Elliott Kay

Polling for Interest: Indie Audiobooks

Added 2025-07-16 16:24:10 +0000 UTC

This post is open to free members because I’d love to get all the input I can.

I’m working on possible audiobooks on some of my titles that still haven’t been produced, like the GI & PMF short story collections, the Wandering Monsters books, and also Great Power and No Responsibilities. I would have to pay for production up front, and the math on recouping that through a straight ACX production (Audible’s indie exchange) isn’t great… but if I could sell direct OR maybe Kickstart this project, that’s a very different story.

I’ve got a couple options for direct sales (Ko-fi, or Patreon) and distribution (a platform called Bookfunnel), OR we could run a traditional Kickstarter to fund production up front. After a couple months of direct sales and/or fulfilling Kickstarter orders, I would put the book up on ACX, since that’s the biggest platform. $1000-$2000 in direct/early sales like this would eliminate most of the risk for me.

(Credit where due: I’m following the example set by JL Mullins and his Millennial Mage series, along with some advice from author Ben Medrano, both of whom I discovered through Tess Irondale’s Discord.)

So let’s start with a simple question: Would you be interested in an audiobook for SMALL VICTORIES (collecting short stories from Poor Man’s Fight, Good Intentions, and Wandering Monsters) at roughly 8 hours in length, costing between $10-$15? And yes, I would definitely take this project to Tess Irondale. Not even a question. :)

If even 50% of my Patreon follower count is up for this, it all looks super viable!