Reading with Your Ears: A Guide to Getting Started with Audiobooks

Photo by Ryan Quintal on Unsplash

By Lynn Hutchins | Information/Circulation, Central Library

"Audiobooks are for people who hate reading and for those of us who love reading,” says Matthew Rubery, author of The Untold Story of the Talking Book.

Diving into the experience of listening to audiobooks can be unnerving. You may not know where to start, what to look for in a narrator, or how they’ll fit into your life. I hope this easy guide will help you get started. Let’s take a look at how to start listening and how to pick the right audiobook for you.

Getting started:

• Select an old favorite as your first listen. Listening to a story you are already familiar with can give you a new understanding of the characters, plot, and setting.
• Start with a short story or a book of poems. You might not be ready to commit to 7+ hours of an audiobook. Test the waters with something short.
• Ask a book-loving friend or a librarian for a recommendation. Let them know you don’t know where to start. They will have some good ideas for you.
• Start with a sample. Go to an audiobook site or to NetGalley to listen to some samples, and choose your audiobook based on narrators that make you want to hear more.

Both readers and non-readers can enjoy audiobooks because they're faster and more efficient. You don’t have to sit down and stop everything to find time to read. You can listen to audiobooks when your eyes or hands are occupied but your mind is free. They're great for multi-tasking. You can listen while commuting, doing yard work, exercising, or knitting.

Since the purpose of a book is to transfer information to the reader, listening to an audiobook gets the job done. Often, hearing the narrator’s voice, especially when the voice belongs to the author, is a completely different experience than reading.

Now that you know more about choosing the right audiobook, it’s time to start listening. Here are some popular free services you can use.

• Books on CD – Physical copies of audiobooks are available to check out at all JCLC libraries.
• Hoopla – Hoopla offers readers access to eBooks, audiobooks, music, and movies with no waiting.
• Libby – This app allows you to check out e-books and audiobooks. It can even send them to your Kindle, if you prefer to do your reading there.
• LibriVox – This website provides free public domain audiobooks. All of the audiobooks are read by volunteers from around the globe. In fact, you can even volunteer to be their next narrator!
• NetGalley – NetGalley is a reader, book blogger, librarian, and media reviewer book review system to help get books reviewed honestly. You can listen to review copies and provide early feedback about new audiobooks.