Publisher FAQs

Securely and conveniently sell and deliver your audio courses, audiobooks, and premium podcasts to your audience's phones, with the ease of use that makes your listeners come back for more.

What’s the benefit of using Soundwise to deliver my audios?

Soundwise provides hassle-free access to your audios for your listeners, who no longer need to organize or transfer files to different devices. Your content is right at your listeners’ fingertips on both mobile devices and web. Listeners can buy more audios from you directly from their phone as they’re listening to you. It increases listener retention and sales per listener, delivers a better user experience, and makes you look professional. Soundwise is also a highly secure way to deliver your audios, preventing unauthorized file copy and transfer, and gives you complete control of your content.

How does Soundwise work?

First, you upload your audios (and supplementary materials in PDF and text, if you have any) to your Soundwise dashboard. Each audio program has its own landing page on the web, where you can direct listeners to make purchases. Once a listener signs up, they’ll be instructed to either download the Soundwise mobile app or listen through the web interface. When the listener logs in on the mobile app, the audios they purchased will automatically load. They can stream the audios or download them within the app for offline listening on the go. Simple, right?

What’s a soundcast?

A soundcast is a collection of audio tracks and supplementary materials. It’s the basic selling unit of your content. You can think of a soundcast as an album, an audio course, an audiobook, or a podcast. The audios on Soundwise are all organized by soundcast. A soundcast contains at least one audio track (episode).

What’s a bundle?

A bundle is a collection of soundcasts. You can sell your listeners a bundle as well as individual soundcasts in the bundle. There are different use cases for a bundle. For example, you can create a bundle and price it at a discount relative to the total price of the individual soundcasts included, as a promotional package. You can also add all your soundcasts to the bundle and charge subscription fees for your entire audio library.

Will listeners get notified when I upload new audio tracks to a soundcast?

Yes. Whenever you upload new audios to a soundcast, the new content will be automatically loaded into the devices of the listeners who have signed up for the soundcast. Your listeners will also receive push notifications about the publication of new materials. In addition, you can choose to notify listeners by email when publishing a new track.

Can I use Soundwise to host a free podcast?

Absolutely. After you upload and publish at least one audio track to a soundcast, you can go to the editing page of the soundcast and turn on the “create a podcast feed” option. You can opt to either let us submit your podcast feed to Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify, or you can submit the feed yourself to any podcast aggregators you want.

How do I direct people to purchase my soundcasts from my website and social media?

After you create a soundcast, look for the “landing page” and “checkout form” link on the dashboard where your soundcast is listed. You can link to your soundcast’s landing page from your website or social media. If you already have a soundcast page set up on your own website, you can link to your soundcast’s checkout form, where listeners can enter their credit card information, create a Soundwise account, and make a purchase. You also have a publisher page, where all your soundcasts are listed. You can direct potential customers to your publisher page also.

Can I use Soundwise to sell my audio programs if I’m not located in the United States?

You definitely can. The Soundwise apps are available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store worldwide. In addition, you can set the pricing of your soundcast in any of the top 25 global currencies. If your sales are in a currency different from the currency of your bank account, your sales proceeds will be converted before being deposited into your bank.

Do you sell my audios on iTunes, Amazon, etc?

We don’t. Soundwise is a mobile-focused, all-inclusive platform for selling and delivering your self-published audio programs. Audios on Soundwise are delivered through our web and mobile apps. We do not sell your audios through any third parties. But if you publish a free podcast on Soundwise, we can submit your podcast feed to the main podcast aggregators including Google and Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

Can I sell multiple audio programs together as a subscription?

Absolutely. You can create a “bundle” that includes multiple soundcasts and charge a subscription fee on the bundle. For details on how to create a bundle, please refer to this help doc.

How am I going to get my sales proceeds?

Before you set up your soundcasts for sale, please first connect your Stripe account under the Publisher tab on your dashboard. (If you don’t have a Stripe account, follow the page instructions to create one. It takes 5 minutes!) Your soundcast sales will be delivered to your bank account through Stripe.

I’m selling my audios from my own website already. Can I just use you for content delivery to my listeners?

Absolutely. You can process payments on your own site and then give your listeners a signup link to access the program through us. For more details, please refer to this help doc.

I have an audio program for sale. But I want to have it partially available for free as lead generation. Can I do that?

Absolutely. Simply create a new soundcast that includes only promotional audio tracks, and set the soundcast as public and free. When listeners sign up for your free soundcast, you’ll get their name and email. And when they listen to your free soundcast on the mobile app, they’ll be able to see your paid soundcast(s) on the app as well and purchase directly from their phone.

Can I drip content?

Yes. You can set up track dripping, i.e. scheduled release of your tracks to individual listeners. This feature is available on the PRO plan and above.

Do you promote my audios to the listeners of other publishers on Soundwise?

Anybody who has the Soundwise app installed can search and find your soundcast on the app. However, we do not proactively present other publishers’ content to your listeners, and vice versa. We aim to provide an exclusive environment for your listener community and allow your listeners to enjoy your content with minimum distraction. We do showcase your other soundcasts on the app to the listeners who have already signed up for one or more of your own soundcasts, which helps increase the lifetime value per customer for your business.

Can I have soundcast landing pages of my own design?

The soundcast landing page template on Soundwise is optimized to present your content to potential listeners in the best light. Here’s an example landing page. But you can also create a landing page on your own website, and link to your soundcast’s checkout form on Soundwise, where your listeners will be guided to make the purchase, create an account, and receive the audios. Here’s an example of a checkout form. You can find the URL link of your soundcast’s checkout form on your dashboard.

Are you integrated with other software I use, e.g., my CRM?

Currently, we’re integrated with the following:

1. MailChimp, which allows you to automatically export your soundcast subscriber contacts to one of your email lists in MailChimp.
2. Zapier, which allows you to automate things by setting triggers and actions. You can view a list of available triggers and actions by going here.

Note: Zapier Integration is only available on the Pro Plan.

Can I start on the Basic plan and switch to a higher tier plan later as I grow?

Of course. You can switch to another plan anytime by going to Publisher—>Settings on your dashboard. Your payment will be prorated to account for existing usage under the original plan during the current billing period.

What if my listeners encounter technical issues? Can you help them?

Absolutely. Please first direct your listeners to the troubleshooting page for common problems. If they cannot find an answer there, please ask them to directly email us at support@mysoundwise.com.

I have created my first soundcast. But I don’t see it on the mobile app in my soundcast library.

Only listeners who have signed up for your soundcast will see it on the app under their account. If you want to see your soundcast on the app, invite yourself to your soundcast first. Simply click on the “invite” button on your dashboard where the soundcast is listed and enter your account email address. You should see the soundcast pop up in your soundcast library momentarily.

How can I give someone free access to my paid soundcast?

You can invite them by email. Simply click on the “invite” button on your dashboard where the soundcast is listed, and enter their email address. Whoever has an invitation from you will receive your soundcast in their library once they sign up for an account on the Soundwise app using the email address you sent the invitation to.

You can give the person the signup form link of your soundcast. They can then register for your soundcast bypassing the payment process. You can find the signup form link of your soundcast on the dashboard where the soundcast is listed.