Audiobooks

Admittedly, I am a little late to the audiobook scene. Unfortunately, none of my 6 novels currently have an audiobook version. In fact, until recently, I had not listened to any “books on tape” (to use the name they had long ago). Why? I have just had other things occupying my time and never took the effort to look at them closely (other than to get a basic understanding of rights, process to create them, and costs).

Recently, I decided to change that. I started a trial of Audible and got two free books to listen to. I finished the first book fairly quickly—the reading took only five hours. The second book is over thirteen hours and I am only halfway through it.

This post is not about those books, or even a review of Audible. It is just my early observation around audiobooks. Namely, I cannot multitask when listening to an audiobook.

I know some people talk about doing other things while listening to an audiobook, but for me, if I am listening to the reading, I cannot focus on something else. If I do focus on something else, I miss out on what was said in the audiobook.

I’ve been experimenting with when I can effectively listen to an audiobook, such as when I am out walking to get in my 10k+ steps a day. However, I also like to use that time to mentally work on my novels. As a result, I am not planning to continue listening while I walk. I might be able to if I am exercising hard, as then I rarely write in my head.

I could potentially listen to the books when I drive. I used to listen to podcasts on the way into the office and on the drive home. They could be a little distracting, but not hugely distracting. However, in the current environment, I am staying home and not driving very far when I do drive somewhere. Which means, not a lot of time in the car anymore to listen to audiobooks (and I still have those podcasts I want to listen to).

So far, the best time I have found to listen to a book is when I am in bed and getting ready to go to sleep. However, I could also spend that time just reading a book on my Kindle or in the good old fashion paper form.

Are audiobooks a growing trend? Most definitely. Will I eventually have audiobooks for my novels? I am planning on it (part of why I am doing this research). Are audiobooks for me? The jury is still out on it. I need to listen to a few more books and find the time that best suits my activities before I decide.