Audiobook Marketing with Metadata

I recently attended a great presentation at BAIPA.  David Kudler and Bob Heyman presented about keywords and categories. They covered how to select them and then what to do with them. Then I attended an IBPA webinar by Joshua Tallent on the same basic topic. As an audiobook producer, I was dismayed with what I learned.  On Amazon and Audible the book descriptions are not included in the metadata scan of search terms! In other words, if I load up my book or audio book description with keywords, it will NOT help anyone find me within the Amazon world.

That was a shocker! At Pro Audio Voices, we produce, and help our clients market, their audiobooks. We put a lot of energy into making sure our authors have strong keywords in their book descriptions. We also focus on carefully selecting and using keywords in the descriptions we create for the Audiobook Marketing Program. David and Bob shared some great techniques for using the keyword fields on Amazon, but with audiobooks there are no keyword fields when uploading to digital distributors.

I did some further research to validate the bad news about Amazon. Sure enough, it’s true!  Then did some further research that was cheering. On other audiobook platforms aside from Audible, the book descriptions DO get included in the keyword scan process. Hooray! Retailers and libraries, like Audiobooks.com and Overdrive, for example, do use them.

What does that mean for those of us marketing audiobooks? Write your book description to draw in and entice potential buyers to get your book. On Amazon that is the only purpose of the book description. Keywords in descriptions will not help you on Audible. However, as long as you’re not doing an ACX exclusive deal (excluding distribution outside of Audible or iTunes), it is still best to write to entice your audience to buy while ALSO using keywords. If you’ve already been doing that, keep on. But know that on Audible your description will not help you in the same way that it will on Google and on other audiobook retailers.

If you’re looking for help in actually marketing your audiobook – not just telling you all the things you SHOULD be doing – not just giving you a list of Tips to Market Your Audiobook or 10 Best Ways to Market and Promote Your Audiobook or Best Practices to Increase Audiobook Sales – no, I mean help in DOING the marketing, then we’re here for you. For more info, visit our page at AudiobookAuthors.net.