Audiobooks – your opinion needed!
I have been adamantly opposed to producing my own audiobooks for several years, but recently some changes might make it not only feasible for me, but perhaps even a good idea.
So, your opinion is needed! Audiobooks are expensive, I know, but some people swear by them. (Especially people with long commutes.) And if you do use them, I am curious to know your preferences.
If you listen to audiobooks, what platform do you use – Audible, iTunes, or something else? Do you prefer to buy them, or use an Audible credit? How long do you prefer an audiobook to be? Do you listen to audiobooks from your local library? Or do you swear them off as too expensive and just use the Text-To-Speech feature?
Feel free to share your opinion below! There are no right or wrong answers to these kinds of questions, just personal preferences.
-JM
In general I prefer to read the old-fashioned way – on my tablet with an eBook 🙂
But when I take a trip or am driving for a long stretch, audio books can be great. I am cheap so I check them out of libraries or find them on sale. I prefer unabridged readings so the length depends on the text. Pretty much any format that my iPhone or tablet can handle is okay for me.
Most important is *how* the book is read. I’ve had books where the reader’s performance added immensely to my enjoyment and others where the reader is simply too annoying to bear. Unfortunately, I can’t quite put my finger on what the difference between the two is so that’s no help to you.
Hi, you asked for responses so here is mine.
Sure, I’m not against audiobooks. I have an Audible account as well as my Kindle account. My husband prefers text to speech for some reason. But mostly I read text on my phone or sometimes on my Kindle. It’s faster that way 🙂
But if I had longer ways traveling to work then I might have chosen to listen to books more often..
As long as you keep writing for us, we’ll keep listening regardless of format! Thanks for everything!
It does seem to depend on the circumstances of one’s life. I’ve noticed people with long commutes tend to use a lot of audiobooks.
At one time I was a reading purist but my best friend and my mother swore by audiobooks. I started to walk for exercise and decided to give them a try and since then my Kindle Voyage has sat unused.
I use my phone (Pixel, Android V9) to listen using the free version of “Smart Audiobook Player” ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ak.alizandro.smartaudiobookplayer ).
I am a firm believer in reasonable prices for reasonable things, I happily pay for audiobooks when they are reasonably priced but I find all to often they are far to expensive, this is in line with new e-reader books costing $20 or more as publishers are sticking to the old business model with new books costing a lot more cause they only come out in first runs as hardcover.
Back on track.
So I get a lot of what I listen to from torrent sites, the rest I buy from Amazon. I have gone to my local library and signed up and plan on using Libby to get some audiobooks but have not yet picked one up via that method yet.
I love to listen to books, and the longer the better. Renting them from the library is great although most often I end up buying them on audible. However price is always a factor, $10 is the upper limit. I hope you choose to record the Cloak Games and Ghost book.
I do enjoy audio-books, and i listen to them almost as often as i read them. I commute quite often (15-20 hours per week) and prefer to listen to good audio-books along the way. I typically use audible as my go to for downloads, however i have also used the local library and even purchased a few physical copies here and there. The length of the audio-books are not that important, i have listen to and enjoyed 6 hour books just as much as 15+ hour books. The important part with an audio-book is that the person reading the book, has to show their own enjoyment with the story as they are reading the story. I have seen great books ruined by droll, monotone, lethargic readers – so if you do go this route find a reader that LOVES the story they are reading. It will show in how they read it, and it will sell! That being said, I would enjoy seeing the ghost’s series and the cloak games series with audio format. I would completely buy them all over again to be able to read and/or listen to my Favorite story lines.
I use text to speech while driving, doing chores and walking. I started reading your books with the Frostborn series during an 8 hour drive with my kids. Turns out they stop fighting and listen to the story too. 😊
I prefer text to speech because I am still imaginging the story my way and don’t get distracted by the influence of the person reading. Then when I finish driving I can continue reading where I left off the old fashioned way.
DRM free on Google Play is awesome for this.