Stop making excuses. I will GIVE you one.

Okay, the only person who gets a real pass on this is my friend who works in the library. She has a legitimate reason to avoid certain formats in the literature market. No, I am  not talking about genres, and this article has nothing to do with such things. What I am talking about is the rise of the audio book. 

I can already feel some of you closing the window on this page, but stick with me for a moment here. I don;t expect to change your views, but I am simply asking you to be open to considering what I am about to say. First, let's all remember back when the first ereaders hit the market. The general consensus was that it would never make it...people wanted to hold a physical book...smell the pages...all that stuff. Cool, I can dig that stance. Still, I know that I personally caused one of those PODS to suffer serious damage because of the number of physical books I owned. Also, room became a premium in my home. It made dusting a real chore. 

My kindle(s) save more space and reduce the weight load on my floors by a few tons. Add in the price point of the normal indie book and I can snag 5 or 6 books for the price of one. So, what does that have to do with audio books? People are using the same arguments. It is the same old arguments...it is 8-Track versus cassette...versus CD...versus MP3(4) all over again.

Every day, I take my dogs for a walk. That is almost an hour of my day that I now enjoy listening to an audio book. I can let my pups enjoy their morning while I listen to a new story that my busy day does not allow for me to get to in print. Then, at bed time, I can churn through a few pages before falling asleep of a different book. However, many Audible titles will sync to your ereader and let you pick up where the audio left off and you can purchase both at a significant discount if that is your thing.

Additionally, I keep a separate title on my phone which syncs with my car when I get in. That is for the wife and I to listen to whenever we go some place. Those titles take a little longer, but it is fun to share a story with somebody, and we get to enjoy something together.

Audio is a wonderful format. It lets you enjoy a story during those down times and keeps your TBR list somewhat manageable. Try it. You might hate it, but then again...you might not. And here is the deal, if you are on the fence, I will hook you up with ANY title of mine that is out on Audible for free. All you need to do is try the 30 day trial. Quit if you hate it, but then you can at least say you tried. Shoot me an email with "NO MORE EXCUSES" in the subject, and after checking out TW Brown titles on Audible.com, tell me the title you want to snag for free. (email twbrown.maydecpub@gmail.com)

Honestly, I thought I would be uninstalling the app from my phone in less than a week...three years later, I am still using Audible and I have about 200+ titles in my library. Many are genres that I would have likely skipped entirely if just confining myself to reading. (The Nerdist Way by Chris Hardwick is a great example.)