I used to be obsessed with paperbacks. Two years ago I tried the next good thing: e-books. After reading several books in digital format, I came to the conclusion that it's not my cup of tea. it saves a huge amount of space, and they're usually cheaper than the physical copy of the same book, but it wasn't for me.
After this experience, I was very skeptical about other formats, such as audio. About a year ago, however, I listened to my first audiobook. I admit now I was biased and determined to hate it. I couldn't believe I could find anything as good as a paperback (not comparing paperbacks to hardcovers here, that's a different story).
If you've been following me on social media, you know this was the beginning of an everlasting love story. I keep going on and on about how convenient audiobooks are and how I love them so much. It was about time I created a detailed blog post explaining all the reasons why I love audiobooks. Convenience is the magic word here. All the reasons why I love audiobooks are related to this.
Disclaimer: This solely my opinion. It is not an ad and I am not affiliated with anything mentioned in any way or form.
No physical space
Every time I used to order books online, I would buy them in bulk to save shipping expenses. And when the books arrived, there was always the problem of storing them. There is never enough space for physical books, and audiobooks take no space at all. Physical at least. They add no visual clutter, and help maintain a minimal, tidy space if that's what you aim for.
Portable magic
Since audiobooks take up no physical space, they have no weight. I used to read a lot while commuting to and from uni, and the size of the book always played a part on what I'd take along. This made it difficult to choose big books of over 600 pages (which I adore, let's be frank, big books are the reason I was born). I had to go for the smaller, lighter books which were easy to carry around. Another problem with the bus and metro used to be when it got dark. With audiobooks none of these matter. I can listen to a 1,000-pages book audiobook in the dark and nothing can disrupt me.
Budgeting
In most cases audiobooks are cheaper than any format. If you subscribe to audible, you can listen to countless books for a low-cost monthly subscription. And if you're looking for classics, some of them are in the public domain, which means you can find them for free even on YouTube or apps like Audiobooks.
Multitasking
Listening to audiobooks while doing chores was a life-saving game changer. I used to listen to music while cooking, and to podcasts or true crime videos while cleaning. But who needs music when you've got audiobooks? Of course, I'm kidding. But the fact that I could do anything, literally ANYTHING that doesn't need much mental capacity and listen to audiobooks at the same time had a huge impact in the number of books I read.
It's not about the quantity, though. It's about the quality. As an aspiring author, it is essential to read and read and read. All while I have to write and write and write in order to improve. The more one reads, the more familiar they become with the different genres. I read more of the genre which interests me, but I also read broadly. Never before had I the opportunity to read more than 3 books a month. Let me repeat that, it's not about the quantity. But the more you read, the more familiar you get with the genres and the voices of different authors, which helps you form your own voice(s). The more you read, the faster you find who you are as a writer. The more you read, the easier it becomes to tell the difference between good and bad writing.
Although this never-ending love I have for audiobooks grows with each book I listen to, I can say this is nothing but an affair. My one true love have been and always will be paperback. Audiobooks are convenient, but there is nothing like the smell of a freshly printed paperback. You can't sniff audiobooks, that would be weird.
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