Today starts like many mornings: coffee, email, industry news, BlueSky, more coffee, and checking in with Bookwire, Audible, and our royalty databases. I like to start the day on my walking pad since it is more difficult to walk while completing detailed tasks (Excel), so this morning overview is the perfect time. I see some award nominations have come out, so I scour for my next listen, always making note of any new-to-me narrators or new books from industry darlings. I so often have someone else鈥檚 voice in my ears that I frequently ask is whether that voice in my head is mine or is it, in fact, Julia Whelan reminding me to switch the laundry over?
I see a brilliant piece in the and think that would be a great piece for socials. I send colleagues an email and hope they love the idea. Despite having no formal marketing background, I am a creative and have a deep understanding of the audio audience. I am grateful when my colleagues humor my spaghetti on the wall ideas! In addition to my modest contributions to PUP Audio marketing, I serve as the co-chair of the public relations committee for the Audio Publishers Association and am a member of the socials sub-committee. A highlight was getting approval for a post-Grammy Beyonce-meme idea. I know the audio listener tends to engage heavily with social media, so these timely approaches tend to garner more engagement than a typical promotion post.
Emails are coming in, so I switch gears. An editor requests feedback on a specific book they鈥檙e at auction with. Do I see audio potential? Can I commit to author narration? I contribute a brief pitch about PUP Audio and the impact our audiobooks have made in case that helps swing the offer at all. I see a query from a narrator who wants to work with us. I give a listen and see if they have any experience with serious non-fiction鈥攚hat about trade non-fiction? Only Amish romance? Ok, maybe not quite the right experience for us, but I look at their bio to see if maybe they are trained in economics or something that would show their ability to handle complex terminology. Regardless of what I find, I let them know that our production house is Sound Understanding in the UK and whether or not they鈥檙e right for a PUP Audio book, SU may be able to cast them in another role for their catalog.
I pop over to Audible to see if there are any new ratings for my recently published audiobooks. I see there is an update and am desperate to read it. Do they like it? (Insert Sally Fields circa 1999) Is it a bot? Did they find a technical error in the tracks? Or鈥攖he dreaded: no review.
Time to jump into a contract approval meeting. Solid economic history on the agenda. The author is well-known in the field, but I see it鈥檚 a buy-in. Can we get audio rights for our territory? Is the other publisher willing to co-pub the audio edition? Next up is a neuroscience book written for the lay reader. The author has an engaged online presence, and his TED Talk has over a million views. I鈥檓 in!
Today is an Audio Publishers Association board meeting. It鈥檚 always at noon so I manage a quick bite to eat before turning on my camera and am ready to talk audio! It鈥檚 so humbling to be in this room full of industry professionals from various parts of this niche business. We have trade publishers, library representatives, sales, narrators, production, marketing, and鈥攐f course, legal all represented. I talk about the recent public relations meeting and give updates on some upcoming events we have planned. Such a unique opportunity for discourse between the branches of industry. We talk about the upcoming Audies gala, the APAC conference, and just in time, we sign off with well-wishes until the next meeting.
Once I top-off with the extra bit of coffee left in the pot, I鈥檓 ready to dig into seasonal launch prep. After I have the list of trade and 鈥渁cademic trade鈥� titles, I quickly glance over the list. Any repeat authors? Any books over 1000 pages (lookin鈥� at you, Capital)? I sort my list by genre so I can focus my initial efforts on topics with more of a proven track. I see we鈥檙e publishing a book on animal behavior; I Google the author to see if he would be a good reader and what I find is a fascinating TED Talk in which the author shares how the monarch butterfly self-medicates using specific plants found along their journey from Canada to Mexico. I accidentally watch the whole thing. If the author writes how he speaks, this will be a success. Now I dig into the manuscript. What kind of illustration program are we looking at? Do we need it to understand the argument or does the text do well to explain what is found in the illustrations? I see another book that fits squarely in our audio wheelhouse: a topical political science book with potential for evergreen roots. Conservative books tend to do well in this market, and this is a book about new conservative political scientists written by a traditional conservative. I listen to the author speak on YouTube and think she would do well to read the audio edition. Before I put that on offer, I look into where she lives and if there are studios nearby. Thankfully, this author lives in DC, so studios won鈥檛 be an issue. I add my notes to a never-ending spreadsheet.
I see a note come in that one of our narrators has to cancel due to being cast in an on-location film. Well, I can鈥檛 stand in the way of that. We鈥檒l have to re-cast. I jump on a call with our production team, and we listen to our options. It has to be someone we鈥檝e worked with before because now we鈥檙e in a time-crunch and don鈥檛 have time for the niceties that come with a new team. Ideally, it is someone with a home studio that鈥檚 already been vetted by our team, and within the same price-range as the reader we鈥檝e already budgeted. The stars align and we find the perfect fit. This book in particular was difficult because it was written by someone in their 30s but not published until later in their life. We needed a voice that sounded worldly, but elusive in terms of maturity.
I look at the clock and see it鈥檚 time to collect the children! Off I go to wear my mom hat with snacks and homework help before settling back into some launch research and signing off for the night.
Danielle D鈥橭rlando is the Curator of Audio at 91桃色.