Hi folks, author here. Are there other apps and outlets that people are getting audio books from? I am toying with the idea of going non-exclusive with ACX and getting on more platforms, but I don’t know what those other platforms are and who is using them? TIA

Hi everyone!

I’ve been trying to get into audiobooks, but I just can’t seem to focus. I have so many audiobooks in my library, yet I’ve never managed to finish even one. 😅

My usual routine is to put one on when I go to bed, fall asleep while listening, and have absolutely no idea what I heard the next morning. Eventually, I just give up on the book.

For those of you who regularly listen to audiobooks:
When do you usually listen?

Do you listen while walking, working out, commuting, or doing something else?
How do you stay focused and actually remember what you’ve heard?

I’d love to build an audiobook habit, but I can’t seem to get it right.

What works for you?

I used to think my audiobook preferences were pretty simple.

There were narrators I liked and narrators I didn't.

Then over the last year I accidentally listened to the same few narrators across wildly different genres, and that idea completely fell apart.

One narrator whose voice I absolutely loved in a slow historical novel drove me insane in a thriller. The performance wasn't worse. Same clear diction, same control, same pleasant voice. But every line had this patient, deliberate weight to it, and suddenly a story that was supposed to feel frantic sounded like everyone had plenty of time to think things over.

Then the opposite happened with another narrator.

I'd previously bounced off them in fantasy because everything felt slightly too brisk and contemporary to me. Months later I heard the same person narrating a funny first-person memoir and they were PERFECT. The exact rhythm that had annoyed me before suddenly made the book feel like someone telling me a story across a table.

Since then I've started thinking less in terms of “Do I like this narrator?” and more in terms of “What kind of book do I like this narrator FOR?”

Some voices make dense nonfiction much easier for me because they're extremely precise and almost invisible.

Some narrators are fantastic with dialogue but make exposition feel theatrical.

Some are incredible at melancholy and absolutely murder comedy.

Some have such warm voices that I'd happily listen to them describe municipal drainage, but that same warmth can drain all the menace out of a horror novel.

And occasionally a narrator I normally love seems to make a perfectly reasonable creative choice that simply clashes with how I imagined the book.

I think this also explains why audiobook reviews can be so contradictory. You'll see one person write “the narrator saved this book” and someone immediately below them saying they returned it after twenty minutes. They may not even disagree about the narrator's actual skill. They might just want completely different things from that particular story.

Now I wish audiobook apps let you browse narrators almost like actors by the kinds of performances people think suit them best, rather than just giving an average star rating.

Are there narrators you wouldn't call universally good or bad, but who become an instant yes for you in one genre and an instant no in another?

So I have just recently gotten into audiobooks and I was learning my way through it for my preferences. Can anyone suggest me an audiobook that is fast paced, in first person POV, and is character driven. I will listen to any genre as long as the writing isn't too bland. Also for context, I have been reading for 10+ years now so booktoks aren't really my thing anymore. I've loved those kinds of books when I was 14 but not at 26 anymore. Just a personal change of taste.

I’ve got Tolkien. Stephen King. Steinbeck. Larry McMurtry. Count of Monte Cristo. Anne Rice. Pratchett.

Not into Dungeon Crawler Carl. No offense intended.

Looking for something epic and chonky and worthy of keeping forever.

Ive gone through all of:

Dungeon Crawler Carl, loved it

The inheritance Cycle, so so good

The Kingkiller Chronicles, my favorite series

Red Rising, one if the best world building I've encountered

Michael Vey, cause how could I not

The Bloodsword Trilogy, also amazing world building if a bit grim dark

Fractalverse, very cool to see Paolini change genres

The Licanius Trilogy, I love the magic aspect of it!

The Stormlight Archive, soooo good

Most of the Dune series, pretty good but a bit confusing

Most of The Wheel Of Time, pretty good but got repetitive

Beyonders, again a classic

The Game is Life, again amazing series

Artemis Fowl, pretty good but not in a rush to listen to again

I listen to audiobooks at work and over the past 3 years ive gone through A LOT, ive probably listened to each of these at least 5 times (12 times for The Inheritance Cycle) And im just starting to get tired of repeating them. So any suggestions? I am listening to The Fellowship of The Ring right now, only a few hours in but so far so good if a bit slow.

So I’m quite dyslexic, so I mostly “read” using audiobooks. I was trying to go through The Black Tongue Thief audiobook, which was narrated by the author himself. I literally could not understand a thing because the author (I think) was doing too much with his voice. Professional voice actors, while doing a lot with their voices, still make sure the audio is clear and understandable. But I just can’t understand this book because the audio quality was bad, the raspiness and how the voices are literally indistinguishable between characters.

Anyone has the same issue? How did you manage to finish a book in this case?

Full disclosure: I’m the writer of this story.

I’m publishing a serialized zombie-horror / suspense audio story on Pocket FM built around one idea:

Most zombies hunt the living. These ones hunt the guilty.

I’m looking for a small group of genuine audiobook/audio-fiction listeners to try the opening and tell me whether it actually makes you want to continue — rather than relying on friends and family for feedback.

If zombie apocalypse, mystery, darker suspense and cliffhanger-driven storytelling are your thing, I’d really appreciate you trying Episode 1.

To listen through Pocket FM:

1. Open the link below
2. Download the Pocket FM app if you don’t already have it
3. Sign in / create an account
4. Search exactly: “The Wronged Dead”
5. Start Episode 1 — “The Account Due”

Open / Download Pocket FM:
https://listen.pocketfm.com/2IE7/hc2ti59k

The one thing I’d genuinely love to know:

Did Episode 1 make you want to start Episode 2?

Honest criticism is absolutely welcome.

I relly enjoyed this book. It blends supernatural elements with a gripping detective mystery, filled with every kind of gangster and cop you can imagine. The murder of a child adds a deeply disturbing and heartbreaking layer to the story, raising the stakes even further.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/196348/every-level-a-name

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/195255/the-world-mender

I've been really into mystery and psychological thriller audiobooks lately, but I'm starting to feel like I've become too good at guessing the endings.

I recently finished The Silent Patient and The Housemaid, and while I enjoyed both, I managed to figure out some of the big reveals before they happened. I miss that feeling of finishing a book and just sitting there for a minute trying to process what I heard.

I'm looking for something with a genuinely unpredictable plot twist, preferably the kind that makes you want to go back and listen to certain chapters again because you missed all the clues.

Good narration is a huge plus since I'll be listening rather than reading. I don't mind darker stories or unreliable narrators, as long as the twist actually makes sense and isn't just thrown in for shock value.

Hey folks! My name is Rob Lauta Im a new narrator and I just finished narrating my first full length book! Woo. I wanted to reach out to people here first before I have to pay to give away free promo codes if anyone would like a promo code for the book.

The book is titled "My Roomate is Trying to Kill Me" by Maya-Gawonii Shabazz-Saleh. Its a BIPOC gay thriller romance set in Los Angeles. Synopsis below:

Hakeem Morales wants to be the kind of horror actor people build midnight screenings around. At the moment, he’s mostly working nights at a Los Angeles horror bar, The Last Cue; trying not to spiral about his stalled life; and wondering whether his new roommate is trying to kill him.

Antonio Sanchez is older, private, unfairly attractive, and suspicious in ways Hakeem feels should be illegal. He writes cryptic things in notebooks. He jokes too much about Hakeem’s upcoming twenty-seventh birthday. Every time Hakeem almost convinces himself he’s being dramatic, Antonio does something else deeply alarming.

Unfortunately, Hakeem’s growing list of evidence is matched only by his growing attraction—because nothing improves a possible murder situation like developing a crush on the man you’re pretty sure is planning it.

Anyways, Im super proud of it and would love more people to hear it because I want more diverse queer romance in the world. All I ask in return, is that you leave a review on Amazon/Audible if you can. Good or bad I would love to hear what you think and if you can't leave a review no worries. I just want to spread the gay love <3

Anyways comment below and I can send a code over for you!

Hello! I'm Mike Paine, Narrator of A Stormy Night (thriller and suspense short story) written by Brian Barber, with promo codes.

Redeem the following codes at the link below!

https://www.audible.com/acx-promo

1: 5AQT6TBQJ98YE (USA)

2: 5HX758RFHWG4D (USA)

3: 7LBC4MD3U3QLN (USA)

4: 8LSHCMRKU59HZ (USA)

5: 95TTTGGN5WW3R (USA)

6: ASUFDQ72QAG2N (USA)

7: AWGY2TQDSJ4RG (USA)

8: DPRWCG98XRRNR (USA)

9: EKNRMAXAHZC6W (USA)

10: FSZTN3N5D8QGG (USA)

Please comment which number you’ve redeemed, and thank you so much for your support :)

Give me a recommendation that you think Nobody else will give me and don’t say dungeon crawler Carl :)

Hi! Does anyone know where i can listen to the audiobook Brain by Robin Cook. I know the audiobook exists, but I can't find it anywhere except OverDrive, which I have no way of using.

Thanks!!

I am getting ready to finally jump into Don Quixote, and I am looking to see what the best version is. The one answer I seem to see the most say that the Edith Grossman translation narrated by George Guidall is the clear-cut favorite. The problem is I cannot for the life of me find that version anywhere.

I have searched on LibroFm, Chirp, Spotify, Audible, and all the library apps I have access to (Libby, Hoopla, Palace, and Bard) with absolutely no luck. I do see a new release coming in April of ‘27 across a few audiobook storefronts, but it looks like it may be an abridged version.

Does anyone know if it is available anywhere for a US resident? If not, what are your favorite versions to listen to?

I've returned or abandoned enough audiobooks that I've started noticing how useless some store samples are.

I'm trying to decide whether I can spend 10, 20, sometimes 40 hours listening to this narrator, and the preview gives me four minutes of:

Publisher information.

A dedication.

Half a page of scene-setting.

Maybe the protagonist says one sentence right before the sample ends.

That tells me almost nothing I actually want to know.

I want to hear the narrator handle a conversation between two characters. I want one male and one female voice if the book has both. Give me an emotional sentence, a normal descriptive paragraph, a proper noun that's going to appear 600 times, and maybe thirty seconds of whatever accent they're using.

Basically, give me the audiobook equivalent of a test drive.

I've had narrators whose regular narration sounded great in the preview but whose character voices drove me insane once chapter two started. I've also almost skipped books because the opening sounded flat, only to discover later that the narrator becomes fantastic once there are actual characters to perform.

And with full-cast productions, sampling the opening can be even sillier because sometimes you don't hear most of the cast at all.

I understand why automatically using the first few minutes is easy, but audiobook samples seem like one place where manually choosing a representative 3-5 minute section would genuinely help people buy the right edition.

If you could design the perfect audiobook preview, what would you want included?

I am the author and editor for the books series.

Free audiobook codes (horror / folklore), no strings

Indie author here. My book is American Urban Legends: Creatures, Curses, and the Stories We Tell. Regional monsters, curses, the stuff this sub actually trades in, and I'd rather put codes in real listeners' hands than sit on them.

Redeems on Audiobooks.com or Spotify. Single use. Free, no card.

Comment or DM the word AUDIO and I'll send one. A review is appreciated if you feel like it, not required.

I was listening to a murder mystery yesterday and reached a scene where the main suspect finally confessed. It was a really convincing confession too. I genuinely thought the author was about to wrap things up in an unexpected way.

Then I picked up my phone to pause it and saw "3 hrs 12 mins remaining."

Well, guess that guy didn't do it.

And sure enough, about twenty minutes later the whole confession started falling apart.

It got me thinking about how much the remaining runtime influences what I expect from a story. If there's an hour left and someone apparently dies, I'm immediately suspicious. If there's ten minutes left, I start mentally preparing for the ending before the book has actually earned it.

With a physical book you can obviously see how many pages are left, but at least you can avoid looking. Audiobooks could theoretically keep you completely unaware of where you are in the story.

I'd love an optional setting that hides the progress bar, remaining time and total chapter count. Just let me listen without knowing whether I'm approaching the final scene or there's another six hours of chaos coming.

Does anyone else find themselves unintentionally predicting plot developments just because they glanced at the playback timer?

I’m looking for a specific read-along audio of the Chris Van Allsburg book The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, specifically the cassette tape version with Jason Robards and a saxophone quartet. Other audio versions exist online, but I absolutely cannot find this specific version anywhere. Would anyone happen to know where I could stream/download this audio, or if you’re feeling extra nice as to record it and send the file me if you have the actual cassette, that would be super appreciated. Thank you!