Advice and Recommendations for New Audiobook Listeners

Audiobooks are often a cause of great debate in the book community. Are they actually reading, and should you add them to your reading challenges? The answer to both of these is yes by the way, and if you disagree you can stop reading now! Because you’re very wrong! Whether you listen to audiobooks because it’s the only way you are able to read, or whether, like me, you just love being able to read more while busy doing other stuff, you’ve probably all had the conversation with others that goes something like this…

– How do you read so much?
– I listen to audiobooks…
– oh…. I could never. I just don’t like them or I can’t get into them.

Well… as someone who tried for YEARS to get into them. Here’s some advice from me and some recommendations of some great audiobooks for beginner listeners. I tried to listen to audiobooks on and off for around 7 years and I just struggled. I zoned out. I wasn’t interested. I must have taken out an audible subscription and cancelled it again a dozen times. I just couldn’t do it. Then 2020 hit… working from home and I decided to try again. This time it stuck! Now, 50% of my reading is done via audio and I have massively increased the amount that I read.

My Advice…

• Listen to books you’ve read before
  • One of my biggest struggles was zoning out, so I decided to start listening to a favourite book, or a previous book in a series. It didn’t matter if I zoned out, because I’d already read it before. I knew what happened.
• Always listen to the sample
  • A narrator can make or break an audiobook. There are books I have loved reading physically and hated the audio version, because I hated the narrator’s voice. Likewise there’s been books I’ve struggled to get into physically that I could listen to perfectly because the narrator was amazing. Find some narrators you like and listen to a chunk of their catalogue to get you into it.
• Try Graphic Audio or Full Cast Audiobooks
  • Full Case Audiobooks are amazing because you have different narrators for the different perspectives and characters and they are amazing.
  • Graphic Audios are full cast with additional sound effects, it’s like a movie!

Recommendations

Okay so you’ve got some audio advice and you’re ready to listen… so what are 5 great audiobooks for beginners?

A Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor was the first audiobook I ever listened to, and I loved every moment of it. The narrator of this one is one of my favourite narrators of all time, and I often go out of my way to listen to other books she has narrated. She is so expressive and really a fantastic narrator all around. Definitely worth checking out.

Illuminae Files by Kay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman is without a doubt the best audio production I have ever read in my life. Now I read this one physically first, and it is such a unique reading experience that way. But after you can’t get the prequel novella on physical, I got the audiobook of it and I was blown away by the production. When the AI malfunctions… it seriously malfunctions via sound too. Absolutely amazing and I can’t count the amount of times I have listened to these audiobooks. They’re phenomenal.

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid is a perfect full cast audiobook to try! It has a narrator for every individual character and with this book being told via interviews and such it is the perfect way to experience such an amazing book!

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas ….. in particular the graphic audio edition is amazing. Sound effects, full cast… it’s like a movie in your mind. This was the first graphic audio I listened to and I loved every single moment of it. I am now obsessed with graphic audio productions.

And finally, Beyond the Wand by Tom Felton was such a great audiobooks. For this one though, I just mean any autobiographies really. The celebrity, in this case Tom Felton, narrates the book, so you really just feel like the celebrity is talking to you about their experiences. A great way to introduce yourself to audiobooks.

I hope this helps novice audiobook listener. Let me know how you get on.

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