For a monthly fee, get a discounted audiobook every month. 
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The first 30 days are part of an Audible free trial. After that, the Audible subscription is $14.95 per month.

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An audiobook is simply a narrated version of a traditional book. Same words, except instead of reading them, you listen to them. A narrator speaks and records a book's content for you to download (like you would a song). Authors sometimes double as their narrators, but often a voiceover artist reads the story. For certain titles, these are famous actors and actresses you’d likely recognize. 


​You can buy standalone books on Audible or opt for a membership (AKA subscription). This article is mainly about the Amazon Audible membership, which has the potential to save you a lot of money vs. buying audiobooks as a non-member.

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The non-subscriber price for Audible books tends to be much higher, with many titles well over $30.00. For a flat $14.95, a member can listen to any audiobook in the catalogue each month regardless of its list price.


If you don’t happen to download a book one month, the opportunity doesn’t go to waste. You simply receive a credit (ex, you can download two the next month). Members can pile up credits for five months until expiration.


Members also get access to two Audible Originals each month. These are titles Audible produces (as opposed to a traditional book publisher or an author personally), and are only available on the platform (ex, no version exists on Kindle or as a paperback). 


Each month, six new Audible Original titles are released. You can download any two without using your monthly credit. They're bonuses. 

In brief, almost any type you can imagine. Fiction and non-fiction across multiple genres. Plus podcasts and other spoken media.

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The vast majority of well-known titles are on there, ex books from big-name authors like Stephen King, Dan Brown, Liane Moriarty, John Grisham, and Gillian Flynn.


A lot of indie books are available too.


To check out the full range of titles and see what your favorite authors are up to on there, take advantage of the free trial. You can browse the entire catalogue and choose up to two free Audible books in your first 30 days.

Download the Audible app. It's available for many products, such as iPhones, Android phones, Fire tablets, and Alexa devices.

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The app itself is free. ​You simply pay for your $14.95/month membership. You can listen on as many devices as you want. No additional fees apply, and content syncs between them. Ex, start a story at home on your tablet and finish it on the train the next morning on your phone.

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​I do my reading/listening on an Amazon Fire HD tablet. If you have an older device and want to upgrade to this one or another newer model, Amazon offers a generous trade-in program.

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Amazon audiobooks come from three major sources, with Audible the central hub. Amazon Prime audiobooks and Kindle Unlimited audiobooks are the other channels.


Prime members get access to some Audible books, plus some podcasts, as part of their membership to that service without having to subscribe to Audible too. Similarly, Kindle Unlimited members can access over 2,000 Audible books without subscribing. 


​However, for discounted listening to Amazon's full catalogue of over 425,000 titles, you'd need an Audible membership regardless if you use Prime, Kindle Unlimited, or both.


Kindle Unlimited’s main benefit doesn't involve audiobooks, but as the name suggests, Kindle books, providing uncapped access to over 1 million. If you’d like to know more about that service, check out another article I wrote that gives a Kindle Unlimited overview.


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If you answer yes to most of these questions, an Audible membership is probably a good idea: 
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1. Do you currently listen to audiobooks?
2. If not, do you find the idea of audiobooks appealing?
3. Do you usually listen to or read at least one book a month?
4. Do you usually spend more than $14.95 per month on books?

In my opinion, #2 is a key question. Listening to audiobooks could be your favorite hobby you haven't even tried. It may be for you if:


You're a multi-tasker. You can enjoy this version of a story while doing something else. Ex, listen while you drive. Or work out. Or clean out the garage.


You have lighting challenges. If you often struggle to find good lighting to read, audiobooks wipe out the problem for you. Just pop in the headphones and hit "play," no matter where you are or how bright it is.


You're an audiophile. Ie, you love music, radio shows, and other sound-based entertainment. Voice adds to the sensory experience of a story. If you particularly like that sort of entertainment, narration may really resonate with you.


However, as mentioned, the only way to see if Audible is really for you is to check out the free trial.

You pay a monthly fee, you get unlimited Kindle downloads.
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As mentioned, the service is free to try. After the first 30 days, the Kindle Unlimited cost is $9.99 per month.


​You of course also need a Kindle or Kindle-supported device. If you don't have one, I recommend an Amazon's Fire HD. It's what I read on. You can also watch movies, shows, browse the internet, and listen to music. FYI, if you have an older tablet and want to upgrade to a newer one like this, Amazon offers a money-saving trade-in program.    


No matter what device you use, Amazon will automatically bill a Kindle subscription fee to a credit card of your choice (if you already have a card saved in Amazon, you can use that one), and as long as you keep paying, you get access to the whole service. The model is identical to Netflix’s.


Now, by whole service, I don’t mean every single Kindle book on Amazon. This is a common misconception. A Kindle Unlimited subscription includes access to over 1 million Kindle titles, however, more than 1 million are for sale on Amazon. You get a lot. But not all. At any given time, you can have 10 titles on your device. When you finish one, you make room for another. 


Speaking of misconceptions…
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Many people believe Kindle Unlimited is included with Amazon Prime. It’s not. Prime members are instantly enrolled in something called Prime Reading, which gives them over 1,000 books and magazines, but not the far larger, million-title-plus catalogue on Kindle Unlimited.


Whether you have Amazon Prime or not, you have to pay the Kindle Unlimited price ($9.99/month) to access the service. But that only kicks in after the 30-day free trial. The same is true with another popular book-based Amazon service, Audible. A subscription there is different than a Kindle Unlimited one. To learn more about Audible, check out this Amazon Audible overview I wrote.  

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​If you’re reading this article, chances are you heard something about Kindle Unlimited and thought it might be for you, and chances are trying it would be worth the few seconds it takes to sign up.


Now that you know how much it costs and how to get it, you’re probably wondering what it includes, mainly… 

Authors - and/or their publishers - decide if a book will be in the program. Amazon doesn’t choose. 


As an author/publisher, if you opt to not have a book in the service, all Amazon shoppers could buy it for Kindle at the same set price, with you receiving the same royalty off each purchase. 


If you opt to include the book in the program, Amazon shoppers not in Kindle Unlimited would still be able to buy it at its set price - netting you the traditional royalty - while program subscribers could download it for free.

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Though authors/publishers don’t earn a traditional royalty when a Kindle Unlimited subscriber downloads their book, they do get some income as part of a revenue-share agreement with Amazon based on a math formula out of scope for this non-technical article (but if you’re interested, do a Google search for “Kindle Unlimited earnings formula”).


The earnings for an author/publisher per download are typically less if a reader is in Kindle Unlimited vs. not in Kindle Unlimited. If that’s the case, then why would an author/publisher choose to put out Kindle Unlimited books at all? The answer varies, however, based on my own experience and what I’ve heard from others in the program, exposure is a main driver. 


There are a lot of Kindle Unlimited subscribers. And if you have a book in the program, all of them can read it for free. Without a transactional-charge barrier, people are of course more likely to click the download button. Thus, you can reach many more readers than you would’ve at a universal set price. The long-term benefits of this exposure for an author/publisher could far outweigh the reduced profit per download.


Enough about author/publisher economics. As a reader, you probably want to know…

The program spans all sorts of titles across fiction and non-fiction in all sorts of genres (and also a selection of magazines). 


You’ll of course find many indie books on there, especially from newer writers. Why? As mentioned, exposure is a big benefit of releasing a title into the program, and in an effort to make a name for themselves without the luxury of a large marketing budget, indie authors/publishers, especially newer ones, need as much exposure they can get.


That being said, a lot of well-recognized authors are also part of the service. For instance, Suzanne Collins, Melinda Leigh, Gregg Olsen, and JK Rowling.


So, that brings us to the central question…
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If you answer yes to most of these questions, then yes, it’s probably a good fit:

1. Do you like reading on a Kindle or Fire tablet?
2. Do you read often?
3. Do you typically spend more than $9.99 per month buying books?
4. Do you like reading both well-known authors and authors who aren’t household names?

Lastly, there’s only one way to know for sure if it’s for you. And that’s to try it free.
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