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  • 2000 reasons why Audible should read this post

    By Joshua Kim February 23, 2010 10:11 pm EST

    From May of 2005 to today I've spent $2,191 at Audible.com on audiobooks. Audible (and your corporate parent Amazon) - I'm your biggest fan. Audiobooks have changed my life. Everyone should go and get an Audible Platinum plan - $229.50 a year - or only $9.56 per book. You can check out my Audible purchase list here.

     

    I tell everyone I meet about the joys of Audible and audiobooks. I blog about Audible, tweet about Audible, sometimes even sing about Audible. I'll talk to total strangers about Audible, bore my wife and children, and drive my colleagues crazy. How many new Audible subscribers I've personally created can only be guessed at.

     

    I love Audible.

     

    But Audible, I'm not sure if the feelings are mutual.

     

    The evidence:

     

    1. I've completely failed to make friends with anyone who works at Audible outside of your customer service call-center. Despite my repeated offers to serve on customer boards or focus groups I've never been asked. The customer service people are nice enough when I e-mail my ideas, complaints and suggestions (see below), but they always decline to put me in touch with anyone at Audible who actually makes decisions.

     

    2. I've also failed at all my efforts to convince Audible (really Amazon) that they are making a colossal mistake in not having a library program. How many potential audiobook readers remain uncultivated because they never develop the book listening habit? How many fewer books are read as students are unable to multitask (exercising, commuting etc.) while completing their course reading?

     

    What would I say to Audible if given the opportunity to engage in a meaningful conversation with a decision maker?

     

    As you know, the best way to provide critiques is the "sandwich" method. Start with a positive, next move to the critical comments, and end with another positive. So here goes:

     

    Positive #1: Great how you keep our library of purchased books on your site. I appreciate that if I loose a copy of one of my books that I can go and download it again. Excellent selection. Fair pricing.

     

    Critique #1: Why is your Web site so atrocious? Come on guys, you are owned by Amazon. The Audible site is as bad as the Amazon site is terrific. How does Audible.com suck? Where to start? Your site is dog slow. Takes forever to navigate through new books, or for the lists of books to render. The recommendation engine is terrible, never providing enough similar choices. The navigation is confusing. Why do you have a category for "New Releases" and also "Just Added"? Why does searching for a book that is not yet in audio version fail so miserably (can't you show the book and have a poke the publisher feature like Amazon does for Kindle books?). Why can't your site make recommendations based on what books we have in the "My Library" area? I could go on and on - but does anyone really think that the book browsing, searching, and buying experience is anywhere near as good as the paper (or Kindle) buying experience on Amazon?

     

    Critique #2: Why is social experience at Audible.com so lousy? Audiobook listeners are a passionate tribe. We are marginalized by dead tree readers who persist in questioning if we are really reading. Yet Audible.com gives us know real way of connecting. Why can't I do everything I can on Audible.com as I can do on Netflix? Why doesn't Audible have a "Friends" feature like Netflix that allows me to share my Wish List and Library with other audiobook readers? Why can't I create and share annotated lists of books? It boggles my mind that Amazon has not purchased service like Visual Bookshelf (with their Facebook integration), and integrated their social networking features on to Audible. Us audiobook readers want to book club, we want to share, and we want to connect.

     

    Critique #3: Restrictive DRM. Locking your books down so tightly is the most short sighted thing you could do. The best way to grow your customer base of audiobook listeners is to let us share our audiobooks. Figure it out so that if I lend someone a book than it becomes unavailable in my library (just like a paper book). Allow Audible subscribers to share a certain number of our books per year, for a certain length of time. Experiment with releasing books with DRM and see if it really eats into your sales (I bet it will not, as more people will experience audiobooks and want to buy their own so they can choose exactly what they want to read).

     

    Positive #2: You are owned by Amazon. The Amazon site is wonderful. My advice is to simply do away with the Audible.com site as a separate site, and integrate into Amazon.com. The Audible book store should be integrated like the Kindle bookstore. This would allow a uniform Wish List, with smart recommendations, personalization, and advanced navigation. I want to be able to search for a book and buy it all from the same place, choosing audio, digital or paper. Bringing Audible into the fold of Amazon would offer up all sorts of great cross-promotion opportunities. I'm betting that if you offered an audio copy of each digital or paper book sales that you would dramatically increase your total book sales. Since the marginal cost of the audiobook is zero than every additional sale is pure profit. Bringing paper, digital (Kindle) and audiobooks under the same structure would allow Amazon to differentiate itself from competition such as Apple and B&N.

     

    Who are the other Audible Platinum listeners out there? What would you tell Audible if they asked to speak with you? And Audible - I have room on my calendar to chat. Call anytime.

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Comments on 2000 reasons why Audible should read this post

  • Posted on February 24, 2010 at 4:45am EST

  • OMG! You are sooooooooooo dead on! I'm just as big of an Audible fan and audiobook listener as you are and have wondered the exact same things. I just didn't blog about it. I hope Audible gets the message.

  • Great Post
  • Posted by Jonathan Brown , President at AICCU on February 24, 2010 at 5:15am EST

  • I am not from Audible (although I use their books a lot) nor Amazon (did a post earlier in the day about the Kindle) but I thought your post was spot on. Well done!!!

  • Absolutely on-target
  • Posted by EEF on February 24, 2010 at 6:15am EST

  • I have been a member since 2005, meaning that they have had a perpetual stream of income from me for FIVE years. I agree with every single one of your observations. Audible, you are lucky that your product is great because your service....is NOT.

  • Exactly!
  • Posted by Yoram on February 24, 2010 at 7:30am EST

  • I am an Audible user since 1999, and agree with every word. I purchased hundreds of audiobooks and I keep on using Audible despite their website and glitchy software, but I failed in convincing many others to commit to Audible because of these challenges. Their customer service has always been between good and reasonable, but there is so much more to improve. I hope someone at Audible is, well, listening...

  • Posted by Barbara Fister on February 24, 2010 at 8:30am EST

  • Thanks for mentioning libraries. Good libraries make good readers (aka "consumers"), but there are lots of new technological markets that consider libraries a legalized form of piracy and just won't deal with them. Public libraries find work-arounds (and spend a fortune on audio books) but people get annoyed that stupid libraries won't let them download content to their favorite devices. It's not the library's fault.

    It's not entirely the fault of companies delivering content either. When B&N tried to add a nifty feature to their Nook - hey, you can share with a few close friends! - the major publishers said "no you can't, not with our books."

    So long as publishers and vendors think sharing is a bug, not a feature, we're going to have a stalled-out tech curve that is highly individualized and leaves available only alternate forms of sharing (aka "stealing"). But the fact that digital files can be shared so easily and on a massive scale means it's hard to know how to make a buck or cover your costs. Rock, meet hard place.

    Things get even stranger in the textbook market. If you think e-books will make textbooks cheaper, think again. Once you have made sharing (aka "used books" or books swaps) impossible, there's really not much incentive to drive prices down, because books are not entirely interchangeable (they have different strengths for the instructor) and they aren't chosen by the consumer.

    Reminds me of the notion that academic libraries would save so much money when all those print journals went online .... the joke's on us.

  • Right on target!
  • Posted by jenny franklin , Institutional Research and Planning Support at University of Arizona on February 24, 2010 at 12:00pm EST

  • I joined when it first began, even had two accounts for a while! At the time I commuted in the LA area and it completely changed my attitude toward traffic on the 405 from teeth-clenching to welcome respite to hear the next chapter.

    They did attempt a redesign of the website a few years ago and it actually became less functional in some respects. I would enjoy a more customer centered perspective myself.

    But on the other hand, I value them so, that I'll put up with it.

  • Dis/agreements
  • Posted by Christopher Heard , Assoc. Prof. of Religion at Pepperdine University on February 24, 2010 at 12:45pm EST

  • As a longtime Audible Listener at various levels (currently Platinum), I largely agree with critiques ##2 and 3, and parts of #1.

    However, a few of the objections are ill-considered and even petty. For example, Audible has separate categories for "New Releases" and "Just Added" for the same reason Rhapsody does: to distinguish between items recently published and items published significantly earlier, but only now available in the relevant medium. And complaining about not having friends among Audible management sounds a bit silly (almost pathetic) in my ears. I don't have any friends among the management of Apple Computer, Coca-Cola, or Inside Higher Ed, but that's not a strike against their products and services.

  • Audible is great, but could be greater
  • Posted by Rich Cameron on February 24, 2010 at 12:45pm EST

  • I agree with most of this. I'm a college professor and recommend Audible to my students when talking about the media.

    I love "My Library" feature. ITunes could learn from that. And if DRM can't be lifted, another option would be to allow me to recommend or gift a book I've purchased to a friend at half price. Hey, it is another sale and might bring in a new customer.

    "Next listen" is also great, though I think I would spend more each month if there was a plan that gave me subscriber discounts to match the monthly subscription savings. I pluck from the sales a lot to add to my library, but am not adding from my next listen/wish list because my taste in books apparently does not meet clearance standards.

  • Completely agree!
  • Posted by Karla Fisher on February 24, 2010 at 9:30pm EST

  • I'm scared to add up all I've spent at Audible.com over the past few years. I love audio books, but hate the site. When Amazon took over, I hoped the site would improve, but it's only become more 'corporate' with no gain in performance. *Sigh* Hope someone at Audible is listening...

  • Audible.com, listen to this guy
  • Posted by K , none at none on July 4, 2010 at 4:15pm EDT

  • The Audible.com experience is so confusing and annoying, for all the reasons this poster has listed...and a few others. For heaven's sake, Audible/Amazon, listen to this person's valuable advice. For simplicity you could boil that advice down to: collect the people who made Amazon so great and commission a similar makeover for Audible. Let me forget Audible.com exists. Make it an Amazon experience.

  • Posted by Jake on September 27, 2010 at 1:00pm EDT

  • Great points. I agree that the Audible store should be integrated into the Amazon site, as the Kindle store is. I understand the need for DRM, and I understand that there can be substantial costs associated with producing audiobooks. My biggest hurdle to using Audible is the subscription model. They need to get rid of it, or offer an alacarte option with more reasonable prices. One reason kindle has been so successful is the ease with which customers can puchase and consume the content. The same is not true for Audible. Make it easier for customers to purchase just the books they want at a reasonable price, and you will sell more audiobooks.

    Another suggestion is to allow me to purchase both the audible and kindle versions of a single title at a discount. The price should obviously be more than either version alone, but less than the combined full price. To make this worthwhile, both the audible player and kindle reader need to share bookmarks. That way I can listen to an audiobook while driving in the car, then when I arrive home I can continue reading the book on the kindle, starting at the point where the audio ended. If I could listen to the audio and view the kindle simultaneously, while words onscreen are highlighted, this could be a useful educational tool for children, learning to read or anyone learning a new language.

    Amazon, I just gave you a billion dollar idea. I'm sure that many people would pay slightly more for a book if they could have both the Audible and Kindle together. I won't pay for both at the current price, and I won't buy both if they don't share bookmarks. If it's too much trouble to sync bookmarks at any piont in the book, they should at least be able to share bookmarks at the chapter level.

  • Don't eliminate the subscription portion!
  • Posted by magicmonster on October 16, 2010 at 9:15pm EDT
  • I use the subscription pricing to obtain LONG audio books. I rarely get a book under 10 hours. I often get $30.00 audiobooks for the $14.99 price. I also take advantage of the buying extra credits and the paperback price sales. I buy a lot of audiobooks (my library says I have 81). I always try to maximize my purchases. Eliminating the subscription would mean that I would not be buying as many books and they would not be earning as much money and I would not be getting what I want.

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