Updated October 19, 2023

Audiobooks are an excellent choice for packing light travellers. If you haven’t yet discovered audiobooks and you’re looking for another entertainment medium to add to your repertoire, check them out. However, audiobooks can be expensive so knowing how to find affordable audiobooks is key. Once you’ve assembled your collection, they’ll spice up your existing array of playlists, podcasts, e-books, and movies to help you get through long transit days and downtime at home and on the road.

My introduction to audiobooks

In early 2020, the pandemic reintroduced me to the joy of reading for pleasure. Included in that journey was an introduction to audiobooks.

I’m an avid fan of podcasts. It was a promotional episode from one of my podcast subscriptions that captured my interest. The episode was an excerpt from the courtroom drama, Thirteen written by Steve Cavanagh and narrated by Adam Sims. Being immersed in an expertly woven plot with intriguing characters wasn’t new. However, what I found captivating was the narration. It was storytelling at its finest. Adam Sims brought the various characters to life with carefully crafted changes to his voice. It was pure artistry, and I was hooked.

To help me explore the world of audiobooks, I noticed a few subscription-based companies offered a free 30-day trial period. I chose Audible, downloaded Thirteen and an Audible Original, and my love affair with audiobooks was sealed.

Advantages of audiobooks

Audiobooks offer many advantages, whether you’re home-based or on the move.

• Audiobooks offer access to a rich world of literature and ‘how-to’ publications for folks who struggle with reading (or reading fine print).
• With an internet connection, they can be streamed or downloaded for offline use.
• They weigh nothing, and when downloaded, the only space they take up is the digital variety. This is an attractive quality for packing light travellers. A downloaded audiobook in the 10-hour range consumes between 150 to 200 MB of space. A book can be removed from a device to free up space, but depending on the source, it remains within a subscriber’s library of purchased titles.
• They’re ideal for multi-taskers and people who have a penchant for being entertained while driving, gardening, exercising, doing housework, or packing for a trip. Along the same lines, audiobooks offer an alternative for busy people who love reading but don’t have enough spare time to do so.
• Audiobooks offer two-for-one entertainment. Writing and narration are included in one package — literary works by accomplished authors and entertaining performances by polished narrators.
• With headphones, it’s possible to listen in the dark without disturbing others. There’s no reading lamp, constant glare from a screen, or noise from the narration.
• When travelling from place to place, listening to a good book makes the trip more enjoyable. It’s perfect for commuters, road warriors, and travellers.
• For long journeys as a passenger, switching things up between different media is easier on the body and the spirit. Audiobooks give the eyes a rest. The soothing voice of a narrator can encourage relaxation and dozing off.
• For readers who spend their days working at a computer screen, listening to an audiobook is easier on the eyes than reading an e-book or print book.
• Audiobooks are quick and easy to acquire. They’re available within seconds. No planning is necessary for a trip to a bookstore, waiting for a library book on hold to become available, or swapping a book with other travellers. They’re perfect for a spur-of-the-moment purchase or borrowing decision.
• They’re available from anywhere in the world where there’s an internet connection. As for library loans, unlike print books, they don’t need to be picked up or returned in person.
• Most sources of audiobooks provide reviews from previous buyers and offer access to a brief sample. A sample helps decision-making by exposing a potential buyer or borrower to the quality of the writing and narration.
• Audiobook apps make it easy to maintain a library and listen online or offline directly from the app. A sleep-timer feature allows the listener to set the timer to the off position, or select periods of listening time. I particularly like the ability to reset the timer in the Audible app by simply shaking my phone. 

Audiobooks can be expensive

It’s not surprising that audiobooks are more expensive than e-books and most print books. On top of royalties paid to the author, there are production costs associated with narration. The production team might include one or more voice artists, a producer, director, sound engineer, sound editor, and proof listener. Reading an entire book requires hours of preparation to nail down pronunciation, accents, and voice nuances and intonation to differentiate between the words spoken by different characters. Adding celebrity narrators can increase costs.

How to find affordable audiobooks

The regular prices of most of the audiobooks that have interested me are in the 30-to-50-dollar range. These costs put audiobooks out of reach for the vast majority of people. In my experience, it’s possible to find affordable audiobooks with a strategy that involves access to a variety of sources.

1. A subscription service

A subscription model is based on a monthly or annual fee. With Audible, now owned by Amazon, the fee earns one or more credits used as currency to purchase any audiobook regardless of price. A variety of Audible Only books and podcasts are available free of charge.

For example, a monthly Premium Plus plan from Audible has a subscription rate of $14.95. This earns one credit.

Audible subscribers can purchase additional credits at a rate of three credits for $39.95 (or $13.32 per book).

Rakuten Kobo is also subscription-based, at a slightly cheaper rate. My choice of Audible was based on the following features:

• Audible has the most extensive inventory of titles, and it includes Audible Only originals.
• For subscribers who tend to listen to audiobooks only when they travel, membership can be paused for 30, 60, or 90 days.
• It’s possible to use a credit to give an audiobook as a gift to another person.
• If a title isn’t to a subscriber’s liking or purchased in error, it can be returned for a refund. This makes it an easier choice when considering the purchase of a book written by an unfamiliar author.
• There are plenty of member-only sales. Audiobook distributors work with authors and publishers who promote their books with temporary discounts. I’ve seen daily deals for $2.50, and sales or Editors’ Extra picks featuring a selection of books for $0.

2. Discounted books from pay-as-you-go sites

Sites without a subscription service function as an online store. However, they don’t offer a ‘free’ book each month, and without member-only pricing, books can be expensive.

Chirp offers audiobook deals at discounted rates ranging from $0.99 to $6.99 per book. (Prices are in USD.) Their catalogue of discounted books is relatively extensive, and searchable by genre. A daily email profiles one or two books from your preferred genre(s) and a purchase is a couple of quick clicks away.

3. Free books

LibriVox offers free public domain books read by volunteers from around the world. Titles are typically based on works published long enough ago that their copyright protection has expired. These include classics written by Lucy Maud Montgomery, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Charles Dickens, and Jane Austen. The catalogue is browsable by author, title, genre, or language.

4. Free rentals

Most public libraries carry extensive catalogues of audiobooks with access through the Libby app.

Borrowing an audiobook from my library couldn’t be easier. After signing in, I can explore with a helpful selection of filters such as ‘Available Now,’ my chosen genres, sorting criteria, language, and audience. Or I can search by author. Tapping on the title provides more information, including a description, length, reviews, and awards. If I’ve borrowed the title in the past, Libby indicates the year I did so. I can borrow up to ten audiobooks at a time, each one for 7, 14, or 21 days.

Libby synchronizes my loans across devices. I can start listening to an audiobook on my tablet, and continue where I left off on my phone. Returning a title takes a couple of seconds. As soon as I’ve finished an audiobook, the ‘Manage Loan’ feature allows me to do so with a couple of taps.

My library’s catalogue has a wide variety of audiobooks from accomplished authors and narrators.

Tips on how to find affordable audiobooks

After three years of listening to audiobooks, I offer the following tips.

1. Make the library your first stop

When hunting for your next listen, make your library your first port of call. The inventory won’t be as extensive as those of other sources, but you may find that the quality and quantity is sufficient to meet your needs. For example, after purchasing Ken Follett’s second book in his Century Trilogy with one Audible credit, I discovered that it was available from my library. It’s for situations such as this that I appreciate Audible’s return policy.

2. Take advantage of your library’s ‘hold’ service

Joining a queue might mean waiting a few days or weeks to listen to a favourite author or series. The library’s search feature, hold service, and email notification make for an easy process. When the requested title becomes available, my library sends me an email with instructions to borrow the audiobook within three days or opt to remain in the queue.

3. Check out Chirp

Chirp has a wide selection of titles at affordable prices. As a result, I’ve discovered many new authors and added several discounted audiobooks to my digital bookshelf. The Chirp app has a user-friendly interface and synchronizes well across devices.

4. Make strategic use of a subscription-based service

After three years, my Audible subscription remains current. However, I may take advantage of the option to temporarily pause it at some point. It bears mentioning that a credit expires 12 months after it was earned or purchased. 

I’ve found that the best use of credits is for books unlikely to be found elsewhere, or for those that are quite expensive. For example, using a credit valued at $14.95 to purchase a book with a list price of $74.10 is a strategic use of a subscription-based service.

I’ve also appreciated member-only specials. It was on a two-for-one offer (two audiobooks for one credit) that I purchased Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom that was on my reading list in advance of a post-pandemic visit to South Africa.

Being able to give the gift of an audiobook is an appreciated feature of Audible. For travellers, it’s a perfect pre- or post-trip gift.  

Audiobooks enrich a travel experience

As previously mentioned, audiobooks can improve a travel experience by helping to make long flights and sleepless nights bearable. They can also enhance travel.

For example, prior to visiting Cambodia, I recommend that travellers read Loung Ung’s stirring account of her life under the Pol Pot regime in First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers. Her powerful reflection of this period of Cambodia’s dark history helps provide a vital historical context and adds deeper meaning to visits to the various memorial sites. I experienced similar outcomes by listening to Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom and Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood prior to my visit to South Africa. In fact, Born a Crime, narrated by the author, was so enjoyable and enlightening that I listened to it twice, before and during my visit. 

I’ve travelled with friends who always read or listen to books relating to their destination, prior to departure. It may be a work of fiction set in a particular location, or something written by a home-grown author with an intimate knowledge of the history or culture of a place. On a trip to Quebec City, one of my travelling companions treated us to an impromptu tour of sites mentioned in Louise Penney’s Inspector Gamache series with unpredictably pleasing results.

If you’re looking for ideas on destination-specific titles, Leyla from Women on the Road curates a comprehensive list of titles, by country or region, with the help of readers. 

Are inquiring young minds part of your travel adventure? A road trip is a perfect opportunity to put the video games aside and have all members of the family enjoy audiobooks together. If you’re looking for solid recommendations, here’s a description of 17 tried-and-true family audiobook favourites.

Conclusion

Audiobooks add a level of enjoyment to completing mundane tasks. I almost look forward to ironing and doing dishes! They occupy a prominent place in my selection of travel media.

Strategically using several audiobook services is the secret to finding a wide selection of audiobooks at affordable prices.

 

If you found this post useful, please share it on your favourite social media channel by clicking on the respective button(s). Also, would you care to join the discussion in the comments? What is your experience with audiobooks? What suggestions do you have on how to find affordable audiobooks?

 

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