or even sneaking a few minutes in line at the grocery store or, my personal favorite, walking the dog in the woods.
I’m finishing up production on our first children’s book audio production, but I’m much more excited about the audio for the upcoming Every Single Day book launch. I’m currently studying up on things like reader magnets and incentives and I’m planning on releasing sneak chapters or bonus material, but I’d actually prefer to do it via audio. Why? Because that’s how I’d prefer to get it myself.
Then today, listening yet again to Joanna Penn’s podcast (episode #326 with Rebecca Cantrell), I hear her sneak in a short bit of news about Draft2Digital teaming up with Findaway Voices (more on the partnership here). In a nutshell, this is going to be an excellent option to ACX, which is Amazon’s audio book division. Why does this matter? The most important piece was that D2D and FV aren’t going to require exclusive rights. They’ll let you publish your audio to multiple platforms.
I don’t know (or even understand) all of the implications, but I just know that if Joanna thinks it’s exciting news. As she often says, she’s usually ahead of her time, so maybe this is a good chance to get an early jump on not the bandwagon, but on the pioneering wagon that’s ahead of the bandwagons.
That, and I just love audio and want to create more of it and have it spread far and wide.
Are you listening to cues for your future?
I listen to lots of podcasts. I take action. I’m constantly learning and trying and doing. Disclaimer: I actually think this stuff is fun. I truly do. Writing is fun, but then marketing is the dessert.
But had I not heard this bit about this partnership, I might have only known about ACX and Amazon. Maybe that would have been fine. Who knows? But if we’re on the lookout for our future, chances are that we’ll shape it by the fact that we’re looking out for it.
In other words, don’t just wait around for something to passively happen. Actively listen, allow yourself to be guided towards what is working, where your energy flows, what is fun.
Oh, and listen.