An Introduction To Audiobooks

Last year I set myself the goal of reading 30 books, before then I only read maybe five or so each year but I exceeded my reading goal massively by reading 79 books last year. However, while it can be great to read a physical book or an e-book, I have wondered about audiobooks for years! For some reason I felt as though audiobooks were a reading cheat or that I wouldn't be able to concentrate as much compared to reading a book.

BookBeat

When the opportunity came up to work with BookBeat, an audiobook subscription service created in Sweden in 2015, I had to apply. BookBeat offers subscribers thousands of audiobooks to choose from which vary from all kinds of fiction to non-fiction as well as classics and newer releases. As of last month they have expanded their market to the UK and I have been lucky enough to receive a free subscription. If you wanted to subscribe then it's £14.90 per month and there isn't a limited on how many audiobooks you can listen to but you can get a ONE MONTH free trial using this link (it's not an affiliate link) rather than the normal two week free trial.

Signing up to BookBeat is so easy, the website and app are so easy to navigate and it's easy to find books you want to read. On the app there a great feature where you can save certain audiobooks to a list, I do this with the audiobooks I want to read and you can also download the audiobooks too so you can listen to them when you don't have access to wifi which is amazing and perfect for travelling.

I find that of the fiction and non-fiction audiobooks I've listened to so far, I can concentrate as much as I can when reading a book but it also means that the time I spend baking, cooking, tidying up taking and editing photos can be used to listen to an audiobook around the house on my iPhone - audiobooks count towards my reading goal on GoodReads too which is great as I'm a little behind on my reading goal of 80 books this year.

Audiobooks I've Listened To So Far

So far I am on my fourth audiobook, I have finished two fiction audiobooks, one non-fiction and I'm currently listening to Victorians Undone by Kathryn Hughes which is a non-fiction audiobook (and I'm loving it). I would have finished more but we've been busy redecorating recently and getting ready for a new kitchen which should be started today. You can rate audiobooks on the app too and I've given the three I've finished all four stars out of five.

I find that so far I am liking non-fiction audiobooks more than fiction but I have just started so that might change. One series that I definitely want to read more from is the History In An Hour by Harper Collins which focuses on one historical figures or events - I've listen to the one on Stalin and I have a few more saved in my list to listen to including one about Mussolini, Charles Dickens, JFK and about the Russian Revolution.

Overall

I am loving audiobooks on BookBeat so far, especially the non-fiction I've listened to. I love how the app is laid out, it's easy to find what I want and discover audiobooks I didn't know existed and I love that I can listen to an audiobook while doing other things and it still counts towards my GoodReads reading goal! My only criticism so far is that Stephen Fry can't narrate every single audiobook...

Do you listen to audiobooks? Have you tried BookBeat? Will you be using the one month free trial? 

*gifted