by Kassandra Lamb and K.B. Owen ~ Since Kathy (K.B.) is releasing her next audio book, Unseemly Honeymoon, this week, I figured it was a good time to do an encore of this post, on the pros of listening to audio books.
This is the 6th book in her series that is now out in audio.
I’ve now released two audio books (with two more on the way—delayed by the pandemic, sadly).
So Kathy and I put our heads together and came up with 6 pros for listening to audio books. And quite honestly we could only think of one con.
Audio books can be more expensive than ebooks. But unless the author is exclusive with Audible (Amazon), their audio books are probably available through your nearest library. If you don’t readily find audio books in your library, ask at the checkout desk and point them toward Overdrive and similar companies that distribute to libraries.
Also, Bookbub’s audio book distributor, Chirp, has a lot of them on sale, some with very deep discounts!
So without further ado, here are our 6 pros for listening to audio books:
1 – Boredom-buster!
Kathy here — There are so many boring things we do every day that can now be much less so. In one survey, 73% of those who listen to audio books do so while commuting, 33% while doing housework, and 25% while exercising. That treadmill is boring no longer!
2 – Road trip stimulant
Kass again — I take a lot of road trips, and normally I love to drive. But on a long trip, it can get boring, and even dangerous if that boredom starts to lull me to sleep. A stimulating audio book keeps me awake and makes the time really fly by. (Just keep your eye on the gas gauge; I almost ran out of gas one time when I was engrossed in an audio book. Okay, maybe that’s con #2.)
3 – Convenience
Kathy again — I love the convenience of audio books. They are easy to load and listen to on your tablet or smartphone. According to the Wall Street Journal, audio books are now a $1.2 billion industry, which means more of our fave books are being made into audio than ever before. Audio book companies are even developing original stories, that have never been in print or digital form before.
4 – No reading involved
Kass — Audio books can open up the world of the written word to people who have difficulty reading. This may be because of vision problems, dyslexia, or other issues that have impaired the person’s ability to become comfortable with reading (or to continue reading in old age).
But now, those folks can enjoy fiction stories and learn cool stuff from non-fiction books, because they can listen instead!
5 – Versatile
Kathy — With Amazon’s WhisperSync technology (and hopefully other vendors will be developing something similar soon), it’s easy to switch between reading an ebook on your Kindle, tablet or phone, then continuing to listen to the story on audio as you jump in the car to run errands or have to wash the dishes.
6 – Stories come to life
Both of us — Great voice talent brings a book to life in a way that you may not have imagined. For us, just the experience of reviewing the audio chapters of our own books gave us a fun new perspective on our characters!
It’s hard to describe how much difference it makes hearing a story versus reading it. It’s so much easier to become immersed in the story, for one thing, and you feel like you have actually met the characters.
For example, here’s a sample of my first audio book. My narrator, Amy Deuchler, did such a great job. She really nailed the character of my protagonist, Marcia Banks.
Here are the links for To Kill A Labrador audio book! (Psst!! You can also buy Kass’s audio books through Authors Direct at a reduced price!!)
AUDIBLE(AMAZON) ~ iTUNES(APPLE) ~ GOOGLE PLAY ~ KOBO ~ AUDIOBOOKS.COM ~ OTHER LINKS
And here are the deets on Kathy’s latest audio book, Unseemly Honeymoon, A Concordia Wells Mystery #6:
When a killer crashes the honeymoon, three’s a crowd…
It’s the summer of 1899, and Professor Concordia Wells—now Mrs. David Bradley—eagerly anticipates their honeymoon in the Hamptons. She has one errand along the way, to visit a former student seeking advice. About a love interest, no doubt.
If only it were that benign. The young lady, now employed as a switchboard operator, inadvertently eavesdropped on a murder plot involving the high finance world of the Stock Exchange Luncheon Club. How to notify the police without losing her position? Before Concordia can think of something, the girl is murdered.
Without proof, the police give little credence to second-hand conspiracy tales. David convinces Concordia to leave the matter to the authorities and go on with their honeymoon. Little do they know that trouble will follow them to their peaceful getaway, and entangle them in secrets and long-standing grudges until they are fighting for their very lives. “’Til death do us part” may happen sooner than the couple ever imagined.
AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
(Just below the cover on the Amazon page is a button to hear a sample of the book)
Anything you would add to this list of pros for listening to audio books?
Posted by Kassandra Lamb and K.B. Owen. Kassandra is a retired psychotherapist turned mystery writer. She is the author of the Kate Huntington psychological mysteries, set in her native Maryland, and the cozy series, the Marcia Banks and Buddy mysteries, set in Central Florida.
K.B. Owen has taught college English for nearly two decades at universities in Connecticut and Washington, DC, and holds a doctorate in 19th century British literature. A mystery lover ever since she can remember, she drew upon her teaching experiences in creating her amateur sleuth, Professor Concordia Wells…and from that series came lady Pinkerton Penelope Hamilton. There are now seven books in the Concordia Wells mystery series thus far, and three novellas in the Penelope Hamilton series.
Misterio press produces an array of quality crime fiction. We post here twice a month, usually on Tuesdays, to alert you to new releases, to entertain, and to inform.
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