AudioBooks: From Your Words to Their Ears

On Wednesday September 12, 2018, the St. Louis Publishers Association with present George Sirois, who will discuss the topic of Audiobooks. 

For decades, audiobooks have been looked at as an unattainable medium for independent and self-published authors. But thanks to Amazon creating Audible and their production house ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange), we now have a surplus of opportunities at our fingertips. And with companies like Author’s Republic and Findaway Voices getting involved, this sudden shift in our favor also raises a lot of questions about what direction is best for you. Where will your audiobook be available? What kind of narrator should you choose? How will you pay for them? What additional options does each platform provide? What if you want to put it together yourself?

 

 

Author & voice actor George Sirois will address these questions and more with his upcoming presentation, Audiobooks: From Your Words to Their Ears, on Wednesday, September 12 for the St. Louis Publishers Association. Since 2015, he has lent his voice to internal business presentations, promotional materials for authors’ websites, and audiobooks. He has also produced for other authors, including bestseller Sheri Fink’s The Little Rose and The Little Seahorse, and Derek Taylor Kent’s award-winning audiobook Kubrick’s Game.” He has done all of this — the narrating, editing, and producing — on his own in his home studio in Imperial, Missouri, and he looks forward to answering your questions about ACX, Findaway Voices, Author’s Republic, finding the proper talent, creating your own audiobook, what to do with it once it's uploaded, and more!

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Monthly Meeting Admission

• Members – FREE
• Non-member Guests – $10 per person, cash or check at the door

(Guest fee will be applied to Membership if you decide to join at that meeting)Doors open at 6:30 PM for networking. Business meeting begins at 7:00 PM and continues till 8:30 PM.

Our regular Monthly Meeting location
(the second Wednesday of every month)

THE HEIGHTS: Richmond Heights Community Center
Argus Room  •  8001 Dale Ave.  •  Richmond Heights, MO 63117

Here's a link to Google Maps for location and directions.

Networking with the St. Louis Publishers Association

 Annual Vendor Showcase and Amy Collins Workshop

Over the past month the St. Louis Publishers Association (SLPA) had the opportunity to present two valuable events. Over 100 attended the August 8th event that featured editors, publishers, illustrators, printers, graphic designers, and coaches. Both the vendors and attendees had positive feedback and established new connections, exchanged ideas and concepts, and enjoyed an evening of positive interaction.   

 

2018 Participating Vendors:

Davis Creative Author Consultants / My Two Cents Editing / Mission Possible Press / Beeson Editing Services /HF Group Book Partners /Pen and Publish / Editwright / Art by Shelley /Graphic Connections Publishing /Nehmen & Kodner Design /Comma Queen Editing /Carolyn Vaughan Design / Record Printing & Publishing  / Michelle Aschenbrenner Editing  / No Waste Publishing 

Amy Collins Workshop
On July 21^st we had the honor to host Amy Collins, president of  New Shelves, who presented a workshop filled with information on the Ins & Outs of Amazon and How to Get Books into Bookstores. This workshop proved to be another valuable opportunity for networking and learning available tools for successful methods to market books.  

1)  Each position (buy) you take in an asset must be a minimum of 5% and a maximum of 10% of your total portfolio assets.

(2)  Cash must NOT exceed 20% of your portfolio at any time. You MUST be investing, not sitting on the sidelines.

By the end of Week One, your client (me) MUST have a 2-3 page double-spaced paper explaining your philosophy, process, and the initial positions and allocations you have chosen for your portfolio (portfolio statement), following the two rules above.

 Here are your portfolio options that I have set up for you:

Starting balance for players:

 $2,500,000.00

 Commission:

 $10.00

 Credit Interest Rate:

 3.00%

 Leverage Debt Interest Rate:

 6.00%

 Minimum Stock Price:

 $2.00

 Maximum Stock Price:

 $500,000.00

 Trading Volume Limit:

 1.00%

 Short Selling:

 Enabled

 Margin Trading:

 Enabled

  The final project will be due no later than midnight on the final day of class and is worth 200 points. Your paper and portfolio will be measured on the following three elements by your client (me, again):

 (1)  Absolute return – the total dollar amount that your portfolio increased over the trading period and

(2)  Risk-adjusted return – the return on the portfolio taking into account the level of risk you assumed as measured by the Sharpe Ratio.

 (3)  A 3-4 page, double-spaced paper about your experience with this game that addresses at least the following questions:

a)    Which positions exceeded your expectations and what conditions caused this?

b)   Which positions underperformed for you and what factors created the performance gap?

c)    What were the key things you learned from your Virtual Stock Exchange simulation and how will it influence your personal investing in the future?