Audio Rights & Show Changes

On this episode of Killer Pros, I talk a little bit about audiobook rights.It's not a full episode.I honestly couldn't do that without ranting about Amazon's new stuff.But it's in there.That's the important stuff.The bulk of this podcast is actually going to be about the changes and updates coming to the show, and there's a lot changing for Killer Pros.So here we go.Welcome back to the Killer Pros podcast.I'm your host, Tanner, and I was gonna do a full episode on audiobook rights.Your or your audio rights for the books that you're printing.And honestly, it just kind of turned into this rant about why you shouldn't go exclusive.So I don't think that actually serves anybody.I am going to touch on it because there's some information that you guys need to know.One is just the reason that your audio rights are so important.You've worked hard on your book.You might have put years, you might have put months.I mean, if you've been going for a while and you're experienced, maybe weeks into crafting these stories and getting them ready to send out into the world, be experienced by readers.And with all of that work, you really should get a return.Part of getting a return on this is taking full advantage of how readers, listeners, people can interact with your story.And there are a ton of people just with audiobooks who listen to audiobooks.So in 2025, the US audiobook market hit 2.43 billion.In 2026, that's right.Now the global market is sitting at about $12 billion.58% Of Americans have listened to audiobooks.26% Of audiobook listeners have listened to four or more.And that's just in 2025.They also are looking for human connection in their audio.AI.Narrated audiobooks accounted for 03% of all audiobook sales and revenue.With only 16% of audiobook listeners willing to listen to those with artificial intelligence being what it is, and with as much of it as there is on the market, it is more important than ever for readers, customers to see you as a human.And by having an audiobook out and in a way that they can interact with your written words and hear the voice of another human being, it proves you're not a robot, one that you were willing to put the time into making that happen.But also there's just a feeling of being read to and experiencing those stories that's different.And it doesn't just have to be audiobooks.You can record your audiobook.And if you do not go exclusive and you're putting ads and stuff on so that it's not just a free audiobook, you can put your audiobook out as a podcast to get ad revenue or through a Patreon to get subscription revenue.There are multiple ways to take advantage of your audio rights so that you're maximizing the money that you're making from your books so that you can continue writing books and afford, you know, a big better treatment for your future novels and your future works.When I'm talking about connecting with readers and making more money and we get on the business side of it, I'm not just talking about putting more money in your pocket.The revenue that's generated from audiobooks on top of your ebook and physical book sales can be used to get better editing or more editing, to get better covers, to get better marketing for your book so that you're connecting with more readers or to ease off a side job or a day job so that you can write more.So when I'm talking about the business side of things, and I'm talking about audiobooks and I'm talking about products and connecting with people, it's so that you can do this more and so that your books get the absolute best treatment they can and they reach the absolute largest number of human beings that they can reach.Now, I've talked about my plans moving forward and audio plays a big part of that.I am an audiobook narrator.I am inside of an audiobook studio right now or a voiceover studio right now.So I've set up for this to be a big part of my business and I'm gonna keep talking about it as I go through to let you guys know how things are going with my stories.But yeah, so that's really what I have to say about audio rights.They're important to you.Kindle needs you a hell of a lot more than you need them.And I'll have more on that down the road.But basically that's what the entire episode turned is just, God, just take care of your audio rights if it's something that you're not gonna do.Okay, yeah, K, K plus or whatever we're call it might make sense, but if you're wanting full time, really get the most out of your books and connect with the most people.Play around with that audio, man.Put your books out everywhere, go wide with audio, make sure they're in libraries, put them out in podcasts, make sure people can connect with you and listen to your works.There are authors who are putting out podcasts right now and putting their audio out through YouTube who are getting millions of listens.And listen.It takes time to build up that type of following and to get those numbers, but they were able to build their business on that with very, very little overhead and connect with a lot of people.So play around with your audio and have fun.All right, so that's what I've got there.The bulk of this podcast episode is an announcement.I'm updating some things with Killer Pros.I have wanted to do something bigger with the Killer Prose brand since I started it.This podcast actually started as Writing Fright when I started writing seriously and I really wanted to be a horror author.And I rebranded as Killer Prose as I started writing more detective mysteries and different thrillers.And I've noticed that my writing has really shifted over into crime and thriller.And I've mentioned that before on the podcast, even when I try to sit down to write a horror novel, it ends up being some sort of crime thriller with maybe a supernatural or paranormal element in there.But I have to admit it that I'm a crime writer, I'm a thriller writer, and I really enjoy these stories.Finishing up Dangerous Whispers and really crafting this mystery and going through with this last revision to make all the puzzle pieces click together and to play with the pacing because it is a mystery thriller.So it's a bit faster pace than the usual suspense pac of a mystery.And looking at where I fit in with publishing, when people reach out and they talk to me, a lot of the questions they have are not horror related.They actually have more to do with my background.If you're new to the podcast or I haven't covered this on an episode you've listened to before.I really got into learning to write at a professional level.I was a private investigator for 15 years.I was licensed.I worked cases, got those ready for court.I worked missing persons, which that was a big part of what I did.Locating people, doing family investigations involving child abuse, child neglect.I did criminal investigations and I kind of ran the gambit over 15 years of doing everything from like insurance fraud and domestic to criminal work and missing persons.And I have a wide range of experience there and I am an expert in the investigative process.So people have been reaching out and asking, hey man, I'm writing this PI story.How would this detective react here?So I'm going to start covering that.And I know it's a big shift from indie horror and kind of touching on mystery and thriller a little bit, But I think it is more in line with what I'm doing and who I am.So I am rebranding.You're going to notice a lot of changes on the POD on the podcast website where it's going to match my author website a little more as far as colors and tones.I'm also going to be focusing more on my background as a private investigator turned crime writer.So I'll be covering topics like how investigators actually do surveillance and what that'll look like in your book.I'll also be covering investigative process and how your detective really interviews people to.To get information out of them.What does a hostile interrogation look like?How much information does an investigator let slip during that investigation to get more information?Hint, it's not very much.What are our attitudes like when we're out there and we're working cases?One of the biggest tropes is a private investigator doing a B and E. And we don't do that very often, most of us, not at all.Unless there's a child's life in danger.And we have a way to justify that, to keep our license and to keep working.Most of us are not going to jeopardize our livelihood.Now, yeah, there's guys out there that'll do it, but for the most part, it's not something that we run across.And I'm going to go ahead and say in detective fiction and in crime thrillers, a good number of your readers are like me.They have experience in the field.When I was working as a private investigator, I was traveling a lot doing fraud cases for insurance companies or traveling to find people.And I was listening to audiobooks while I was driving and sitting on surveillance so that I stayed alert.I was listening to audio traumas and the old stuff from the 40s and 50s.Here's truly Johnny Dollar to stay awake on surveillance.And when I got back to my hotel, I was usually reading a Robert B. Parker or like one of the Spencer novels or something like that.I had a book with me and I appreciated the authenticity.Whenever something happened in a book that I could actually relate to as an investigator, I was like, oh, yeah, I've experienced that.And it's really simple stuff.Most recently I've really gotten into the Coulter Shaw series from Jeffrey Deevers.And he had Colter doing a surveillance and he was picking his spot.And it was just this throwaway line about not wanting to be silhouetted by the.By a parking lot light.Which if you've done surveillance or you've been an investigator when you're trying to find a surveillance spot to sit up in the daytime and you know you're going to be there going into the night, that is a pain in the ass.And it's something that, honestly, it was a little throwaway line in the book, but I kept reading it and I've become a big fan of the series just because of little things like that that were dropped in.I'm like, oh, yeah, I know what that feels like.And what I want to do is help crime writers, and specifically people writing private detective fiction, to learn a little bit so that they can put those moments in their books and really connect with readers.So, yeah, that's my long winded way of saying I am stepping away from horror being the focus of the podcast because I'm a crime writer.I think that's where I can best serve other authors by sharing my experience as a private investigator, working in the field full time for 15 years, helping them work that into their books, make them a little bit more realistic.What's the new tagline?Writing investigations that readers can believe.So, anyway, welcome to the new Killer Pros.Welcome to the revamp.You'll notice this episode has some of the new artwork on it, and by the time this comes out, a lot of the website will be changed.You can connect with me there@killerpros.com I want to thank you guys so much for sticking around and listening.I know that there's a lot of you out there right now who are writing thriller, writing mystery, who found the podcast after I did the rebrand where it was kind of a lot of horror and a little thriller.We're going whole hog into crime writing, so.All right, thank you guys so much.I'll catch you on the next episode of Killer Pros.We're going to be talking about detective stuff.All right, until next time, enjoy the process.