How to Make the Best of Your First Audiobook

Lessons from an enriching first audiobook experience

I was scared of audiobooks before I finished my first one yesterday. I’d seen so many of my reader friends enjoy them. Being an avid reader, I too wanted to savor the newfound joys of dabbling in audiobooks. After a lot of research, I picked my first audiobook four days ago and finished reading it yesterday.

Now I’m a proud audiobook reader. Not only was my first audiobook a cherished experience, but it has also set me off on the path of craving more of them in the future.

Sadly, I also see a lot of my friends giving up on audiobooks completely within a few minutes of trying. While a few of them don’t find the format immersive enough, most of them complain of a lack of reading experience while listening to audiobooks.

In this article, I delve into the depths of my first audiobook journey. From start to finish, I’ve listed all the details that worked for me to help me learn how to make the most of them and helped me have a memorable first audiobook experience.

Part One: Before Reading

I read my first audiobook on an Audible subscription. I use the free first three Audible months in my Prime membership to do this. But for most of us new to the format, the unorganized cloud of information surrounding audiobooks makes it overwhelming to choose a good first audiobook. I’ve organized everything I know about audiobook subscriptions below.

How to Search for an Audiobook

My journey from being introduced to audiobooks to start listening to my first one spanned a few weeks.

Much like everyone else, I too spent hours Googling “Best Free Audiobooks” before I landed on Audible. While there are plenty of free audiobook apps and free downloadable audiobooks online, it is best to get a subscription if you’re a new user. I had downloaded quite a few of these “free” audiobooks initially but I couldn’t bring myself to listen to any of them for more than five minutes. Poor audio quality, abridged versions, flawed narration, and the inability to track my reading position are some of the reasons they repelled me. I never even got halfway through them before I dropped the idea. Now I know why a lot of people can’t get acquainted with audiobooks fast.

Poor audiobook experiences are disheartening for a new reader. Especially when so many people around them rave about audiobooks. Don’t do that to yourself. Give yourself a quality audiobook experience by buying a subscription, at least till you get comfortable with the format. With subscriptions, you can browse through genuine customer reviews, bestsellers, and personal recommendations to pick your first audiobook.

Don’t let a poorly done audio version of a terrific book ruin audiobooks for you. Pay for an incredible audiobook experience. They’re worth it.

Paid Audiobook Subscriptions

When it comes to audiobooks, two giant players rule the market: Audible and Storytel.

For most people, Amazon’s Audible is the unanimous choice. Not only do you get to refer to honest customer reviews for a book, but you also get a curated list of book recommendations to suit your taste. For one month’s worth of subscription, you get 1 credit to splurge on any audiobook of your choice. If you don’t like it or feel it is not worthy enough, you can return it and Audible will credit your reading credit back. If you need to read more than one book, you can pay an additional amount and earn a credit to buy another audiobook of your choice. If you cancel your Audible subscription at any time in the future, you still enjoy access to the audiobook your purchased in your Audible account and can listen to it anytime you want.

Storytel boasts of similar audio experience as Audible but it works in a different way. Unlike Audible, Storytel lets you borrow and listen to unlimited audiobooks of your choice for the price of their monthly subscription. It also lets you borrow and read e-books as a part of your subscription at no extra cost. With Storytel though, you lose access to your books once you cancel their subscription. Also, Storytel is currently available in the following limited countries: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Holland, Russia, Spain, and India.

Prices for both the subscription services differ across countries. You can check which one works best for you according to the price and the country you live in.

Choosing the Perfect First Audiobook

Now that you have a subscription in place, the next step is to zero down on your first audiobook. My first audiobook was “Daisy Jones and the Six”. It is one of the best-narrated audiobooks on Audible and yet none of the “Best Audiobook” google searches listed this. It came as a recommendation from a regular audiobook listener friend. She matches my taste in books and I decided to follow her advice blindly. I was not disappointed.

As a new audiobook reader, even reviews can be misleading sometimes since you don’t know what you’re looking for. What is the book’s pace? Which ones the best narrators? Is the audiobook of an appropriate length for me to stick to it long enough and not get bored of it? In such a case, seek out to people who’re already acquainted with audiobooks. It can be an online community or a friend or a colleague who you know has listened to a decent number of audiobooks in the past. Tell them exactly what you’re looking for and they’ll be happy to guide you.

Below are some of the things that helped me zero down on a perfect first audiobook match. These are the things that usually help a new audiobook reader ease into the format faster.

• It should be a short read. As a new reader, it is difficult for us to spend 40–50 hours listening to an audiobook for the first time. First-time readers need something that is long enough for them to get acquainted and short enough so that they can finish it in a decent time frame without losing a track of the story.
• It should have a twist in the end. Books with jaw-dropping twists keep you hooked. You keep listening in anticipation of stumbling into the twist in the next corner.
• Do not absolutely pick a self-help book as your first audiobook. They’re more of read-along books and audiobooks aren’t the right format to get the most of out them.

Part Two: During the Read

I started with the book during my evening walk. I had listened to a good hour of it before I ended my first streak. Below are some things I did that helped me build initial momentum.

Drag Yourself Through the First 15 Minutes

In the first few minutes, I faced an ample urge to give up and go back to the good old paperbacks and e-books. The narrator’s captivating voices kept me hooked. Once I was 15 minutes into the book, I decided to give it 45 minutes more. By then, I was done with 1/4th of the book and was too immersed to give up.

Get the E-Book Version and Read Along

Another thing I did was to purchase an e-book version of the book I was reading. During the read, I came across so many quotes I wanted to note, and Googling all of them without interrupting my listening seemed impossible. Hence, I referred to the book on my Kindle mobile app as I kept listening. Whenever I used to come across a quote or a paragraph I loved, I marked it for further reference.

Switch Off the Notifications

Another thing I did while listening on my mobile was to keep my phone on the airplane mode as I listened. This allowed me to concentrate without the notifications distracting me. The least you can do is keep your phone in the silent mode and mute the unnecessary notifications so that your audio is not interrupted every time you receive one. If you’re listening on a tablet, do the same thing you would do with a mobile phone. If you’re listening on your laptop, restrict the notifications to emails only.

Inform the People Around You

I spent hours alone staring into nothingness as I listened to the audiobook. Naturally, people around me were spooked when I burst into laughter once while doing that. I decided to tell them all that I was listening to an audiobook. Doing this ensures that they don’t keep interrupting you.

Listen While Doing the Daily Chores

Another thing I did was to listen during my daily chores. This served as the perfect complement to my audiobooks. I was not only finishing a book but I was also getting my chores done. Two birds.

Adjust the Listening Speed

Also, as a newbie audiobook listener, you must know that unlike books, audiobooks are timed according to the listening time. Hence, if you are a fast reader, you’ll often find the normal pace sluggish. In that case, it is okay to increase the listening speed as far as you don’t lose out on the actual listening experience. I started with 1x and increased it to 1.5x in the subsequent chapters. By the end of the book, I zeroed down on 1.2x as my comfortable listening speed.

Using the above tips, I spent 9.5 hours listening to my first audiobook, highlighting, adjusting the speed, moving back and forth over a period of four days to complete it.

Part Three: After Reading

Once I completed my first audiobook, I was exhilarated. I messaged my friend and shared with her everything about my experience. Since she had already listened to the book before me and had loved it equally, we spent quite some time discussing the nuances of the narration and the book characters.

Share Your Accomplishment

Involving yourself with such a person or a discussion group lets you put your heart out on what you liked/disliked about the book. For this particular book, I realized people who had read the paperback or the e-book version didn’t find it as interesting as the audiobook listeners. I learned that some books, though, they’re marvels of the literature world, might not be as captivating as audiobooks. On the other hand, well-narrated audiobooks can bring certain normal books to life.

Observe and Share Your Statistics

As soon as I finished reading, I rushed to check my Audible stats page. I was delighted to see that I had earned 10 hours and had one book to my reading credit. Also, while I was reading, Audible had conferred upon me the “High Noon” batch too. Turns out I’d spent 1 hour of continuous listening during lunchtime. I immediately checked the rest of their batches and aspired to acquire some more in the coming months.

Checking the listening stats and such accomplishments will help you boost your morale as a new reader and will encourage you to read more in the future.

Closing Notes

To quote my friend who is an avid audiobook listener,

Audiobooks are an acquired taste.

The good news is that more and more people are acquiring this taste. According to a new Pew Research Report, one in five Americans now listens to audiobooks. Given that audiobooks are the perfect replacement for mindless chattering in the radio on the ride to work or the perfect companions during hours of mundane household chores, this doesn’t come as shocking. If you give yourself the right initial push, you too can make audiobooks a part of your life. Like e-books and paperbacks, they’re worth it.

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