7 Reasons to Use Audible for Reading Books This Year

*This 7 Reasons to Use Audible for Reading Books This Year contains affiliate links. If you click through to make a purchase, I will indeed make a small commission off said purchase.

I have made no secret of my love of reading.

However, significant confession is rolling out here today. For the last two months of the year, my reading mojo was at an all-time low. Reading took a back set to all going on including holiday prep and our Walt Disney World Christmas Vacation. Plus, when I did find free time in the evening to sit down to read, I couldn’t muster up enough energy most nights to focus on the words in a physical book nor my iPhone screen in my numerous ebook reading apps.

But I honestly felt like I was in mourning.

Why? Because once again I love reading. I am pretty sure I shared in the past how I struggled as an early reader when I was first learning to read. But that only made me strive even more to be a reader. And a reader I did indeed become late in the 1st-grade year of elementary school. I never really looked back after that. Therefore, books and reading have always been a comforting past-time for me. Don’t get me wrong; I had had a few other instances in my life where I turned away from reading, such as when my girls were babies. I mean I didn’t have enough time nor energy than either to read. But I returned once I could.

I canceled my BOTM as I couldn’t keep up with the books I had come to me in the mail. Again, just trying to read the physical books didn’t seem to fit my current lifestyle. BOTM in December was touting Reese Witherspoon’s latest Book Club Book for the month. Side note, I kept meaning all year to check Reese’s Book Club out. Not only have I loved the actress since her very first movie role in The Man in the Moon. But damn she has grown as an actress. There is just something about her.

With A New Year dawning shortly, I resolved to read more though.

But again, I didn’t want to pick up the physical copy of a book only to struggle to read at night. I contemplated buying the ebook. But again, ebooks weren’t always working for me either.

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However, while I was in the process of checking out Reese’s Book Club Page,  I noticed that she partnered with Audible.

I clicked through to Audible, where I read up on all that Audible had to offer. Then, I downloaded the Audible app. Upon download, I was provided a FREE book without signing up for an account at all. It was a No Brainer to download, One Day in December, by Josie Silver. This book happened to be the previously mentioned December BOTM and Reese’s Book Club Book for December, as well.

Will save the review for another day. But long story short, I loved listening to this Christmas themed love, at first sight, romance novel. I finished it in less than 36 hours. But I was still on the fence about Audible.

Audible to the rescue!

Then, I got an email alerting me that if I signed up for a FREE month trial of Audible, I could get another Audible book for FREE.  But I still was debating it. Another email alerted me that for a limited time, a FREE trial of Audible included 2 FREE Audible books instead of one for that first month. It was then that I caved and signed up.

I am now on my second Audible audiobook. It is another of Reese’s Book Club suggestions from February 2018, The Light We Lost, by Jill Santopolo. I couldn’t resist as yes romance and women’s fiction are on the tops of my reading preferences. Within the first 2 hours, I listened to about 30 percent of this book.

By the way, I know that it’s indeed January 2019, and her current book, The Library Book by Susan Orlean, also sounds interesting. But I am not entirely sold as I happen to be a non-fiction selection. What can I say, when I read I like to instead escape into a fictional world versus something based on a true story?

But why Audible? Read on now to find out more now.

7 Reasons to Use Audible for Reading Books This Year

1. Listen to more books, more often.

I know I am only two books in as I write this. But here is the thing. I have found I have been able to listen to the books I am currently reading more often than if I was reading a physical or ebook.

How?

Well, I not only can plug in my earbuds and listen in the evening on my iPhone. But while I was driving and waiting to pick up my kids from Girl Scouts or other events, I played my Audible book copy. I even have been able to listen on my Amazon Echo Show, while preparing dinner for my family. See I don’t have to use my eyes to focus on the words on the page. I am still able to read because I am listening to what I am reading while I do something else. So, reading doesn’t take a backseat. And I can kill two birds with one stone!

2. Speed up or slow down while listening.

Audible and audiobooks have a neat feature. You can listen to the audio version slower or faster depending upon your speed liking. Some narrators speak slowly. See Audible allows you to modify the speed from 0.75x to 3x the average rate of narration. I have found even by listening to samples in the past few weeks that these slower paced narrators, I like to hear them at a faster speed. Conversely, I have also heard narrators that tend to speak faster naturally. It is here that I want to slow down the narrator a bit. And still, yet, some narrators speak perfectly at the default narration. Therefore, I kept the narrative at the default in this scenario.

3. The actual author might narrate their own book.

I have often wondered when reading a book what the author’s voice would sound while he/or she wrote their novel. Take, for instance, The Light We Lost. Ms. Santopolo narrates her audiobook version in Audible. I am loving listening to her read her own book in her own voice. The actual author doesn’t always read all their audiobooks. But still many do. And those that aren’t are being read by some exciting voices. Plus with someone else reading the book to me, I feel like I am transported right into the book. It makes me imagine all that is going on even more vividly.

4. Switch between reading and audio.

If you have an Amazon Kindle version of the book, you can very often switch it to the audio version. Conversely, you can also change the audio version back to the Kindle version. See I still love to read the actual words deep down. So for when I do have the energy and the time this gives me the option to do just that. But on the other hand, when I can’t read the actual words, I can listen to the audio version. So, again the best of both worlds.

5. Learn how to pronounce those tricky words.

Have stopped in your tracks while reading, because you don’t know how to pronounce a word? I know it can’t just be me. Don’t get me wrong; I have a pretty extensive vocabulary. But I don’t know every word in the English language by any means. So, being able to follow along with the words in the ebook version while listening to the audio, you can also learn how to pronounce those oh so tricky words. Truly ingenious and clever!

6. Audible offers refunds.

Have you bought a book only not to enjoy it? I have had this happen, especially a few times while I was a BOTM member. I pretty much sucked it up and finished reading the book. The, I put it on my bookshelf to never look at it again. So, it cluttered my shelf and collected dust after that. But with Audible, if you don’t enjoy a book you purchased, you can return it. That’s right, under your “Account Details” page under “Transactions and Returns,” you can return an audiobook. This guarantee is because they have what is called “The Great Listener Guarantee.” So no more shoving that unloved book on a shelf to collect dust!

7. Kindle Unlimited, as well as Overdrive Library Books, works with Audible.

While I don’t have a Kindle Unlimited account myself, I have learned that if you do that Audible works with it. But I do take out ebooks from my local library through Overdrive. I took out a free copy of a recent bestseller. The ebook copy opens in my Amazon Kindle App. Here, I was able to switch between the ebook and Audible versions of this novel. So, again you can either read or listen to the book quickly.

So why are you waiting? If you are a reader like me and on the fence with Audible, I couldn’t recommend it more. Right now, you can sign up for a FREE trial for a month to get an audiobook of your choice, free, with a 30-day trial. After trying it out, your paid membership will begin at $14.95 per month. With your membership, you will receive one credit every month, good for any audiobook on Audible. Cancel anytime, effective the next monthly billing cycle. See it is that simple!

Have you tried Audible yet?

Now, share with me in the comments.