#audiobooks

See tagged statuses in the local bookrastinating.com community

Wow! My blog post on what I use instead of streaming services has suddenly shot up to 40 total views! Which is a lot for my blog 😆

It happened after I shared a link to it on Mastodon, so I'm going to credit Mastodon for the sudden jump in views.

https://bookswithnoelle.wordpress.com/2025/11/08/i-pay-for-exactly-zero-streaming-services/

I've finished: The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

Well, that's it I've finished T. Kingfisher's audiobook catalogue up to 11.2025.

I kept The Hollow Places in reserve because it was the most horror coded of her novels, and while it is full of horror and creepiness, it also has Kingfishers human touch. Softening the hard edges with humor and self reflection.

Trust Kingfisher to write horror that I can thoroughly enjoy.

P.S.
As someone living outside the US, one of the most alien aspects of the novel is the constant angst about the cost of medical treatment. That is truly horrifying.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/828dc8ee-3669-46c8-84b2-7f0077ad2d05

@bookstodon @audiobooks

Been working on de-Amazon-ing... now I'm wondering what Audible alternatives there are.

The library is out because I listen to books while I fall sleep and it can take me a month+ to actually get thru. Needs to be a format with like two month loan periods or somewhere I can get books for a reasonable price.

I know Kobo sells audiobooks, but I wanna know what folks are using and where they're getting books.

Amazon/Audible has changed its royalty structure to supposedly pay authors more, but as usual they are lying. The new structure will actually drastically cut the amount most authors are paid for audiobooks. I recommend people stop using Audible and get audiobooks from stores that pay authors and narrators fairly or buy directly from authors.

From the article posted below:

Reality: Previously, premium books earned $8-12 in royalties while streaming books earned $0. Now ALL books earn $1-3 in royalties because premium revenue subsidizes the streaming pool.

The Deceptive Logic: Audible presents this as: "You used to make $0 from streaming, now you make $1.50! That's infinite improvement!" while hiding: "Your premium sales that used to make $10 now also make $1.50, destroying 85% of your income."

Article about the changes:
https://www.royalroad.com/forums/thread/155349

YouTube explanation from scifi and fantasy creator Daniel Green.
https://youtu.be/9H0ivgubPtI

I've finished: Raising Stony Mayhall by Daryl Gregory


A wonderful zombie novel for people that don't like the killing fest that is most zombie media.

Written in sections, each part explores new ideas about zombies, exploring their nature and treating them like an extreme type of marginalized people.

Each turn the story takes supplies an interesting new twist that takes you on a new path away from the cookie cutter version of the Zombie Apocalypse story.

I never expected to encounter a 5-Star Zombie novel.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/f9f7d019-aee2-4726-bdc3-8e69ffc78a15

@bookstodon @audiobooks

Audio book resources?

Are there good resources/links for what to include in audio books, how much backmatter is too much, etc..?

I'm about to record my own and listen to podcasts more than audio books.

Thanks so much for any help!

Content warning the "debate" about whether audio books count as reading (long)

My Name is Magic is currently 50% off! It's a whimsical fantasy with eco-punk vibes set at a magic school, about queer teens in a race against time to save their friends from creatures out of Finnish mythology. You can check out my book here:

https://audiobooks.com/promotions/promotedBook/710768/my-name-is-magic?refId=205747

I'm looking for new homes for more than one Mastodon account, so tell me savvy-friends: Are there instances for audiobook fans & narrators?

*I realize that the answer is probably either "no" or "wut?", but if you have any suggestions, I'd appreciate them.

**What do I narrate? Romance & (under a different name and account) erotica. Even my spicy alt is solidly PG-13 though.

@audiobooks @bookstodon @romancelandia @smutstodon

I've finished: The Book of Love by Kelly Link

What if one of those stupid YA scary movies about a bunch of teens finding an ancient artifact and waking an eldritch horror, was turned into an in depth slow-paced masterpiece.

Kelly Link spends so much time with each of the characters, we learn to know them and love them as people with their admirable and their annoying traits.

We see them through their own eyes and through the eyes of others.

We see them grow and make their own choices despite all of the magical interference.

https://bookwyrm.social/book/1574982/s/book-of-love

@bookstodon @audiobooks

I'm canceling my Audible subscription and have a few final credits to use. Seeking recommendations for .

Kinds of things I'm looking for:

* History, especially of places, people, and perspectives I didn't get in school in the USA
* Science fiction / fantasy
* Light reads for when everything is just too much
* Anything you think is extra remarkable

Other audiobook readers, this happened to me on 3 different apps now so I wanted to alert others of this. As I usually do, I look up what new books my favorite narrators have narrated. Now, when I click on the narrator name, I am treated with audiobooks with their AI clone instead of their human narration. I already checked. That narrator is alive and still is recording audiobooks. Always listen to audiobooks before you make a purchase/borrow. Even now, it is incredibly obvious which ones are AI and which are narrated by the original human. This has happened to me on Hoopla, Libby, and on Audible so far. I know the audiobook narrator I looked up works for Recorded Books. It would not surprise me if they claim that they will never produce AI narrated audiobooks and then turn around and exploit their narrators without them knowing about it.

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