When people set their watches for Prime Day, they’re usually thinking about all the amazing tech deals they can score. And as amazing as those tech deals are, people often don’t think about the deals on Amazon’s other platforms, like Audible. This Prime Day, you can score three whole months of an Audible subscription for absolutely nothing.
3 months of free Audible on this Prime Day
Audible 3-month membership
54
1 free book credit per month + access to all Audible podcasts and original tracks.
As far as I’m concerned, this is the best Prime Day deal of the year. “But Joe, you’re just a moron, why are you so excited about Audible?” I pretend to hear you ask, even though you probably aren’t.
Well, here’s a transcript of a conversation I have at least once a month:
“What do you do for work then, Joe?”
“Ah, I make audiobooks.”
“Oh, wow! Do you tell them then?”
“No, I just edit all the audio and get it ready to be released.” This is where they usually become significantly less interested. But I can say that I know my way around an audiobook and there is no platform that compares to Audible.
What makes Audible so special?
If I had to put a number on the number of audiobooks I’ve edited in my career so far, I’d probably put it somewhere in the 300-400 range. The vast majority of those (probably around 95%) end up distributed on Audible. I briefly worked at a company that was retro enough to still burn their books to CD, and even the staff had no idea why we bothered.
The simple fact of the audiobook market is that Audible simply has no major competitors offering anything close to their catalog. Audible’s ubiquity in the industry is so evident that when I take on a job, no one has to tell me it has to work to Audible’s specifications, it’s just an assumed part of the process.
Their catalog is huge, incredibly huge. According to Amazon’s own figures, there are over 400,000 titles available on the platform, and many of them are exclusive to Audible. Dune, Project Hail Mary, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, get it? There’s also the Audible Plus catalog, but we’ll get to that in a moment.
A broad marketplace
Audible isn’t just a place for bestsellers. Thanks to a platform called ACX, anyone with the budget to have their book professionally converted to audio can put their title on Audible. This opens up a huge range of genres and styles that customers can listen to on the platform.
Need a self-help book? It’s here. Books of the Bible? Sure. Travel guides? You bet. The open nature of ACX allows for such a variety of titles that listeners will almost never run out of something to listen to.
Oh, and you can listen to podcasts and radio plays on Audible too, not just audiobooks.
Quantity and quality
If there’s one thing that keeps me – and I suspect other people in the industry who care about their work – up at night, it’s AI. There’s been talk for a while that AI voices will drive narrators (and by extension editors like me) out of business. I appreciate that I have a keen ear for narration, but I can’t stand the robotic nature of even the most advanced AI text-to-speech options. Right now, there simply isn’t an artificial replica for a solid narrator who can pick up the nuances of the text and bring it to life for listeners.
Fortunately, Audible agrees. They have a competent (if not perfect) AI detection and will reject the upload of any title they suspect hasn’t been read by a human. This ensures a level of quality and consistency on the platform, even with the dizzying number of books available.
It also keeps me employed, so you know, I’m obviously biased here.
How does Audible work?
When you sign up for your free three-month subscription, you’ll get their standard membership plan. This means that Audible will deposit a credit into your account on the same date each month. You can then use this nice little credit to add titles to your library. So essentially, you’re getting one book per month from your subscription, and if you sign up through the Prime Day deal, you’ll get three free books.
If you’re wondering what the RRP is for an audiobook, you’re probably looking at around £15.99 for something nine or ten hours long, but they can cost as much as £35. Even after the promotion ends, the basic membership level is £7.99 per month and all titles cost just one credit. And you can use the credits for titles of any length. Let’s use Orlando Figes’ ‘A People’s Tragedy’ as an example, as it’s the longest book I have in my Audible library at 47 hours long. The audio format of the book costs around £23.99, which is a fair price considering the hefty page count. I paid my monthly subscription fee and used my credit to buy it, which left me £16 better off.
You can also upgrade your membership and pay £14.99 per month to get two credits per month. And if you’re insatiable, you can also buy extra credits between your renewal dates, or simply buy the titles outright at their RRP.
The Audible Plus Catalog
Audible made a big deal about the launch of the Plus Catalog, and I can see why. It’s essentially their audiobook streaming service. Anyone with an Audible membership has access to a rotating catalog of over 11,000 titles that are free to play without having to spend any money or credits.
I devoured this when the catalog first came out, as I often used up my credits before the renewal date came around, so it was a great way to bridge the gap: titles I could listen to without having to buy extra credits.
What is Amazon Prime Day?
Amazon Prime Day is one of the biggest sales events of the year, alongside Black Friday. It’s a time when Prime members can take advantage of a wide range of discounts available on Amazon’s site, from tech to books to movies and more. Sometimes other retailers even jump on the sales event with their own competing deals, which are great to check out.
If you’re a Prime member, you can check out the available discounts now. And if you’re not, don’t worry, you can sign up for a 30 day free trial to see what is still on offer today.
Joe O’Neill-Parker is a freelance writer and audio producer. He is the owner of O’Neill Multimedia. He writes articles on business, sports, and audio for IGN.