I love an audiobook

It looks suspicious...I know...but there are days I sit in my running car in parking lots. I have a good explanation. I love listening to audiobooks, and sometimes I arrive at my destination at the absolute wrong time! The hero and heroine are about to kiss! Her crazy stalker has just found the house where she's hiding! The jewels of the gorgeous Russian aristocrat have just been stolen from the safe!
How am I supposed to turn off the car and go into the grocery store with excitement like that going on?

I began listening to audiobooks a decade ago when I took a long car trip by myself. I'm glad to say I wasn't alone. Debbie Macomber and Janet Evanovich went with me. Those awesome storytellers are excellent travel companions. I'm sure people in cars next to me wonder why I'm laughing (alone) in my car or swiping away tears (alone) at the wheel. I suppose I could roll down the window and recommend a good book to them.

A few years back, my title with the Harlequin imprint Carina Her Lucky Catch was made into an audiobook, and I was thrilled. I was nervous, too, though, as I wondered how the narrator would sound and if she would "get" me. I'm glad to say she was terrific, and it was a bizarre out-of-body experience listening to my own book read to me in my car.

I get my audiobooks from my local library, but I'm hardcore tempted to get a subscription to Audible so I can have more of the listening magic. I keep it simple by checking out CDs from my library and using the CD player in my car. When I got a new car recently, I double-checked to make sure the 2018 model still came with a CD player. How long do you think that will continue? For now, I'm glad to slip in a CD and be entertained through traffic jams, behind school buses stopping at EVERY house, and despite long stretches of lonely road.

I don't know if Heartwarming titles will ever be available in audiobooks, but I would love it if they were. I'm toying with recording some of my self-published titles myself and making them available as an audiobook. I'm in the lucky position of having a son with a recording studio and all the technical knowledge. Could it be a winter project? I think so. Until then, I've got Susan Mallery waiting in my car for me for my next drive.


Do you enjoy listening to audiobooks? Do you prefer a male or female voice or a particular accent? What do you think of Audible or other subscription services? I'd love to "hear" your thoughts!

Comments

  1. I don’t use audiobooks when driving but I do like to listen to podcasts. Years ago when we were on long road trips with two youngsters, we used to play those cassette/book tapes for our girls. Remember them? They’d be cued to “turn the page now” as they followed the text while th narrator read. They were terrific distractions as well as good reading aids. Do you ever find that you get too immersed in the story while driving? That would be the fear for,me! :)

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  2. I love audio books. The last 10 years I worked (27 miles one way), I listened to them all the time. Now we have Sirius radio, so I'm glued to NPR all the time. I, too, had two Carina books made into audio. The first one (One More Summer) was so good that when I listened to it, it had become the narrator's book instead of mine--it was wonderful!

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  3. Hi Amie! I have to admit, I rarely listen to audio books. I'm not much of an auditory learner. Even in school, I couldn't absorb anything through lectures unless I was taking notes. If I read something, I remember it forever. If I write it down, I remember it. But just listening never helped me. I suspect now that it's because I have a slight hearing impairment and I had to really concentrate when listening and I usually ended up with a headache. Although now that I have hearing aids, the experience may be much better, so I will have to try it again.

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  4. I'm a huge fan of audio books and listen to 2-3 a month. I'd listen to more if I drove more :) I use Overdrive, an app that allows a person to check out audio books from their library on their phone. And, no, my new 2018 car I purchased last month didn't come with a CD player so I listen to audio books from Overdrive on my phone through my Blu Tooth.

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  5. You're speaking my language--and I also listen riding around town, even if it's only two or three miles to and from the store. How many I read is 100% dependent on how much I drive. To me, these are one of the best innovations of all time! Right up there with the nicotine patch (yes, I quit that way many years ago). Right now I'm almost to the end of a charming book, "Looking for Me," by Beth Hoffman. I highly recommend it if you like Southern fiction.

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  6. When I had a day job I listened to audio books to and from work. I recall once when the story was at a crucial part I got home, parked in driveway to hear the good part before driving into my garage. Two neighbors came over and rapped on the window to see if I was okay. They saw me and was afraid something had happened to me. We got a good laugh and I made sure I didn't do that again. Now I rarely drive far enough to plug in a book.

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  7. I've done that on long trips before, but not in years. Great idea, though. I'll have to find some books to listen to on our next road trip. I'll keep an eye out for yours.

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  8. I love audio books as well. Great for trips and while cleaning the house or doing tedious tasks that don't require too much brain power. It would be strange to hear someone else reading my words, but I'd be happy to venture into that territory.

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  9. I've never listened to an audio book before--can you believe that? I like silence in the car. It's just a chance to let my thoughts rattle around. But that isn't saying I wouldn't give it a try! I think an audio book while I do dishes sounds nice. :)

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  10. Never listened to audio books or podcasts, tho my commute to work is ten hours round trip so I should get on the ball...er, audiobook! Great suggestion!

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  11. I'm a fan of audio books! I listen everyday as I have an hour and a half back and forth to work. Like Cathy, I'm on bluetooth, though I've switched from Overdrive to Libby. Right now I'm listening to the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. I'm enthralled.

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  12. I love listening to audio books while I drive, but it makes me a danger to other drivers because I tend to yell at the CD player when the characters do something stupid.

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