The Bookish Mindset

Every now and then audiobooks will feature in “controversial” conversations. But it’s really not that complicated at all, so let’s talk about it.

We’re starting big today:

Audiobooks count as reading and you can absolutely count your audiobooks towards your reading goal.

That’s it and that should be the end of the conversation. But if it was, we wouldn’t all be talking about it still. Every now and again I come across booktokker or a bookstagrammer or just someone with a platform that declares that audiobooks don’t class as reading.

Let’s walk through why that’s both wrong and incredibly ableist.

Audiobooks are another accessible form of reading. Are you not still consuming the same story or same information? Of course you are! E-readers allow users to change font sizes and backgrounds, which are all accessibility requirements that ease reading. Audiobooks are particularly great for those with Dyslexia because you’re listening and not looking at words. Both of these provide another way for us to consume literature and that’s beautiful.

When society becomes more accessible, we all win. One example I see a lot is dropped curbs. People with mobility aids need them to be able to move from pavement to road, but they’re not the only beneficiaries of them. Prams also need dropped curbs for ease of movement too.

So if you’re looking for a great way to consume audiobooks then you’ll need to check out libro.fm.

Similar to bookshop.org, but only for audiobooks, they are a great audible alternative and donate a portion of your subscription to the independent bookshop you sign up with.

Spotify have also included 15 hours of audiobooks in their premium subscription and while their offering is getting better, it’s not the biggest!

Your library can most likely loan audiobooks for free too! Mine uses BorrowBox but you’ll need to check your specific one. Libby is a similar one but I’ve not used it yet but I know a lot of people love it.

Are you an audiobook fan? How do you listen? Comment below and let me know.

If reading more is something that you’re looking at doing this year then should check my reading challenge out here! Read nine books from nine prompts over the first six months of the year and be entered into a draw to win a bundle of bookish goodies.

If you like what you’ve read and would like to access more content, I’d love if you could take a look at my patreon and consider supporting my content on there too. Patreon supports also get monthly lists of new released books!

And don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram for more bookish content too.

Happy reading folks!

Last updated 14/02/2025