Why Do So Many People Prefer Listening to Audiobooks?
Audiobooks have become increasingly popular over the past several years, with companies like Audible making a big splash among readers of all demographics. It’s easier than ever to listen to audiobooks, because you can access them on your smartphone, tablet, or computer, and they’re often very affordable. Many people actually prefer listening to their content rather than reading it, and it’s completely changing the literary industry. Here’s everything you should know about the growth of audiobooks and why they’re making such a big impact.
Auditory vs. Visual Learners
Everyone has their own style of learning, and although no two people are completely alike, learning styles can be broken down into a few different categories. The two most prominent categories are auditory learners and visual learners. Although you may not think of reading as a ‘learning’ activity, your learning style still affects the way you absorb content. Finding your learning style can help you determine whether you’ll enjoy physical books or audiobooks more.
Visual learners process information best when it’s in a visual format. They often like to write or draw things out to process them. In school, they often did best when they could take lots of notes or see the information presented, instead of listening to a lecture. In contrast, auditory learners process information by listening to it. When they were in school, they learned best by listening to the teacher talk, and they may have benefited from recording lectures and listening to them later. They often learn particularly well through music and are very attentive to noises and sounds.
Historically, auditory learners have often been overlooked, even though they make up a large chunk of the population. But now, things are starting to change with audiobooks. Audiobooks particularly appeal to auditory learners, because they are much easier to focus on and allow them to absorb the details of the book in a way that comes much more naturally to them. In the past, auditory learners didn’t always have a way to enjoy consuming content, so they may have just avoided reading altogether. Now there are so many audiobooks available that people who may never have been readers before can enjoy a variety of books and delve into the world of literature.
Benefits of Listening to Books
There are so many benefits of listening to books instead of reading them. While everyone’s reading experience is personal, here are just a few of the many reasons why people are choosing to listen.
- Audiobooks allow you to read in a variety of different places, so it’s easier to fit reading into your day. You can listen to audiobooks in the car or while you are traveling, so you don’t have to carry heavy books around, and you can listen to books during times when you wouldn’t normally be able to read.
- Audiobooks allow you to listen while doing something else. This is great for people who have very busy schedules that would normally prevent them from reading. It’s also helpful for people who like to be active and wouldn’t enjoy sitting still to read a book. For example, you can listen to audiobooks while cleaning or exercising, which makes these productive activities much more enjoyable.
- Audiobooks allow people to listen together. Reading a book visually is a very personal activity that you can only do by yourself, which for extroverts isn’t always the most fun. However, audiobooks allow you to enjoy a book with your friends and family by listening at the same time. This turns reading into a fun social activity and makes it easier to talk about the book.
- Audiobooks allow people with dyslexia, vision impairment, and other health challenges to enjoy reading, even if they can’t read books visually. There are also many people without health problems that struggle to read books at a steady pace, and therefore find reading frustrating. Audiobooks eliminate these challenges to make reading easier. Reading is a wonderful experience that everyone should get to enjoy, and audiobooks make it accessible to everyone. Audiobooks even make reading easier for kids who are struggling to learn, and can make it easier for them to do well in school.
- Audiobooks are often incredibly entertaining. They’re usually read either by the author or by an actor who can bring a unique voice and energy to the story. Many people find that listening to audiobooks engages them in the same way watching a movie or television show does.
- Audiobooks are very relaxing, and are a great way to reduce stress, particularly if you deal with anxiety or other mental health issues. Listening to an audiobook at the end of the day is an excellent way to relax and forget about your problems, and it can help you unwind before falling to sleep.
- Audiobooks are very affordable or even free. This makes them very accessible to many people. There are a variety of library services that let you download audiobooks if you have a card with your local library. There are also apps that let you pay a small subscription fee to listen to as many books as you want. Even if you are paying full price for an audiobook, it’s still usually much cheaper than a full priced hardback.
The Rise of Audiobooks
Books on tape have been available for many decades, but it is only recently that audiobooks have become so immensely popular. The rise of audiobooks over the past several years has made reading a more fun and accessible pastime for many people, and it has been very effective for the publishing industry as well, because it gives them an easy way to market their books to a wider audience. Here’s how audiobooks have taken the world by storm in recent years.
In the past few years, many services have started offering ebooks that you can download on your computer or mobile device. It used to be that if you wanted to listen to an ebook, you had to either purchase the tapes at a bookstore or find them at your local library, and then listen to them on a tape player. Walkmans made this process slightly easier, but tapes were still bulky to carry around. That all changed with the development of CDs and then eventually MP3 players and smartphones. Itunes started offering some audiobooks, and then services like Audible and Scribd made them even more affordable and accessible.
The other major change that made audiobooks much more popular and accessible is that much more of them started being produced. In the past, only the most successful books were available on audiobook, and in many cases, you would have to wait months or even years before the audiobook would become available. With the advancement of technology, this was no longer true. Anyone could record their book on tape with access to a simple recording studio, and publishers started taking advantage of this to put out audiobooks for all of their publications. They also started hiring actors to make the recordings more interesting and even funny for a broad audience of listeners.
The way audiobooks are marketed has also changed pretty drastically, which means that much more people are aware of them. If you watch YouTube or use social media, you’ve likely seen or heard ads for Audible, one of the biggest audiobook services in the world. Audible in particular has been excellent about working with influencers and using social media culture to its advantage to make audiobooks feel more exciting and draw new readers in. However, there are many services that are coming to the market and offering new features with these benefits. These services have also made it easier for people who were already audiobook listeners to consume more audiobooks. Subscription models allow access to a huge range of audiobooks try for a fixed rate fee, which is likely to up your listening levels if you subscribe. Most services also offer your first book free, which makes you more likely to try this new phenomenon.
The consumption of audiobooks has increased by huge percentage points in the past several years, with Forbes reporting year over year growth of 20 percent. These numbers have made the industry take notice, and many companies are looking to streamline the audiobook creation process even more. Audiobooks can be quite profitable, as there’s little material costs other than the cost of the labor to make the voice recording. While audiobooks are cheaper than their physical counterparts, they are often sold for almost as much, which leads to a nice profit for distributors. However, not everyone has the means to get started with ebooks, particularly indie authors. This is set to change in the near future with the growth of technology in this area.
Many companies are looking to solve this problem to make ebooks easier to make. There are several independent companies that are making it simple to create an ebook on your own by connecting with the requisite voice talent and technology, without paying huge fees to audiobook publishers. This indie audiobook market has the potential to completely change the way authors create their final product, and makes it much more appealing to writers to create both an ebook and audiobook version of their work, instead of just the written copy.
Only time will tell exactly how the audiobook market will progress, but in the meantime, if you are a writer or publisher, now is the best time to get in on the ground floor of audiobook popularity. When marketing your final work, it’s important to reach out not only to companies that can distribute the final written copy, but also who can help you create and market an audiobook. With so much development in this area in the past several years, there’s room to shop around and look for the best audiobook publisher.
Where to Find Audiobooks
If you are a reader and you haven’t tried audiobooks yet, it is worth giving this unique format a shot. Audiobooks can help you up your book consumption and read faster, and if you don’t always enjoy physically reading, they provide you with a new way to enjoy great written content. Here are some of the best ways to find audiobooks.
- Overdrive/Libby: If you have a card with your local library, you may be surprised to learn that you can check out audiobooks for free. Overdrive and Libby are two apps run by the same company that allow you to access your library’s resources on your smartphone or tablet and check out both audiobooks and ebooks. Many local libraries have their own websites as well where you can check out books on your computer.
- iTunes: Many of us already use iTunes to buy music, movies, and TV shows, but you can use it to purchase audiobooks as well. While it’s not the cheapest way to get audiobooks, they have a very extensive selection to choose from and they are easy to download.
- Audible: Audible is a very popular monthly subscription service where you pay a flat fee to have access to as many audiobooks as you want. The first book is usually free and they have the largest selection of audiobooks out of any company that offers them.
- Scribd: This is another popular company that offers not only audiobooks, but ebooks and magazines as well, all on your smartphone. They are very affordable and have an excellent selection from both mainstream and indie publishers.
These are just a few of the many places where you can download audiobooks online. If you love to listen to books, there’s such an incredible selection, and it’s easy to discover new authors and stories you’ll enjoy.
Technology is completely changing the literary and publishing industries, and audiobooks are just one of the many things that are making reading more accessible. Whether you love fiction, memoirs, or educational content, there’s plenty of selection out there for you to choose from. Looking forward to the future, there’s endless growth possible for the audiobook industry.
