Unscripted Audiobook @Audible?

[MJ DeMarco]

Amazon gave me a window of 10-14 days for its release. We're now at 19 days and still waiting. Multiple emails in to them as well, but nothing but boilerplate BS.

 

[Evil_Jester]

Oh cool that's about the only thing I use now. Reading is a chore, but listening to an audiobook while driving is 10x better

 

[MJ DeMarco]

maybe I need to look into creating a better audiobook platform...

The frustration with control is worth it because Audible has millions of buyers and it connects to the Amazon channel.

I kept the rights for TMF (and control) in the first 3 years and sold hundreds. When I moved to Audible, it jumped into the tens of thousands.

Violating control when it comes to channels w/huge pools of buyers (usually Amazon) is a high EV trade.

Anyhow, I received word that I might have an update today about the audiobook. However, I'm not holding my breath -- I've heard this song-and-dance now for the last 3 weeks.

 

[BobW78]

@MJ DeMarco - perhaps you should create a banner for those of us that have also bought the audio version of the book "Listened to UNSCRIPTED "

Or "I Survived Audible"

 

[Sean Kaye]

Hahaha.

I just got a ticket back telling me to use multi-part download after my original ticket said I've tried changing to standard quality and multi-part.

Then I called them and of course, ended up in the Philippines. Because I'm in Australia, I use an address in the US (The Westin Bonaventure in LA) so that I can use audible.com instead of the nonsense Australian version. Of course, to confirm that I am who I said I am, I needed to remember the zipcode... Oi vey.

Anyway, finally got through and was escalated to "level 2 support - Marvin".

Marvin has a worse accent and despite the fact that I called from my phone, they obviously use IP telephony, so my re-routed call probably got bounced through all parts of Asia and now I had to deal with Marvin's accent and over 500ms of latency.

Marvin told me that Unscripted has a known issue that it is not compatible with Format 4 or Enhanced Format 4 for Android... Except I have an iPhone. Apparently, iPhone sucks too.

And then he stopped talking... So I asked, "Well, how do I get the book I paid for."

Marvin told me he's escalating to higher level tech support and they will call me in 24-48 hours.

I told Marvin that I wasn't really interested in having a chat in a day or two, I just wanted my book. He didn't understand my humour.

More awkward silence.

So, no idea when I'll get what I paid for from Audible. LOL.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Just heard from Audible and they said "we're looking into it" followed by the phrase "warm regards" which tells me, no one, including the guy in India, knows what the f*ck is going on.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Just an update... (or lack of update)

I heard from Audible on Friday in which they claimed one of the chapters had too much silence.

After review of the chapter, we found nothing wrong with it -- other than the chapter had many subtitles and call outs, causing the silence.

Myself and the producer emailed back explaining that nothing was problematic on it (on Friday) and thus far, have heard nothing back.

Still twiddling my thumbs waiting for someone to do their job.

 

[Scot]

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

He had no choice. I wonder how much patience he would have had if Audible was a punching bag in his living room

It actually was an Amazon cardboard box...

 

[wade1mil]

too much silence

Better than too much bullshit

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I finally got this to stream off of my MacBook Pro using Chrome

1. When using the google chrome browser and the Audible cloud player
2. Click on the "i" symbol which is surrounded by the first red rectangle in the image below
3. Change your Flash settings to "Allow" - see second red rectangle.
4. Then reload the cloud player

None of this should be relevant.

No one will bother.

It needs to be 1 click, download, and done, just like all the other books on Audible, including TMF .

But NO, Amazon has to f*ck this up just like they f*cked up the book release, they f*cked up the audiobook release (a month late) and now they've f*cked up its distribution and file formatting. They're batting 1.000 ... but yea, at least I've got "warm regards" from multiple customer service reps 10,000 miles away who don't give a shit about anything but which boilerplate email to send.

Yea, I'm pissed.

 

[wade1mil]

Hey everyone...warm greetings.

There, hopefully that fixes it.

 

[c_morris]

My 1st commute with the "Unscripted " audio book was a success. Road rage subdued!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I feel like calling them and tell them we your readers are desperately in need of this audiobook (loool) and ask them when they will release it.

To be honest, it's infuriating. First they missed the release date, and now, well, nothing.

Here's what I've seen for the last month...

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

He told me they are having this same issue with other new books (named the Hunger Games/Mocking Bird Series).

This gives me hope.

We f*cked up UNSCRIPTED ?

Meh. Here's your "Warm regards."

Wait, Hunger Games ain't working either? Better get on it!

 

[wade1mil]

This audible process has showed us how much patience you have MJ

He had no choice. I wonder how much patience he would have had if Audible was a punching bag in his living room

 

[Scot]

Downloaded and listening !

 

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[Evil_Jester]

Yeah I listen on 1.5 or 2x speed. Yesterday I finished Purple Cow - Seth Godin, in one day while eating breakfast, driving to and from work, and eating dinner lol

 

[damo989]

Audible is amazing for mindset related books, listen to it too and from work in the car and you can't help but change your mindset to that of a fastlaner. One of the best things I ever did to change the course of my life! Go get it now if you haven't already!

 

[Jamaal]

This lack of control is frustrating, maybe I need to look into creating a better audiobook platform...

 

[JWelch]

The frustration with control is worth it because Audible has millions of buyers and it connects to the Amazon channel.

I kept the rights for TMF (and control) in the first 3 years and sold hundreds. When I moved to Audible, it jumped into the tens of thousands.

Violating control when it comes to channels w/huge pools of buyers (usually Amazon) is a high EV trade.

Anyhow, I received word that I might have an update today about the audiobook. However, I'm not holding my breath -- I've heard this song-and-dance now for the last 3 weeks.

No, worries bro. I'm still a customer whether it comes out tomorrow or 6 months from now.

 

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[mindfulimmortal]

Audible says the book was downloaded in an older version that they need to update. They put in a ticket and it could be from 1 to 3 days to update on their end. However there is a work around. If you have ITunes on a PC you can download it from there then transfer it into audible and it will play!

 

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[Scot]

@MJ DeMarco you should look into this.

I just did the same. Was on tech support. What they told me was that the audio file they have is "older content" and cannot be downloaded on phones. We have to download it as an audio file and manually sync through iTunes on a computer.

This is probably something you should look into.

Ps, from a publishers point of view Id be livid with the crappy customer service they've given you and your book.

 

[wade1mil]

While you wait for the trillion dollar company to fix this completely avoidable issue...
In the PC app, click Settings > Playback and change the default library playback mode to streaming.
If you have a Mac or phone, don't know what to tell you.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Leave it to Amazon to f*ck up simple MP3 files and then to follow up with ZERO customer service. My producer is just as upset as he has done hundreds of audiobooks and won awards -- it's not like its his first rodeo.

 

[BradD]

I'm happy to announce that Amazon has declared nothing wrong. But their customer service rep sends his "warm regards" -- should I consider the problem solved?

Absolutely, if the regards were sent cold, I'd certainly think twice

 

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[mindfulimmortal]

Bad news. Received this email from Audible:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MJ one more piece of important ammo for the clowns at Audible: I followed the exact instructions to download the book from a PC Audible app and change the format to 4 (you can do this on a PC but only HIGH and STANDARD on an iphone). It still fails with an error of:

None of this should be relevant.

No one will bother.

It needs to be 1 click, download, and done, just like all the other books on Audible, including TMF .

But NO, Amazon has to f*ck this up just like they f*cked up the book release, they f*cked up the audiobook release (a month late) and now they've f*cked up its distribution and file formatting. They're batting 1.000 ... but yea, at least I've got "warm regards" from multiple customer service reps 10,000 miles away who don't give a shit about anything but which boilerplate email to send.

Yea, I'm pissed.

MJ Finally got someone at Audible who had some common sense (there are a lot of scripted "it's not my job I just read from scripts" (literally) employee's at Amazon/Audible. He told me they are having this same issue with other new books (named the Hunger Games/Mocking Bird Series). The book won't download in any version including 4 from the PC He created another ticket and escalated it. I passed on that you were pretty upset for your customers.

 

[mindfulimmortal]

Unscripted is now downloading on the PC and on Iphone! Must have been my threat to call up Chuck Norris!

 

[blackbrich]

Can confirm its downloading for me on the Android. Must have been that customer support chat I had this morning.
You're all welcome.

 

[JourneyToAbundance]

This is great! I am able to download UNSCRIPTED to my Iphone. Now, I can take the long drive home! There is so much rich information in this book that I took 50+ pages of notes when I read it for the first time. The section on how Uber attained exponential growth by skewing value attributes is GOLD and one of my many "aha" moments.

@MJ DeMarco - perhaps you should create a banner for those of us that have also bought the audio version of the book "Listened to UNSCRIPTED "