A couple weeks ago, I talked about my very unhelpful 2019 reading resolutions. One of them was to read less by audiobook. I thought that, since it took more time to read books via audiobook than with my eyes, if I just read more with my eyes I would obviously read more books!
What I didn’t factor into this equation was that audiobooks helped me to read when I was too busy or too tired to read with my eyes.
And I had two big problems at the time:
1) I got all of my audiobooks through Audible
2) I didn’t speed them up
Now, this is not to say that Audible is not a great way to listen to audiobooks – my biggest complaint is that Audible Exclusives aren’t able to be purchased by libraries, which creates accessibility issues. (If you don’t want to support Amazon – Libro.fm is a great choice! LINK in bi0 with information about how to join.)
My issue was actually that I read too much too quickly and found myself burning through my audiobook credits. The solution? The Libby App! Libby connects to your local library so you can listen to audiobooks *for free.*
Once I figured out Libby and no longer had to restrain my listening habits, I jumped from reading just under 50 books a year to just over 60 books…then 100…then 130…then 175 books last year! (Probably a bit of an anomaly because of Long Covid, but that’s not the point of the story.)
I’ve heard from people that they “can’t do” audiobooks, so I wanted to share some tips because I think audiobooks are SUCH a game changer for reading. If you can listen to a podcast or talk on the phone, I think you can absolutely learn to love audiobooks.
1) I started by listening to old favorites at bedtime. It does help to listen to something that you’ve read before at first to train your brain.
2) Speed up the sound so it sounds more conversational and less sleepy. I started just bumping it up 0.1x at a time. (1.1x, 1.2x, etc) and am now comfortably listening between 1.75x-2x for most books.
This is especially helpful if you find yourself getting bored while listening or your mind is wandering!
3) Get a 2nd copy to read with your eyes. Some people call this immersive reading – reading with your eyes and ears at the same time. I’ve heard this is especially helpful for readers with ADHD. For me, I find that it’s helpful to read some of the early chapters with my eyes so I know what the names are – for some reason my brain struggles with processing names when I hear them.
There are a lot of positive effects of audiobooks. I know that uneducated people like to say that it’s “not really reading” or “is cheating.” But that’s really not true. (Unless you are learning how to read with your eyes, in which case you do need to practice reading with your eyes.)
Positive effects of listening to audiobooks:
• Make boring tasks like laundry, dishes, and commuting more fun
• Improve your listening skills – remember more details about conversations that you have
• Read more books!
A few years ago, Libro.fm came up with 8 mental and physical benefits of audiobooks – I put a link to that article in my bio if you’re curious!