4 Tips to Get You Into Audiobooks

I’ve written about why audiobooks count as reading, and since then the most common things I’ve heard are “I just don’t have the time” or “that’s great that you like audiobooks, but I just cannot get into them.” I’m here to ask you reconsider those two points.

Since I started keeping track of the books I listen to on audio earlier this year, I have completed 31 audiobooks and am listening to #32 as I type this. I always thought that I hated audiobooks, but I’ve done a couple of things to help me get into them. And now, I ALWAYS have a book on audio going! I think doing one or more of the things on this list will help give you a new perspective on audiobooks.

1. Mentally catalog all of the time you spend doing something alone or in the quiet. What do I mean by that? Catalog the time you spend vacuuming, doing laundry, preparing meals, driving in the car alone, waiting for a kid to get out of practice or an after school activity, lawn work, cleaning, exercising… the list of things we do as mothers to keep a household running is endless. I would argue that many, if not all of them, could be done with an audiobook in your ear. I no longer watch Netflix while I exercise, I listen to audiobooks! I also have some company while I cook dinner and the girls play by themselves. My car rides to and from the grocery store are also filled with stories, not the radio. If you think you don’t have the time to listen to audiobooks, spend a day cataloging the time you spend doing the things I listed above and I think you’ll realize you have much more time than you think!
2. Play with the rate setting. Listening to a book at ‘regular’ speed felt so slow to me. Torturously slow. And that was probably the top reason why I couldn’t get into audiobooks before. But, I’ve played with the rate setting and can now easily listen to books on 2 or 2.25X speed. I sort of worked up to this speed – starting at 1.5 and gradually bumping it up. A speed of 2.25x isn’t impossible for me to understand with the right narrators, however most narrators (for me) aren’t enjoyable to listen to at this speed. A speed of 2x has become second nature to me. Also, when you are listening at that rate, a whole book is done in 4-5 hours! For me, that’s easily done over the course of a couple days.
3. Listen to a book you know that you love. I think this is one of the best first audiobooks to listen to. Why? You know and love the characters already, there are no surprises and if you miss a little bit here and there, you still understand the story. This step is mostly to let you see that you have the time and opportunity to listen. It’s also a good book to play around with the playback rate settings to see what you are comfortable with. I think this point is an all around winner. Check with your local library for what audiobooks they have for checkout – this is a great, free way to start listening to books to see what you like to listen too. I started with an audiobook gifted to me from an author, but immediately checked out more from my library in the Libby app. Not having to spend money on an audiobook before I really knew I liked to listen to them was a great way to test them out without any commitment!
4. Invest in comfy earbuds or headphones. This one was the biggest hurdle for me. I’ve never had a pair of earbuds that I liked. I always felt like my ears were too small and traditional earbuds were painful after a couple of minutes. I also wasn’t comfortable with headphones because I wanted to have one ear open in case the girls got into an argument. I found a pair of Jabra earbuds with adjustable earpieces that I absolutely adore. I use the smallest insert and I could keep them in my ear for hours and hours on end without any pain. You could listen from the speaker on your phone, but I wanted something that I could walk around with in my ear and kinda forget it was even there.

Which of these tips will you try out first to get you into audiobooks!?