Are You A Creative Expert? 

When now author Christine Dionese was in grad school, she says that she was able to pass all of her herbal pharmacology tests because of a handy little audiobook called herb songs. May sound cheesy, but the creators of the audiobook amassed a cult following by creating catchy songs that were helping students improve their passing rates. 

If you are an expert in your field and a creative, can you create an audiobook that commands a cult following?

Questions To Ask Yourself Before Getting Started

• Is there a need for a study guide in my expert area?
• Can I create a need by producing something better than what's out there already? 
• Will I be able to market directly to students or will I need help with this?
• What schools will I have access to/be able to sell to? Who is your audience- will you be developindg audio guides for little kids or adults? 

Once you've vetted those initial questions, you're ready to get going on a few more!

Have you listened to what's already out there aka your potential competition? 

Have you heard of TEA? The Test of Essential Academic Skills Study Guide is a guide that focuses on different academic subjects. It's well-rated because the audio-book study aspect is so attractive for people with little extra time on their hands. Check it out to get a feel for the different ways that people learn and how you can do it better. 

Are you a teacher?

How about featuring a book that teaches experts how to create study guides. If teaching is your expertise, you can teach experts! Many new or even experienced authors want to create a study guide that gets in front of the consumer and commands a huge following because their system works. Can you create an audiobook that will draw in people's attention enough to teach them how to create their own audiobooks based on being experts? 

Are you thinking like an expert or a student? 

When deciding how you'll organize your content, you could become overwhelmed, after all, you are an expert in your field with a lot of information to organize. When organizing your audiobook guide, cater to the busy student. The type of information you are trying to convey could be complicated, can you organize the info into memorable songs, can you use catch phrases, align the info with anecdotes? Think back to when you were a student and consider the neumonics and prompts that you still remember now.

Have a pretest panel?

If you have some material outlined, create a sample and distribute it to students in your target market. Get feedback, make tweaks and then get the audio-book out there. 

Have you already published an audiobook study guide? Share with other authors what works and what doesn't. 

Keep the Faith and May the Force be with You!