June is Audiobook Month!

Credit: Audiobook Publishers Association

June is Audiobook Month as designated by the Audiobook Publishers Association. The APA’s website mentions a few ways for audiobook fans to get involved and spread audiobook awareness. The APA’s mission is as follows, quoted directly from their site:

Formed in 1987, the Audio Publishers Association (APA) is a not-for-profit trade association that advocates the common, collective business interests of audio publishers. The APA consists of audio publishing companies and allied suppliers, distributors, and retailers of spoken word products and allied fields related to the production, distribution and sale of audiobooks.

APA:

Advocacy: Promote policies and activities to create greater awareness and accelerate audiobook industry growth.

Events: Deliver programs and services that serve the common business interests for all members.

Networking: Serve as a networking, educational, and informational forum for members. 

Standards: Advocate and guide for high quality production value. 

For the month of June, the APA gives some very simple guidelines for supporting audiobooks and getting the word out:

Want to help spread the word about the Audies, APAC, and June is Audiobook Month? Please use the following hashtags in order to direct attention to our season of celebration, education, and community! With your help, we can reach more audiobook lovers and new listeners than ever!

#Audies2015
#APAC2015
#Audiomonth

They’re encouraging posts, interviews that focus on audiobooks, audiobook reviews, and of course sharing across social media to get the word out. Other hashtags that I’ve seen supporting Audiobook Month include #JIAM (which seems to share its tag with a celebrity athlete, but the athlete doesn’t overwhelm the tag), #AudiobookMonth and #ListenLit

My personal history with audiobooks has been rocky until very recently. I’m a fast reader, often finishing thick books in a single day if you leave me to it. Before kids, it wasn’t uncommon for me to read two full novels a day. I started reading early in life, and my love of reading has never ceased since finishing my very first book. My initial problem with listening to audiobooks was that the narrators could never read as fast as I could, which made me impatient. I’d usually end up abandoning the audiobook and just moving on to the actual book to get it finished. I also like the feel of books in my hands. I’m a very big ebook reader too, but I used to have to hold an actual book and flip through pages from time to time even when I got my first Kindle, so audiobooks made me uncomfortable. That’s a habit I still sort of have. I think it’s just a comfort thing. I love the feel of pages between my fingers and that book smell.

Another problem I faced is that I’m fidgety. I don’t just like to sit in one place listening to a story being read to me. Despite this, my husband gifted me with an Audible account in 2009, and it felt like a waste, at first. My credits would pile up. I’d pick up a few books, listen to them for a while, and abandon them for the actual book. However, sometimes, he is wise. He must’ve saw this day coming because something happened.

First, Audible’s speed controls. Those were a godsend when I found them. I don’t normally listen to audiobooks on any speed slower than 2x. In most cases, that’s still slower than I read, but it’s not so slow that I get annoyed. I can actually enjoy the story and the narration, picking out what does and doesn’t work in the narration for me rather than huffing about how slow the narration is going.

Second, I learned that I didn’t have to just sit. I’m really embarrassed it took me so long to realize that. I could listen to my books while I cleaned, while I did laundry, while knitting, while driving, and even while I was doing mundane things in video games that require no brain power–such as exploring the Hinterlands in Dragon Age: Inquisition or roaming the world of The Witcher 3.

Third, Amazon and Audible teamed up to give us Whispersync, which is absolute genius. It allows you to follow along in the ebook as the audiobook is playing. It highlights the words as the story is being read to you. It’s an excellent form of deep immersion and is amazing with books that might prove to be difficult reads if you only listened to the book or only read the book.  Now, I’m actually excited about the prospects of audiobooks and joked that I’ve come to appreciate them in my old age. I don’t have the “too many” credits problem on Audible anymore. Now, I have a problem of which books I’m going to use my credits on.

We’re pretty busy women here on this site and have tons of content to share with you, but I will try to focus a bit more on reviewing audiobooks this month and maybe even write an article or two commenting on some new voices I’ve found since our initial post about our favorite narrators.

I’ll end this post with a few audiobook related links for you to check out if you’re so inclined.

Check out our audiobooks tag to see what audiobooks we’ve been reviewing!

Also, we’re participating in the 2015 Audiobook Challege hosted by  The Book Nympho and Hot Listens:

Mogsy’s Audio Challenge Post
Tiara’s Audio Challenge Post
1st Quarter Audio Challenge Update

Here are some additional links to audiobook resources that may come in handy, and don’t forget your local library as a resource as well.

Audiobook Resources: Audible | Ambling Books | Downpour | Tantor | Barnes & Noble | Audio Jukebox | ListenUp Audiobooks

If you have an audiobook you’ve really enjoyed, tell me about it in the comments. I’m always looking for new suggestions, and I read any and every genre. So, don’t be afraid to recommend your favorite romances, mysteries, contemporary reads or whatever else you enjoy outside of speculative fiction. As one of my favorite quote goes:

“By way of this unprecedented, unbridled literary promiscuity, I have made some pleasant discoveries.”
Anna Lyndsey, Girl in the Dark

Happy reading!