If you are self-publishing a book, then you will have most probably decided upon launching with eBook, paperback and maybe even hardback (with Amazon’s KDP launching this format recently, more authors are choosing casewraps to go along with paperback edition).  However, with the rise in popularity of audio books, it is well worth considering an audio edition of your publication too.

The good news is that you don’t have to have a recording studio, or even be prepared to read your book in its entirety yourself, Amazon’s ACX service gives you everything you’ll need to hire and prepare a great sounding audio book, you can read a full article on how to create an audio book, which should help.
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But when it comes to the book cover for your audio, there are some differences that you need to be aware of and prepare for.

​Now that you have published your book, you may be looking for other ways to market it to a larger audience, this is where many authors have turned to publishing in audio as well as print (and eBook), and the majority of these authors didn’t read/record it either. 

​It’s worth considering an audio version of your book, more people are subscribing to the likes of Amazon’s Audible and the process itself is a great deal easier than you may have imagined. If you decide to release an audio version, there are two main options you will consider in preparing your book for its audio release.
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It’s become very clear to see that the trend for publishing your book in audiobook format is gaining momentum, with global sales of audiobooks increasing in 2017 by 22.7% (in 2016 their sales had increased on the prior year by 21.5%), it’s obvious that there is an opportunity for the author and/or publishing house.

The statistics of these sales are quite interesting too, they show that 54% of listeners are under the age of 45 and tend to listen to an average of at least 15 audiobooks per year, they were also reading a small amount of physical books each year too (great news for the author). The most popular genres being Mysteries, Thrillers, Suspense, Sci-Fi and Romance.
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So, publishing in audiobook format makes complete sense for most authors, it enables you to reach a growing audience who is also happy to buy and read physical books, as well as consume more audiobooks than most read in an average year.