Why should you read books when you can listen to them? The best way to listen to your audiobook is through Audible. It is a company under the larger Amazon group.
The main business of Audible is to produce and sell popular audiobooks. They also offer what’s known as Audible Originals. Audible subscribers can buy books about social media, romance, fashion, and technology.
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The company has several membership plans. Through any of them, you can easily access the audiobooks.
So, what do you do once you become a subscriber? It is simple. Buy credits and use them to buy audiobooks. Once you buy an audiobook from Audible, it is yours forever. You can listen to it through an Alexa device, Mac computer, Windows PC or phone.
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What are the Audible Membership Plans?
Audible offers audiobooks free of charge on a 30-day trial basis. Yet, it is a subscription service with different pricing tiers. These are down either monthly or on an annual basis. Members have access to a different number of credits depending on the plan they choose. The plans include the following:
- Audible Bronze Membership. This plan is perfect for individuals who do not want to deal with a long-term subscription plan. Such customers will pay a $12.95 monthly subscription. For those who are already audible members, the monthly fees are $6.95. That also applied to Kindle Unlimited Members. For the Audible Escape Subscription, you don’t get any monthly credits.
- Audible Silver Membership. For the monthly plan, you will pay $14.95 per month. This plan gives access to one monthly credit. The subscription has an automatic 1 credit every month. It kicks in upon the expiry of the 30-day free trial. The annual subscription is $149.50 for a total of 12 yearly credits.
- Audible Gold Membership. For this plan, you will pay a $22.95 monthly subscription fee. You will get 2 credits every month. The annual plan costs $229.50 and will afford you 24 credits, renewed every year. It will be possible for you to access several audiobooks throughout the year.
Audible Membership Benefits for Subscribers.
Audible is definitely one of the most flexible and convenient subscription services around. Members benefit in many ways by having a running subscription to Audible. For instance, you will access audiobooks at discounted rates. The following are the top 13 Audible Membership benefits for subscribers.
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1. Ability to Read Great Books.
With an Audible subscription, you will listen to favorite audiobooks anywhere at any time. This thanks to the Audible App, which works on desktops, tablets as well as smartphones. Once you download a book, you can listen to it anywhere. You could be running in the morning, during gym sessions, and while on the commute.
This gives you the ability to read while doing other activities. You no longer have to postpone your reading to a more convenient time. It is possible to speed or slow down the audiobook depending on how much reading time you have. If you have a reading target, you wouldn’t find a better way to go through many titles within a short time.
Related Article: 21 Free Romance Audible Books to Listen on Amazon.
2. An Affordable Subscription Service.
One of the biggest benefits of this service is the affordability. The different Audible membership plans are pocket-friendly for most users. The most affordable non-subscription plans cost only $6.95 per month.
If you choose to go the subscription way, you may pay more, but with the possibility of accessing credits. The credits are given according to the audible membership plan you choose. For details, look at the plans which have been discussed in detail above.
For instance, silver Audible membership costs $14.95 per month for one credit. If you choose the annual plan, you will pay even less for each of the monthly credits.
Once you get your credits, you can use them to buy audiobooks. Audible is an affordable service for all book lovers. Only that you shouldn’t waste your credits on the cheaper audiobooks.
3. Continue Reading Using Whispersync.
For Kindle members, reading doesn’t have to stop as soon as you turn off the Audible app. Whispersync is a service that links your audiobook and its Kindle version. This enables to keep reading from where you left it.
For example, you could have been listening to a certain audiobook during a gym session. Later that night you may want to read the book on your Kindle Fire.
As soon as you turn it on, it will find the place where you stopped listening to the book. That way, you can start reading where the audiobook ended. The same thing will happen when you open Audible in the morning. It will resume the audiobook where you stopped reading.
4. First-Time Subscribers Get a Free Audio Book.
New subscribers have the option of trying out Audible services on a 30-day free trial. During this period, you will get a free audiobook. Later on, you can opt to make a monthly subscription by choosing a plan that suits you most.
If you find audiobooks to be unappealing, you can opt-out of the plan. The good thing is that you are free to take your time to assess the free audiobook. If you decide to cancel the subscription, you will keep your free audiobook. Who can beat that?
5. Refund If Audio Book Is Unappealing.
After subscribing, you will use your credits to download audiobooks. In case, you do not like any of them, you can return it to Audible for a refund.
For example, if a book costs you $10.00, Audible will refund you as soon as you tell them you did not like it. Yet, you should not have stayed with the book for more than 365 days. In that case, it will be assumed that you liked the book. You will not exchange it after 365 days.
Related Article: The Top 50 Free Romance Books on Kindle.
6. Listen to Book Narrations by Top Authors.
Among the 200,000 plus books on Audible, many are bestsellers or classics. Most of the book narrators are the authors themselves.
An example is, Natalie Goldberg’s book: “Writing down the Bones”, which she narrates herself. Another example is Stephen King’s book: “On Writing”.
When a famous author reads to you, it is different from if it was only an actor doing it. Yet, there are some actors who present audiobooks better than you would think. What we are saying is that it is different when the author doing it.
7. An Option to Cancel a Subscription
With an Audible subscription, you aren’t tied down to it forever. In fact, you can cancel at any time you want. There are many reasons for canceling an audible subscription.
You aren’t satisfied with the service and you want to opt-out. At the click of a mouse, you will be able to stop the subscription. It could also be that you want to more from Audible in one locality to another.
Say, you have a subscription with Audible.co.uk but you would like to try Audible.com. In that case, you will be able to keep all the audiobooks from the previous subscription.
8. Two Audible Originals Monthly.
As the name suggests, Audible Originals are audiobooks produced by Audible. As such, they are not available anywhere else. Among Audible Originals, you will find very interesting audiobooks.
They might be free, but they are still great to listen to. Once you have an Audible membership plan, you will get Audible Originals. This will happen every first Friday of the month.
Even though six will be on offer, you can choose any two for inclusion in your library. Only that you cannot return or exchange Audible Originals.
Related Article: Top 20 Best Romance Novels on Amazon Kindle Unlimited.
9. Huge Discounts on Every Purchase.
Did you know that Audible membership gives you access to a 30 percent discount on all the audiobooks you buy? This offer comes in handy when you want an audiobook and yet you have run out of credits.
For example, you have an Audible gold membership with 2 credits. You have exhausted your 2 monthly credits. You can use the discount to get more audiobooks without spending more money on credits.
The discount is also beneficial when buying low-priced audiobooks. For example, the audiobook you want costs $5.00. It will be a great loss to use your credits to get it.
If you bought it, you will get a 30 percent discount and pay $3.5 instead of $5. In addition to saving $1.5, you will also spare your credits until you find a more expensive book to buy.
10. Placing a Membership Plan on Hold.
Along the way, you may discover that you aren’t able to use all the credits you get on Audible. The best thing to do is to place your plan on hold. During the period when your membership is on hold, you will not get any extra credits.
Meanwhile, you will be catching up with previous purchases or browsing new ones. If you had credits before you put the account on hold, they will still remain in place.
For those with an Audible bronze membership plan, putting an account on hold is only possible once a year. The length of time for putting an account on hold is three months. Once the account starts running again, you cannot put it on hold for another 12 months.
11. Audiobook Gifts for Friends and Family Members.
You can also share the audiobooks on Audible with friends and family members. Using your credits, it is possible to buy an audiobook gift for a loved one.
When buying the audiobook, you will have to click on “Give as a Gift” in the “Purchase Options”. You can either send the audiobook via email or a printable card. Fill in the required details, and confirm the purchase of the book using one of your credits.
Once you click “Confirm Purchase”, the deal is over. Your loved one will receive the audiobook and listen to it as much as he or she wants. This option is not limited to any one of the Audible membership plans. It works for all membership plans.
12. Complimentary Subscription to Digital Newspapers.
Audible markets itself in different ways. For example, it publishes three newspaper digests, which they share free of charge. Like the books they sell, these newspapers are in the form of audio files.
Audible relies on their broadcast narrators to read out curated newspaper articles. Once a subscribed member, Audible will deliver every publication into your library. It could be Monday, Tuesday or any day of the week – as long as there’s a publication, you will receive it.
You don’t have to be an Audible gold membership subscriber. Even those on the other Audible membership plans will receive the files.
Related Article: Best 15 Marriage Counseling Books for Troubled Marriage.
13. Access to Daily Deals.
For long-term Audible members, the deal seems to get better with each passing day. The audiobook seller has a promotion known as the Daily Deal. It works in a very simple way.
Amazon Prime Audible subscribers, can buy an audiobook at a discounted price daily. With this offer, you can save a great amount of money with every audiobook purchase.
Signing up for Daily Deals is easy. Click on “Account Details” followed by “Notifications”. On the next page, you will see “Audible Daily Deals”. Check the box next to it for you to get daily email notifications on the available deals. Of course, the email will contain details of the deals. If you find it to be good enough, you can opt-in.
Conclusion
If you love reading and would like to listen to audiobooks on the go, having an Audible subscription is the way to go. It is an easy way to read your favorite books when you have very little time.
The good thing with Audible is that you can listen to a book on the commute, the gym, or at home. That’s the reason you should consider this a plausible book reading option. Once you get hooked, it will be hard for you to quit audiobooks.
