Making the Most of Audiobooks

With lockdown measures prompting many to find new hobbies and partake in unfamiliar activities, the UK has seen a huge surge in its creative tendencies. In particular, many individuals are finding that they finally have the free time to dedicate to reading and learning – a pastime that may have been inaccessible within our previous, jam-packed schedules.

As June is Audiobook month we wanted to offer you our best tips and tricks for securing an amazing audiobook experience – because they really are incredible!

Find a Reliable Service

There are a number of services available that provide oral-literary experiences, but if this is a new venture it can be difficult to choose. Luckily, we have a few top picks to help you on your way!

Audible

Audible is a strain of the Amazon company, so you can be sure that choice will never be an issue. The service costs £7.99 a month and comes with one free title a month. If that didn’t convince you, you’ll also receive some exclusive offers, have access to original podcasts and have the ability to listen to your favourite books both online and offline.

Google Play Audiobooks

As the name would suggest, Google has its own Audiobook service that offers its users a huge array of titles across multiple devices with no monthly subscription fee. This means that you can dip in and out of your book collection as you please, with no stress placed upon ongoing financial payments.

Kobo Audiobooks

If the first two options didn’t catch your eye, then Kobo could be a great alternative. The service returns to the subscription setup but comes at a lower cost than Audible at £6.99 a month. What’s more, for the first three months you’ll receive 30% off your monthly bill.

Comfortable listening

Listening to an audiobook can feel strange at first, but this can almost always be put down to the physical way we choose to listen. Unless you prefer listening to content on a speaker, we’d recommend noise-cancelling headphones. These will allow you to fully immerse yourself in the audiobook experience and make it all the more simple to concentrate.

Identify a point of Interest

When embarking on your audiobook experience, it’s important that you don’t settle on a topic that doesn’t interest you – even if the content comes at no cost!

If you enjoy thriller fiction, pick a novel under that genre. If you enjoy practising mindfulness, locate a title that explores it. If you want to learn more about the environment, choose a non-fiction book that dissects just that. What we’re getting at here is you’ll only receive a positive audiobook experience if you invest in content that attracts you.

Identify the Positives

A huge reason that many individuals are deterred from audiobooks is quite simply because they are unfamiliar. Throughout our lives, both academic and personal, we’re continuously told the benefits of reading and writing – and this should not be undermined. However, it’s equally important to recognise that our learning is not exclusive to our reading ability and our comprehension skills are equally as important. Audiobooks provide us with another avenue to expand our worldly understanding and come with an entourage of benefits!