How and Why to Audiobook

It would be hard not to notice the growing popularity of audiobooks in recent years. But many people, especially those who are avid (physical) readers, seem to have a hard time utilizing and embracing this new form of consuming novels for one reason or another. So, if you have a hard time with audiobooks, this post is for you. 

The two most important parts of this post, in my opinion, are the “How to listen to audiobooks” and the “How to get audiobooks for as cheap (or free) as possible” sections, so if you don’t want to read this whole post, you can skip to those parts.

My first introduction to audiobooks was when I was about 10 years old. I had a little portable CD player that I would plug my wired headphones into. My mom would take me to the library, and I would find a case of 7-17 discs for each Harry Potter audiobook narrated by Jim Dale. When one disc ended, I would manually, physically switch it out for the next one from my case. Oh how times have changed. 

Nowadays, none of that is necessary. The recent ease of listening to audiobooks has created a group of people who now have easy access to them but didn’t grow up listening to them. If you grew up physically reading books or weren’t really a consumer of books in general, audiobooks can be a difficult adjustment to make. Just as it’s hard for someone to physically read novels if they don’t have much experience doing so, the same is true for listening to them. As someone with over a decade and countless hours of experience listening to audiobooks, I’ve decided to share everything I can to help you get the best possible experience out of audiobooks.

Why audiobooks?

There are many reasons to listen to audiobooks, most of which stem simply from convenience. I’m not going to list reasons why audiobooks are better than physical ones, just reasons why they’re good. 

Audiobooks can slot into your everyday life with ease.

Audiobooks are a way both to enhance things you would be doing anyway, and a way to get books into your brain without sacrificing time you need to be doing other things. For example, when you’re doing the dishes, an audiobook can turn a mundane necessity into an opportunity to get lost in another world for a while and return with one less item on your to-do list. You can audiobook while commuting to work, biking to class, doing chores, or running any errands. With audiobooks, you can get through an 800-page novel in a week or two without reallocating any time in your schedule. “I don’t have time to read books” is a perfectly reasonable thing to say, but “I don’t have time to audiobook” can be accurately said by very few people. 

Another slightly less common reason to listen to audiobooks is to enhance your enjoyment of a book. The best example of this is Trevor Noah’s autobiography Born a Crime. It is a fantastic book I would recommend to anyone, but I would consider reading rather than listening to it a grave mistake. Noah narrates his own book and knows exactly what he is trying to convey with each sentence. His comedic delivery is way better than anything you could do in your mind, and his impersonations of people in the book are more accurate than anything anyone who didn’t grow up with him could imagine. However, this is a relatively unique case. Obviously, audiobook narrators add their own interpretations to the books they read, which may not be desirable to some people, especially when it comes to nonfiction works. To that I would say yes, that can certainly be a concern, but if it’s a good narrator, their interpretations usually add to the experience. Andy Serkis and Jim Dale, who narrated Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, respectively, are great examples of this. 

The final and fairly niche reason that I think people should listen to audiobooks is for language learning. Reading is one of the best ways to accumulate vocabulary and familiarize oneself with grammar in a target language, but reading well, at least for me, is never the primary goal of language learning; the primary goal is to understand and speak to people. An audiobook adds the auditory element that is missing by mere reading, the element that is far more important than anything else for learning a new language. 

How to get better at listening to audiobooks

Just like with reading, audiobooking is a skill. You have to work at it to get better. When someone says they don’t/can’t listen to audiobooks because of something like “I can’t focus,” “my mind always wanders,” or anything else along those lines, to me, it sounds like a kid saying they can’t read a novel because sounding out each word takes too long. You’re never going to be able to read Atlas Shrugged without spending hours getting better at reading; why should anyone expect to be able to effectively listen to an audiobook without practicing? Be patient. If you’re new to audiobooks, you’re not going to listen to them with the same level of skill that you can read a book until you’ve had a similar amount of practice.

So, here are some tips on how you can get better at audiobooking.

Start easy

Don’t jump into audiobooks with a 54hr long behemoth. Start with a book that’s relatively simple to follow and somewhere in the 6-10hr range. For reference, the first Harry Potter book is about 8hrs. Also, make sure that the narrators for the books you start with are good. Audible tends to have fairly accurate ratings of narrators for most books (which you can look at even without an Audible subscription), so make sure that your narrator is highly rated before you attempt the book. Bad narrators can make it incredibly difficult to follow along or continue paying attention, so don’t venture into the realm of mediocre to poor narrators until you feel comfortable with audiobooks. Jim Dale, the Harry Potter guy, as I’ve mentioned before, is a great narrator for audiobook beginners. And finally, don’t speed up audiobooks until you’ve gotten comfortable with them. Most of the books I listen to nowadays, I listen to at 1.25-1.35x speed (depending on the narrator), but don’t be afraid to even slow it down a bit during your early listening days. 

Don’t be afraid to skip back

Pretty much every platform that has audiobooks has a skip back x seconds button where the last track button would be if you’re listening to music. How many seconds this skips can vary, and some apps will allow you to customize it; I find that 15 seconds is ideal for this button. Whenever you’re listening, and you realize that your mind started wandering, or if something or someone distracted you for a bit, just skip back. If something important happens in the book that you didn’t realize was important until afterward, skip back and listen to it again. Audiobooks are never going to be faster than reading, and speed should rarely be the goal, so skip back as often as you need. Sometimes I’ll skip back to the same place two or three times, or I’ll skip back 15 seconds because I missed a single word. You can also hit the skip-back button multiple times. If you find that you weren’t paying attention for a while, don’t be scared to skip back a whole minute or two until you land somewhere that you remember well. Your bar for skipping back should be incredibly low, especially when you’re first starting out, or if it’s a book where details matter a lot. As you get better at audiobooking, you’ll get better at knowing when and how much to skip back, but early on, skip back often and get a feel for it.

Limit distractions, avoid text

One of the wonderful things about audiobooks is that you can do something else while you’re listening. It could be something useful like chores, or something necessary like commuting, but often you’ll just want something to occupy your hands and eyes. This is totally normal and will likely increase your focus, but just make sure that whatever you’re doing doesn’t involve being able to see letters. For example, playing a game like Subway Surfers, a relatively mindless game that’s mostly based on reflexes rather than thought, can be a great thing to do with your hands and eyes while listening to a book. But scrolling Instagram, while it can also be fairly mindless, will expose you to words; the human brain can’t fully be able to avoid reading words when they’re there. The problem is that if you’re reading words, you’re using the same part of your brain that you’re using to listen to the audiobook. Words will pull your brain away from the audiobook more effectively than pretty much anything else. So avoid them at all costs, and if you accidentally see words, just skip back. Even better than a mobile game with no text is something without your phone at all, such as knitting, going for a walk, or eating lunch.

Another thing you want to avoid is doing something too mentally taxing while listening to an audiobook. Something like sudoku, for example, would not be great for focusing on a book. If the thing you’re doing is mostly mindless and low-effort but occasionally requires bursts of attention, just pause whenever those bursts happen and play when they’re done. For example, if you’re cooking, you can listen to an audiobook while you’re mixing ingredients or cutting your vegetables but pause whenever you need to figure out something from the recipe or what you’re going to do next.

Always carry a pair of headphones

An AirPods case or something similar is very small and can fit into a pocket or purse with no issue. When you’re out and about, there will be plenty of chances to throw your headphones in and listen to your audiobook. The best way to get better at audiobooking is to simply do it a lot. If you have your headphones on you at all times, you’ll always be ready to go if you come across an unexpected period of time when you have nothing to do. It happens more than you might expect. Also make sure that you have your book downloaded on your phone so spotty service or a lack of wifi can’t impede you.

When to choose audiobooks

The answer to this question will be different for every person and with every book. When answering it for yourself, consider the following. 

How likely are you to finish reading vs listening to it?

This is the biggest factor for me, as I’m almost certainly not going to finish a book if I attempt to physically read it, but I am very likely to finish listening to it. It might be different for you, so make sure you ask this to yourself when considering which format to use.

Who’s narrating it?

If the book has a narrator that’s rated as abysmal, it can make the listening experience similarly abysmal. Most narrators are at least passable, but reviewing the reviews of the narrator (the most reliable reviews, I find, are on Audible, even if you’re planning on listening to it on another app) is always something you should use as a factor in deciding whether to read or listen to a book.

How closely do you want to read it?

If you want to be able to solve the mystery before Sherlock Holmes or be able to quote lines from the book at your friends who will tolerate you quoting literature at them, then maybe reading it would be a better choice. However, if you want to immerse yourself in a world as often as you can and don’t care if you miss a few unimportant details here and there (remember, if they’re important, just skip back if you miss them), then audiobooking is probably your best bet.

How difficult of a book is it?

If the book has language or a plot that is hard to follow, then you may only want to listen to it if you’re confident in your audiobooking skills. In other words, don’t attempt a difficult book in a format you’re not comfortable with, lest you risk missing out on everything the book has to offer.

Is it called Born a Crime?

If so, then 100% audiobook it. Obviously, this is just one example, but the general lessons from this example can definitely be extrapolated to other books. If there’s a self-narrated autobiography by someone who has a bearable voice, then I think you’re best off listening to the author read you their book the way they intended it to be heard. A related factor is if the narrator is especially good. For example, Andy Serkis does such an incredible job with The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings audiobooks that listening to them will give you a totally different experience than reading, which can be especially appealing if you’ve already read the books.

How to get audiobooks for as cheap (or free) as possible

There are many different ways to get audiobooks, and if you’re willing to put in the effort, you can usually find a way to get pretty much any audiobook for free. 

Audible

Audible has made a name for itself as one of the most prominent providers of audiobooks. However, they do require a paid subscription of about $15/month. If you can avoid giving Audible your money, please do. The only time to use Audible as a way of getting your audiobooks is when there are audiobooks only available on Audible; “Audible Exclusives” are one of the ways that Audible forces you to use their service. For example, the Lord of the Rings audiobooks narrated by Andy Serkis are only available on Audible. 

How, then, do you get those without paying? Well, sign up for their free trials. You can sign up for a 30-day free trial that gives you 2 “credits” that you can use to get any book from their collection. But to stretch this out even more, take advantage of the fact that you can return audiobooks once you’re done with them and that you keep access to the books you have once you cancel your subscription. 

So, here’s how you can get the most for free from Audible:

1. Sign up for a 30-day free trial

2. Chose two books to get with the credits you get with the trial

3. Listen to both of those books (you should be able to get through 2 in a month if they’re not incredibly long)

4. Return both of those books for a refund and get your two credits back

5. If you can, before your 30 days are up, repeat steps 2-4

6. Right before your trial is up, ensure you have two books in your library that you have not read yet, then cancel your free trial

You’ll still have access to the books that were in your library when you canceled your subscription, so listen to them at your leisure 

*In case you couldn’t figure this out, it’s best to leave the longest books you want to listen to until the end, so you don’t have a time limit on getting through them

The wonderful thing about this is that with one free trial meant to give you access to two books, you can easily get up to 6 out of it. Additionally, sometimes, Audible will email you an offer for another free trial with the same account as before. If this happens, sign up for it, get your free 1-2 credits, return the books leftover from your original free trial, and repeat steps 2-7 again, but this time with an extra 1-2 credits. And, of course, if you’re too impatient to wait for that offer, you can always sign up for another free trial with another email account. I personally have at least 4 Audible accounts and have never paid Audible a cent, while also never missing out on any books I wanted to listen to on Audible. The only thing about getting additional free trials is that you’ll have to use a different credit card as well as a different email address than before, so this method isn’t, unfortunately, completely unlimited. But most people can probably get 2-3 free trials, with 4-6 books out of each trial. 

Libby

Libby is an app you can download from the App Store (I don’t know about whatever the non-iPhone users use, but I’m sure it’s on there as well). As you might be able to deduce from the name, Libby is related to libraries. Specifically, it’s an app that allows you to use your library card to access thousands of audiobooks (and e-books, if you’re into that). 

Libby is amazing and free. You just have to find the audiobook you want, and you can check it out for 14 to 21 days, depending on your library. The only problems are that it won’t always have the book you want, and if it does, you might have to wait for it. Each library only has a certain number of copies of each audiobook. It’s strange to think about, but it has something to do with licensing. The effect of this is that your library may only have five copies of the book you want, but all of them are being used. If this is the case, you’ll have to place a hold (get in line) to get a copy when someone returns theirs. Unfortunately, there could be other people already in this line and you can end up waiting months for the book you want, especially if it’s a popular one. 

Fortunately, usually, you won’t have to wait too long for most books, and you can get in line for your next few listens while you’re listening to your current book. Once you’re at the front of the line, you’ll have a couple of days to either borrow the book or choose deliver later (basically, you can say you don’t want the book yet, so you let the next person(s) have it, but stay at the front of the line). If you do neither, your hold will expire, and you’ll have to start at the back of the line again. Something I often do for books with months-long wait times is place a hold for them way before I intend to read them and keep using the deliver later function so that I’ll never have to wait more than a week or so once I decide to start listening to it.

Getting more Libby cards

Now, here are some increasingly ethically questionable ways to get around the two biggest limitations of Libby. I’ve had to discover these on my own because no one seems to talk about them on the internet (probably smart), but I’m going to share them anyway. All of these methods are based on the fact that you can have multiple library cards at once on Libby. I don’t know what the limit is, but I currently have close to 20. Each library has a different selection, number of copies, and wait times for their audiobooks. So if the book you want isn’t available with your local library card (or it has an obscenely long wait time), another library system could have it ready to go right away. The ethical questionableness that I referred to earlier is in how one can go about acquiring more than one libby card, so here they are. 

The first and least ethically questionable method is to simply ask friends from other library districts if you can use their card. All you’ll need is their library card number and possibly their PIN. Even if they use Libby, sharing a card is never an issue, so you can use theirs and let them use yours. More often, people will have library cards and don’t use Libby, so you won’t even have to share. There are also no late fees or anything like that because books get returned automatically, so there’s no risk for anyone giving you their card.

The second method is to research libraries that give out e-library cards and don’t ask for a local address for verification. You can do this by Googling “[insert random city here] library card” and going on the website to see if you can secure a card. Bigger cities/counties tend to be easier for this and tend to have a bigger selection of audiobooks. If you want to avoid ethical questionability altogether, some libraries explicitly allow non-residents to get library cards for a fee. But if you do that, you’ll have to pay, obviously, and no one wants to do that.

The third method is the Google Maps Method. When you try method two, sometimes they’ll ask for a local address to verify that you actually live in the library area. A way of getting around this is to go onto Google Maps and drop a pin randomly in the library’s area. Whatever address comes up, enter that, a fake name, a fake phone number (starting with the local area code followed by seven random digits), and a junk email address that you can access but isn’t your personal one. You should get a library card number emailed to you, and you can enter that into your Libby and start using the card. This is the main method I’ve used to rack up nearly twenty cards, and it should get you as many library cards as you’ll ever need. 

The fourth method, which I have never done because, shockingly, I have found a line that I don’t want to cross, is the following. Some libraries actually verify that your last name lines up with the address you gave by checking a public database of housing records. If this ever happens, I just give up and try a different library system, but if you really want that particular card—and don’t mind being a bit of a creep—you can look up the last name of the person whose address you put in. The way the library verifies the address is by checking the public records, which obviously means the records are public and you can likely find them yourself. I don’t condone this, but I more so condemn keeping secrets, so I’m giving you this information to do with what you will.

Other Audiobook Apps

Here are a few other apps worth mentioning:

Hoopla

This is a library app that works with certain library cards, including San Francisco ones. Hoopla, for some reason, doesn’t have the issue of having a limited number of copies for the books they have. So, if you’re able to access Hoopla, it can be fantastic. It does have a slightly smaller selection, but it will also have some books you can’t find on other library apps, so it’s definitely worth having on your phone if you can.

Boundless

Everything said about Hoopla applies to this as well, except for the wait times. Boundless does have wait times, but they’re usually not nearly as bad as Libby.

CloudLibrary

This is an app used by certain library systems in place of Libby. It functions very similarly to Libby but tends to have a slightly different selection. If you can access it, it’s definitely worth having.

Everand (formerly “Scribd,” I think)

This is an app requiring a paid subscription, but often has audiobooks that aren’t available on Audible or in any libraries. I have used a free trial on this for a couple of books, but I haven’t pushed the bounds of Scribd free trials nearly as much as Audible because Scribd-exclusive books are far less common. If you can’t find an audiobook anywhere else, check Scribd, but I wouldn’t recommend it as a standard place for you to audiobook.

Audiobooks.com

Very similar to Audible and Everand, but with fewer books you can only find on it.

YouTube

Sometimes you can find full audiobooks on YouTube, but it’s unreliable (i.e. they often get taken down) and using it is quite annoying. YouTube doesn’t save your spot very well, it doesn’t keep playing once you close the app (unless you have premium), and it’s generally a pretty poor audiobook experience. I would only use it if I’m desperate to listen to a particular book and can’t find any other way.

If you can get multiple Libby cards, a few Audible free trials, and each of the above apps in your pocket, you’ll be able to listen to pretty much any audiobook you could ever want for free. Remember, you’re not a failure if you have to pay for an audiobook, you’re probably just a bit lazy and definitely slightly less wealthy. Although, as could soundly be pointed out, you will be far richer in the mind for having listened to an audiobook regardless of the slight monetary costs.

The great thing about audiobooks is that you almost certainly have enough time to start listening to them. Put in a bit of effort to get started, be patient with your progress, and then enjoy consuming more novels than you thought your busy schedule would ever allow.