Latest / Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors Podcast / Episode 102: The Audiobook Wizard: Bridging the Gap for Blind and Visually Impaired Children

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Episode 102: The Audiobook Wizard: Bridging the Gap for Blind and Visually Impaired Children · Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors Podcast

2:57
Richard Riemann, the Audiobook Wizard, Enhanced audiobooks at audiobookwizard Shop.
3:06
Thank you, Richard, for appearing on the Children's Book Authors podcast, Adventures in the Heart.
3:13
Richard has written two children's books in the Tales of Princesdom.
3:18
And if you refer to episode 94, you'll learn so much more about Richard and his children's books on that episode.
3:27
Richard, I look forward to our conversation.
3:29
This is very unique for me and I've always indicated to our guests that if I can bring on professionals that are doing, I don't want to say a supportive role, but doing things that help support children's book authorship
3:45
and how to grow your children's book business, that's one of the goals of our podcast show.
3:51
So I really appreciate you coming on.
3:53
Before we get into the details of your audiobook business, can you tell us why you chose children's books as the base of your business?
4:05
Yes, Rick, I was a volunteer for Learning Ally Reading Books for the Blind.
4:12
And I also was a guide for blind skiers, Actually, in fact, I was a racing guide.
4:19
I was the one who would be right behind them, going left, going through the gates were blind skiers, which of course was thrilling for them.
4:29
Incredible.
4:30
Doing stuff that sighted people can't do is great.
4:35
But then I became part of the blind community that way.
4:39
I was also diagnosed with glaucoma myself, so I was told that I was going to be losing my eyesight within five to 10 years.
4:50
All of those things had me say, okay, what can I do for the blind community?
4:58
And the skiers would tell me there's a big gap in the audiobook world where chapter books are all audiobooks, and it's great to have those.
5:10
But if you're blind and young, illustrated books don't make a lot of sense.
5:15
Just read out loud.
5:16
Sometimes it's like reading a poem without the pictures described.
5:21
It's a nice story, but you're missing at least half the story because you can't see the illustrations.
5:29
And I said, okay, there's this thing called audio description that's out there that's being used in movies and TV shows to fill in the gaps for the blind.
5:43
And I said, what about if we do that with children's illustrated books?
5:48
What if we describe all the pictures?
5:50
That's how I got into it.
5:51
Terrific.
5:52
Your whole story is very close to my heart because my mother had diabetes through most of her life, and later in life it caused her to become about 90% blind.
6:03
She could see shapes, but she couldn't really see much More than that.
6:07
And she was a ferocious reader.
6:10
She read thousands of books.
6:12
And towards her, her latter years, she relied on audiobooks.
6:17
So I have to tell you, I have firsthand experience at how much joy those audiobooks brought to my mother.
6:25
To delve into children's book author.
6:28
Audiobooks is phenomenal.
6:31
And I think it really opens up people's eyes, if I can say that.
6:36
Yeah.
6:37
And to understand.
6:39
Wow.
6:40
Yes.
6:40
When you've got into this whole audiobook and it's really entertainment.
6:47
Because as a children's book reader, the beautiful thing about children's books is they have illustrations.
6:54
And so as a child, you interpret the illustration in your own way.
7:01
That allows your own creative imagination to take you whatever direction you want to go.
7:07
In a child who cannot see, you're filling in some of that creative energy to allow them to flourish with their thoughts.
7:17
So talk to us about what you've seen when you.
7:22
In those circumstances, when you've read to children that are blind and how this dialogue starts with them, it makes it.
7:31
A different experience when the pictures are described.
7:36
I'm going to take the opportunity just to read a little bit of the description of the COVID of my book, the Day the Clouds Went Away.
7:44
Terrific.
7:45
And I just before you do that, Richard, both your books are in audiobook descriptive format.
7:52
Yes.
7:53
Okay, thank you.
7:54
I just want to make sure the audience knows that.
7:56
And I've created over 200 illustrated books in the audiobook.
8:02
Audiobooks with Audio Description format.
8:04
So what we do is.
8:05
Okay, here is the COVID of my book, the Day the Clouds Went Away.
8:11
On the COVID in a bright blue sky, puffy white clouds float above a distant mountain range and a green valley with a meandering stream that flows by a castle.
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On a cliff.
8:23
Above the castle, a princess holds a white owl and watches a wizard with a long white beard as he holds up a magic wand.
8:32
The princess has long brown hair and her gown is purple and white.
8:37
The wizard's cloak and hat are cobalt blue with white moons and stars adorning them.
8:43
The wand shines, forming a cat shaped cloud and a dog shaped cloud which leap through the sky in purple letters.
8:52
The title appears the Day the Clouds Went Away.
8:56
Thank you, Richard.
8:57
And while Richard was reading that, I had Richard's book cover in front of me to follow along.
9:04
Unbelievable.
9:05
Great job.
9:06
I really appreciate you doing that so that people have a feel for what you do and what it's all about.
9:15
Yes.
9:15
It really is, as we say, painting the word pictures.
9:20
It's another dimension to your book.
9:22
I've had Authors say with those descriptions, I saw things in my book that I didn't even notice.
9:29
And it's my book that it's.
9:33
Audio description is an art.
9:35
It's also writing.
9:36
And there are professional audio description writers out there.
9:40
But I also have shortcuts for authors if they want to write the descriptions themselves of the.
9:48
The books to create an audiobook.
9:50
That's true.
9:51
It's interesting because I was talking to a gentleman, Peter Cotton from South Carolina, and he wrote a book series, Fred the Snake.
10:01
And what is interesting about that is he started his book authorship at the age of 77.
10:08
He's now 85.
10:09
But he told me he published his 10th book.
10:12
And when he went back to his first book and read it again, he said he didn't realize the power of illustrations because when he went back, he noticed things that he had never noticed before.
10:26
So he had his book on the market for 10 years and was going back and finding things.
10:31
So it's neat that an audiobook person like yourself interprets the illustrations and probably goes more into depth than even yourself as a reader.
10:45
Yes.
10:46
I think that parents reading the book out loud to their kids might describe a little bit, but they don't go into the depth that we're talking about with the real audio description of the pictures.
10:59
It's creating a new art form that is terrific.
11:03
I noticed on episode 94 when you and I talked about your books, when you started to write your books and started to look for an illustrator and then you found an illustrator, how did you communicate with the illustrator
11:17
that not only were the illustrations going to be important to support the words that you wrote, but they were also going to be important in the descriptive audiobooks that you were also going to produce.
11:32
So tell us about that, because I've never had anybody do that before.
11:36
Yeah.
11:37
We visited the enhanced audiobooks library that I have created where you can see and hear hundreds of illustrated children's books turned into audiobooks with description, turned into videos with captions as well as description.
11:57
And some of the videos have a sign American Sign Language interpreter interpreting the book as we go.
12:05
And that's@enhancedaudiobooks.org and so she was able to listen to and see what I was doing as far as having the pictures described.
12:18
And she knew before she started the illustrations that's what I was going to do.
12:25
Wow.
12:26
I want to get deeper into this whole.
12:29
Your business itself.
12:31
I'd like to talk to you about your website.
12:34
Can you tell everybody the name of your website?
12:37
AudioBookWizard Shop.
12:40
It's the AudioBook Wizard Shop at AudioBookWizard Shop.
13:15
And if you went to AudioWizard.com, you have that domain also, correct?
13:20
Yeah.
13:20
It will forward to you to the shop.
13:23
Okay, terrific.
13:24
I'll double check it.
13:25
But I could tell you.
13:27
I could tell you it does because I did that.
13:30
Okay, good.
13:31
So, yes.
13:32
And in the shop, basically, I've created tools not just for illustrated book authors, but for all book authors about book video trailers, the basically about my library, about courses that I am creating.
13:51
I'm in the process of.
13:52
I went to your website.
13:53
I noticed you had seven different services listed, which is phenomenal.
13:59
It's all about book marketing too.
14:01
How to differentiate yourself from market, how to create those little Facebook videos and things that you can use to.
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To promote the sales of your book.
14:13
As a children's book author, if I reached out to you about your services, what kind of questions would you ask me to find out how you might help me as a children's book author?
14:26
Let's just use for fun.
14:28
I've got two children's books.
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One's our original book called the Adventures of Caboose the Rocky Mountain Bear.
14:34
And then the second book in our series is called Hijinks from the Big Head Folk Music Festival.
14:41
So pick whatever one you would like and then pretend I'm a potential customer and take me through that process.
14:48
Okay.
14:49
First, I would want you to send me a PDF of the book so I can see it for myself.
14:55
And then I will ask you, okay, let's make sure.
14:59
Do you want this from the point of view of a male voice or a female voice?
15:04
Because that determines which voice is going to read the text of the book and which voice is going to read the audio description.
15:14
It's always nice to have a contrast, especially for blind children, where it tells them that, okay, you're leaving the text and you're going into description.
15:24
So that's one of the first things that I would ask you about.
15:29
I would ask you if you want music, if you want any sound effects.
15:36
You have to be careful with sound effects with books for the blind because children can be startled if there's a sudden big noise that comes out of an audiobook.
15:47
Especially blind children.
15:49
If a lion roars out of nowhere, it can really startle them.
15:53
So you have to be a little careful about sound effects.
15:56
And they're normally not in a lot of audiobooks unless they're full cast productions.
16:01
But what we're doing is we're taking your book and separating out the text and Then figuring out where the descriptions of the pictures will go to make the story flow.
16:16
But really that's all you need to do is to give me that kind of direction.
16:22
And I can decide which narrator voices would fit your book, whether it's my voice or my daughter's voice, who's also an audiobook narrator or somebody else.
16:34
I actually hire a lot of blind and low vision narrators.
16:40
Wow.
16:40
To do my book.
16:42
I think that's important for the blind community too, to make sure they have opportunities.
16:48
And I provide them with braille scripts if they read braille.
16:51
You've created these enhanced audiobooks?
16:55
Yes.
16:56
And I'm just curious about commercial viability in terms of, I believe on kdp, like Kindle Direct Press, you can add audiobooks as part of your offering.
17:12
Yes.
17:12
Is there a difference between an audiobook and an enhanced audiobook?
17:20
Yes.
17:21
And the difference is that the pictures are audio described.
17:27
And I put a little ad audio description banner on the COVID of the logo to tell people that this is special audiobook, that it has description.
17:40
And you have to make sure when you're marketing your book that people know that the pictures are described because it makes it a different experience.
17:51
And when they hear the sample, they will know what it sounds like when the pictures are described.
18:00
We know that you've written two children's books.
18:04
Tell us the name of your children's books.
18:06
It's the Day the Clouds Went Away and the Day the Bees Went Away.
18:12
Terrific.
18:13
Thank you.
18:14
And those are both enhanced audiobooks, correct?
18:18
Yes.
18:19
I have made sure that they're available as enhanced audiobooks.
18:23
And in the Day the Clouds Went Away, there's also a video in the enhanced audiobooks library that includes the sign language with it.
18:33
And are they also just audiobooks when.
18:37
You say just audiobooks?
18:39
No, I offer video versions and I offer two kinds of video versions of illustrated books.
18:47
Number one, I can take your script and make it into a song and basically have the pictures in the video and your words as the lyrics in the song.
19:02
Yes, I'm using AI to do that, but I call it ethical AI.
19:07
I'm not stealing from anybody.
19:09
I'm using your book, your words, and basically enhancing it with a tool.
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So that's one way that I do it.
19:20
And the other way is to do a video version with the pictures described.
19:26
And I also put together, offer the video versions and those can be used.
19:32
Most authors will use excerpts from those videos to market their book.
19:38
And the best way to market an audiobook.
19:41
Let me make sure I mention this, is mention you have an audiobook every time you talk about your book.
19:47
Because audiobooks are growing at such a rapid rate, over half the people in America are now listening to audiobooks.
19:56
And you are doing something when you add descriptions.
20:01
It's not just for blind and low vision children.
20:05
It's for all children.
20:06
They can listen to the car, to your book, and enjoy the illustrations.
20:11
And that's what I wanted to delve into because I've been separating audiobook from enhanced audio book.
20:18
But at the end of the day, if I had an enhanced audiobook, would that be commercially viable for being my audiobook?
20:32
So in other words, if I offered to people, I said, I have an audiobook, but it's actually an enhanced audiobook.
20:39
Yes.
20:40
What's the commercial viability of that versus just a plain audiobook?
20:45
I've had to differentiate my audiobook.
20:49
Audible has told me that once I have enough of these audiobooks with audio description, enhanced audiobooks, they will add a search category for them.
21:01
So I'm working on that currently.
21:03
Okay.
21:04
But even more than that, I have a partner, Pro Audio Voices, and it's for narrators of all kinds of audiobooks.
21:15
And they have a publishing arm, Amplify Audiobooks, which publishes the audiobooks on all the platforms, on Audible, on Findaway Voices, which is now in audio, the audiobooks.com Barnes Noble audiobooks, all of these.
21:36
So you have a place.
21:38
I create a page where your audiobook is and people can buy your audiobook directly from the page and get 65% royalties as opposed to what you get normally from the audibles of the world.
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And you can send people there to buy your audiobook.
22:01
It will also be on all the other platforms.
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And so I have a distribution agreement for these audiobooks with Audio Description.
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And we're just starting this is growing enhanced audiobooks as a concept.
22:16
I have appeared at the Audio Publishers association conference.
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In fact, I got a recognition award from them in New York for my contributions to the blind community.
22:30
Also, the American Council of the Blind has given me an award for doing these books.
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So they are invested in letting them know when these books are out and adding them to sites that are out there for the blind, letting them know that these books are available.
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And here's the link to buy them.
22:52
So it's going out there to not just the normal reading community, but also the blind community.
23:00
I can see how enhanced audiobooks can be your audiobook because they're so rich in detail and you're triggering the child's imagination through the words that they're listening to.
23:17
Is that your experience?
23:19
Yes.
23:20
There are more than 2 million blind and low vision children in the U.S.
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and not all of them are learning braille anymore.
23:27
In fact, Braille is almost a dying art.
23:30
Fewer braille schools, fewer braille teachers.
23:34
And because of the availability of so much audio, the children are learning to be dependent upon audio descriptions with their devices and stuff that will read stuff to them than they are actually reading braille.
23:51
So this is an important change in the blind community, but it's much more than that.
23:56
It's.
23:56
We're making the books available to everyone out there in a different way, in a different form.
24:02
That's terrific.
24:04
So I want to dig a little deeper because I want children's book authors who may be thinking, oh, this sounds really interesting, I should contact Richard.
24:14
I wanted to delve a little deeper into how you handle the character development, the story and the moral or the lesson.
24:26
Because generally children's books, they always have a subtle.
24:31
They always have a subtle lesson or moral.
24:35
So how do you weave all that through as you're doing the audiobook?
24:40
I disagree with you.
24:41
I think many of the books actually hit you over the head with a hammer as far as what their message is not so subtle.
24:49
Okay.
24:50
Subtle is good, but it's not at all highly recommend being subtle.
24:56
Yeah.
24:56
For the day the bees went away.
24:58
And I don't say don't kill the bees.
25:00
Don't kill the bees.
25:01
It's a story about how important bees are.
25:05
Right.
25:06
I come to you with my book now and I've got, I've got several characters, I've got a story and I've got a subtle or maybe not so subtle message or moral.
25:18
Talk to me like you were talking to a potential client.
25:22
What would you say to me?
25:23
That message is going to come through loud and clear.
25:27
Even louder and clearer than just even reading your book out loud because you're not missing that half the story that's in the illustrations.
25:40
And if you've written a good book, and I'm sure it's a great book, those pictures are going to totally support the story and it'll be interweaved the descriptions into the story itself.
25:53
Okay.
25:53
We're not going to change anything.
25:56
That's the point of the audio description is not to interpret your words, but.
26:01
To enhance them, basically.
26:03
To enhance them, yes.
26:06
Okay, terrific, terrific.
26:08
And talk to us because you're the first one I've actually had on that has had this focused on an enhanced audiobook for children.
26:18
And you have two books that are now on the marketplace that are enhanced audiobooks, talk to us not as the producer or the creator of the enhanced audiobooks, but talk to us as a children's book authority.
26:37
And knowing that you have a couple more offerings in your stable to sell to people and it's the revenue generators,.
26:47
I've created basically a marketing site for authors to go beyond what they've already written and put it in different formats, audio, with audio descriptions of the pictures, video that they can use to market their books and promote their
27:06
books, and also put a video up on YouTube to.
27:11
To help promote their books, always with the link to buy their book.
27:16
So it's unique.
27:17
And I create these trailers, music trailers for the books, just different things so you can stand out in the book community.
27:28
And how is it working for you on your social media?
27:32
I am known far and wide as the Audiobook wizard, because that's the identity I've created.
27:40
Nobody remembers my name.
27:42
Richard Riemann.
27:44
Rhymes with demon, as my mother used to say.
27:47
Nobody can spell it because it's R I, E, M a N.
27:51
So they.
27:52
They say Riemann.
27:53
So nobody's going to find me by my name or search for my books under my name.
28:00
But I'm the Audiobook Wizard.
28:03
And when I go to conferences and I speak at schools and do all the things that I do to support my business, that's how I'm known, the Audiobook Wizard.
28:15
And I talked like that when I presented the children and in full wizard outfit, the hat, the long white beard, everything.
28:25
And that is also a plus for an author if they can create a unique identity, usually for their characters, not for themselves.
28:36
Your book has characters that stand out, and basically you want those characters to come out of the book and help promote it.
28:47
And that's one of the things that I help do.
28:49
It's interesting you should say that, because I had a guest on who wrote a book on podcasting for kids and Amanda Cupido, episode 62.
28:58
It's all about encouraging children to be podcasters.
29:04
And what was interesting about it is Amanda, she had said to me, rick, you know what I've done?
29:13
Because I said to her, is that your character on the front cover of your book?
29:20
And she said, actually, I'm not only the adult, there was also a child on the book.
29:27
And she says, that's my younger self.
29:30
And I thought, oh, that's cool.
29:32
But what she said to me is she said, you notice what I'm wearing as an adult?
29:37
And I said, okay.
29:39
She said, when I go do book readings, I make sure that I wear exactly that outfit to go with my Persona from that children's book.
29:50
And I thought, brilliant.
29:52
And so she said, what about you?
29:54
And I said, actually, in our first book and our second book, I said, I'm actually a character.
30:00
I'm the papa.
30:01
That's what my grandchildren call me, and my granddaughter's called me that.
30:06
Since she could speak, I developed a character.
30:10
I'll just show you, Richard.
30:11
But the papa has green framed glasses and an orange jacket with green pants and a green tie.
30:20
And she said to me, rick, you should buy that outfit.
30:23
And that's who you should be when you go do your children's book reading.
30:27
And so you've inspired me even further, Richard, because of what you've done is create this Persona and had some fun with it.
30:37
And you know what?
30:37
That's the beautiful thing about it.
30:39
You've written a children's book.
30:41
Have fun with it.
30:43
Thank you for sharing your Persona and how you.
30:46
What you're doing with that.
30:48
The one important thing is that we haven't been covered yet.
30:52
What is audio description?
30:55
What does a book sound like with audio description?
30:59
And in the previous.
31:01
Our previous talk, I did the COVID description.
31:03
But let me just read you the descriptions of a few of my pages.
31:08
Terrific.
31:08
And let you know what it sounds like and see if you can visualize in your mind what these pictures look like.
31:17
On the cliff above the valley in the castle, Princess Claudia raises her arm and Iris, the owl, spreads her wings to take off and fly over the manicured garden bushes shaped and cut into a maze of intersecting paths
31:33
and a purple flowering tree on the bank of the stream.
31:37
In the garden, Dumbledore uses his magic wand to sculpt bushes in the shape like an owl.
31:43
A round fountain stands in the center of a maze, and an arched arbor has a cover of draping yellow leaves.
31:51
Princess Claudia smiles as she sniffs flowers on a rose bush.
31:56
And finally, Dumbledore points his wand toward the ominous dark clouds rolling above the castle and its beam of golden light tangles with a bolt of lightning.
32:09
And those are just the descriptions of the pictures.
32:12
Terrific.
32:14
And I'm curious now just to talk a bit more about.
32:19
When I talk to children's book authors about how to build out their business, they always have to think about, once you've produced a book, you have this product and you have to market it.
32:30
And you and I Talked on episode 94, we talked about, once you produce a children's book, you've got a business, and you need to know how to support that business.
32:41
Sometimes it's broadening your reach and building out.
32:45
So when you started your book authorship, and of course, being someone who comes from an audiobook background, talk to us about you started your audiobook business and then you became a children's book author and are using your children's
33:06
books as more of a enhancement rather than the core of your business.
33:11
Am I summarizing that correct?
33:13
That's correct.
33:14
The books are important to my business, especially since I work exclusively almost with illustrated book authors.
33:24
I wanted to let them know that I am one, that I feel their pain of trying to market, of trying to produce these books.
33:33
I have the experience with them of how to raise money to do it, how to find a good illustrator, how to find a good editor, all the entire process.
33:47
And where should you market the book?
33:49
Where what are the most important things you can do for the book itself?
33:54
Not just the audiobook, but the audiobook becomes a way, once again, to differentiate yourself.
34:01
On your Audible book page, on your Amazon book page, they will have an excerpt from your audiobook.
34:10
So you're selling to people who want to hear your book as well as those who want to buy your book.
34:16
And many of them will do both.
34:18
They'll buy the ebook and the audiobook, or buy your paperback, hardcover, especially when they hear an excerpt from it as a sample, when you create the audio side so it all blends together.
34:33
Fantastic.
34:34
Because you know what, Richard is interesting?
34:36
When we launched our first book, we actually did up a free bookmark.
34:40
And in the middle of it is a QR code.
34:43
And the QR code, if you scan it, takes you to my middle granddaughter, who at the time had the perfect voice to be the narrator.
34:53
And she's narrated several books, and we captured her young voice.
34:59
And the nice thing about it is not only getting the audiobook for free, you also got the story behind the story.
35:07
And it's my oldest granddaughter who I interviewed, like, on a podcasting format to tell the story behind the story on how the adventures of Caboose the Rocky Mountain Bear came to life.
35:20
Audio can be so impactful, but what you've done is you've just taken it to the next level, which is incredible.
35:27
And you have taken the first step in creating the audiobook.
35:32
Just the.
35:32
With the words that are there.
35:35
But what I would do is I would take your existing audio that's already been recorded and add the audio description to that to make it an enhanced audiobook.
35:47
Wow.
35:48
So you would be able to retain the recordings already that you've done the narration part, and I probably myself would describe all the pictures and that's how it would become an enhanced audiobook.
36:04
Isn't that terrific?
36:06
Well, Richard, now you got the juices flowing.
36:09
Because, you know what, with my five grandchildren, of course, four of them have actually narrated, including my wife has narrated one of the books.
36:19
And I thought, because what happens is, as the cost to produce a printed book is, because if you're not the illustrator can be quite expensive.
36:30
And we've written actually 38 stories in the Adventures of Caboose, the Rocky Mountain Bear.
36:37
We've published two print versions and we probably narrated about half of the stories.
36:44
So I've captured their young voices to do that.
36:46
So thank you for mentioning that.
36:48
That's quite interesting.
36:50
Yeah, it's.
36:51
And can every author narrate their own book?
36:56
Probably not.
36:57
And the reason is it's not that you have a terrible voice, it's that it's not reading your book out loud.
37:05
It is actually narrating your book, telling a story.
37:11
You have to have that storytelling approach.
37:15
You're not just reading the words out loud.
37:17
And that's critically important, especially in children's books that you're telling a story.
37:26
And young voices, kids, that's what they do.
37:30
They get excited, they tell the story.
37:32
Yes, yes.
37:33
And in their voices.
37:35
It sounds so cute when that happens.
37:38
No doubt about it.
37:40
That's great.
37:41
I want to talk to you about success because in episode 94, we talked about your success as a children's book author and how you envision success.
37:54
Talk to us about how you envision because you actually have a unique niche.
38:01
You've taken children's books and you've actually created enhanced audiobooks from those illustrated children's books.
38:09
Talk to us about how you had envisioned success because you mentioned now you're up to about 200 illustrated books that you have enhanced audio books.
38:19
Wow.
38:19
So take us from when you first started and what you thought it looked like and what it looks like now.
38:26
I decided to create a nonprofit, my nonprofit Imagination Storybooks.
38:32
And I made it a point to hire blind and low vision narrators.
38:38
Our main editor was blind since birth, Audio editor.
38:44
And to have this be a non profit creating these books for specifically for the blind and deaf communities because we did the videos with sign language.
39:32
And this was my goal to make as many books as possible accessible to the blind and deaf community.
39:42
And then I realized that beyond that, all books which are enhanced with audio description can become audiobooks for all children to hear in the car, if they're on their devices, basically to Hear the rich descriptions of the pictures.
40:01
And so I went beyond the nonprofit and created the enhanced audiobooks business so that authors can make money from these audiobooks, up to 65% of the royalties given to them on a monthly basis.
40:18
Through my distribution partner, Amplify Audiobooks, I've created a whole business to help encourage illustrated book authors to make their books accessible and also to be able to make money with the accessible versions.
40:38
And that's.
40:39
That goes beyond just the nonprofit.
40:42
I love it.
40:43
I love it.
40:44
What advice you would give to someone who is just published their first children's book and who wants to use your service or services?
40:55
What would you say to someone you know, and they're on a.
40:59
Remember, they're probably a starving artist.
41:03
Yeah.
41:03
So what would you say to them if they said, you know what, Richard, it's tough enough for me making printing book sales.
41:13
Now I'm coming to you for an enhanced audiobook.
41:16
Where should I start?
41:17
You can start with the video promos for your book that are under $100 to produce.
41:25
That is something that I think everybody should have a good book trailer.
41:30
We're not even talking about the described part.
41:33
We're talking about bringing your life, your book to life in video, but with the audio being read part of it.
41:40
Your book being read in audio and enhancing a book is hundreds of dollars, not thousands.
41:48
And you get that hundreds of dollars back by selling your audiobook and getting 65% royalties on the sales.
41:58
So that encourages it.
42:01
It's not just you've spent the money, you've created it.
42:04
Goodbye.
42:05
It is something that will be with your book.
42:09
As I mentioned, the audio excerpt will be on your Amazon page audiobook.
42:15
And promote your book to all of those people who love audiobooks.
42:21
And it' certainly a big growing population.
42:24
Terrific.
42:25
And also put your book in the enhanced audiobooks library once it's created.
42:30
That's free.
42:32
Right.
42:32
And that library is available to kids and teachers and parents.
42:38
And it's something that I'm very proud of as a place where all of these audiobooks with description, the enhanced audiobooks, are all in one place where people can find them.
42:50
My Tools start at $97, so it's not a big investment.
42:54
And I would tell people what I'm doing is so different than what's out there that Visit my shop, AudioBookWizard Shop, and see all the examples and see if it fits your vision for your.
43:11
Book and what keeps you going as the audiobook wizard.
43:17
Yeah, as I mentioned, Rick, I'm in my 70s now and I've had many adventures in my life.
43:23
Full career as a radio news anchor and reporter, Washington bureau chief for the RKO Radio Network, traveling with President Reagan around the world in the press plane.
43:36
I've had quite the adventures before I went into audiobooks and narrating audiobooks.
43:43
And this is the next stage of my life is making these audiobooks, illustrated enhanced audiobooks available for a generation of children that is now tied to electronics.
44:00
Try to get the books in their hands.
44:02
Absolutely.
44:04
But if their iPad is the way they listen to books, let's make sure that illustrated books are on their iPad too, that have been enhanced.
44:14
Terrific.
44:15
And encouragement for listeners.
44:20
Why should listeners purchase the audiobooks?
44:25
Number one, you talk about an audiobook and you think it's just being read out loud, narrated.
44:31
But when we talk about enhanced audiobooks now, you've got the descriptions of the pictures and it becomes a completely different experience for everyone, for every child.
44:44
And it, as an author, it makes you unique in that you have something like that you can offer out to the world.
44:53
It's a promotional tool.
44:55
You can go to your local TV station and say, look, I've made an enhanced audiobook promotion version of my book for blind and low vision children.
45:06
That differentiates you right off the bat.
45:09
Absolutely.
45:10
It gives it a news angle.
45:13
That's the type of thing that you can do with these enhanced audiobooks.
45:17
That is terrific.
45:19
Final thoughts.
45:20
Richard, is there anything you'd like to share about this whole Audiobook wizard experience with that I haven't asked you?
45:31
Yeah, let's go back to my identity as the Audiobook Wizard.
45:37
And it's not just the voice, it's the full outfit.
45:41
It's me creating that Persona.
45:44
And if you take your character and create a Persona for that character, it's all about differentiating yourself from the crowd.
45:56
What makes your book different.
45:58
And that's one of the things that I've learned by being the Audiobook Wizard.
46:05
People are expecting different things from me than they would normally experience at a reading of a book.
46:12
That type of thing.
46:13
You've created a wonderful book, you've written, had it illustrated, paid all that money to get that done.
46:21
Go beyond just the book community, get out into the audiobook community, get on YouTube, get on other platforms.
46:30
That's the most important thing.
46:32
Richard, thank you so much for being a guest on children's book authors podcast, Adventures in the Heart.
46:40
Your generosity of time and insights will definitely inspire and benefit authors and readers.
46:49
And we promise to provide our audience with links to Richard's social media and website and if you've enjoyed the episode, please hit the subscribe button to listen to future episodes.
47:01
And feel free to share this episode with anyone inspired by or who might enjoy finding out why and how they should create an enhanced audiobook to support their children's book business.
47:16
Thank you.
47:16
Richard the Audiobook wizard thank you.