In internet marketing there’s a saying that goes – “there’s riches in the niches” and the same could be said for audio books. The niche being ‘genuine’ content and live interviews represent a great opportunity to bring authenticity to the forefront.

Currently I am working on converting a series interviews done by Andrew Warner. Andrew has built a very strong global following through his website www.mixergy.com because he is producing content that is truly unique in the space that he works. Over the years, business development and management books have given their readers content in a consistent and well considered fashioned. The author generally writes from their own experience, usually in the den of their home with a cup of tea in hand. If outside examples are used in the work they are recounted through the words of the author far away from the actual event itself. Andrew though has used technology to capture and deliver his content in an entirely new and refreshing way. Rather than producing his content in a ‘hands off way’, Andrew is interviewing business leaders via video conference calls on Skype. The result is stunning. Let me give you an example.

In one interview I was editing this morning, Andrew had Tony Hsieh on the line. Tony is the CEO of Zappos.com a billion dollar online shoe store. He is so relaxed and grounded you can hardly believe the guy is running such a massive organization, not to mention that prior to running Zappos he sold his own company for more than $250M to Microsoft. So here I am, effectively listening in to a phone call between one of the leading internet entrepreneurs in the world and Andrew. Where else in the world can you have that experience? It is nothing like an author writing about Tony or his companies – it is way more authentic.

One part of the call that simply couldn’t be duplicated through a normal book to audio book conversion was the moment in the call where Andrew decided to conference in Zappos.com directly, while Tony was still on the line, to see if everything Tony had said about his staff was actually true. The authenticity of the moment was unmistakable when the customer service team member, who performed superbly without any knowledge of her bosses presence on the call, was told that she had just been assessed by the CEO himself.

After hearing that audio interview, I can see why Andrew has such a large and loyal following. I can’t wait to see what happens when we release his work worldwide through Amazon and Audible to a market that as yet may never have heard of Andrew and his great work at Mixergy. My thought for today is for producers of non-fiction content. Keep it real.

Here’s a preview of Andrew explaining the interview I talk about here.