I absolutely LOVE audio books, I love how they can make the story come alive and some of my favourite books are the audio versions.
What I really, really loved about Audible was the ability to return books, something that Audible promoted to me as a feature. Something along the lines of: "Don't like a book? Just return it and get another!" or "Want another book but you don't have any credits? Just return a book in your library and we'll refund your credit!" I loved it! I had access to a vast audio-library that I could use much like a real library, swapping and exchanging books as I saw fit. That is, until I came across a recent tweet by @howlinglibrary who was highlighting another tweet by @MikeH5856. Here's the tweet:
Safe to say, that I felt pretty shitty after reading this tweet. It turns out that when you return a book on Audible, Amazon will refund your credit (that you've paid for), but they'll also bill the author for the book - so in effect, they're being paid TWICE for every returned book! WTF! I mentioned this to my sister, another fond Audible user, and she had the same reaction of shock followed by guilt as she realised that we had, unintentionally, been costing some of our favourite authors money. Money that they should NOT have to pay. Following the tweets above, I've seen differing opinions including readers saying that you should only return a book if you didn't enjoy it. But, let me ask you this, if you bought a book from your local bookshop and finished it, or even read a few chapters, would you then return it and ask for a refund saying that you hadn't enjoyed it? I know I wouldn't, so why is Audible any different? Maybe it's the lack of a physical book that makes us feel like we're somehow getting something 'less' than we would if we bought a hard copy but then think about the additional work of the voice actors who spend hours upon hours bringing your favourite characters to life. Is that book really less valuable than a physical book? I don't think so, which is why I'll no longer be returning ANY book on Audible whether I like it or not. What about you? Did you know about this? What's your opinion on returning Audible books?
Sophie
4/1/2020 17:36:49
I’m so glad you wrote this, people definitely need to be made more aware, as I myself had no idea seeing as though amazon do advertise audible somewhat like a library service. I’m shocked that amazon do this and have honestly lost a lot of respect for them. I’ve swapped lots of audible books because I thought that was all part of the service that amazon provide, not realising they charge the author. Safe to say I definitely won’t be doing this again and I think it needs to be made more clear to audible users that this is the case and amazon are actually being quite shady and greedy. They should at least make people aware. Comments are closed.
|
Never miss a post!
About Kay (She/Her)
Book addict, film mad, music lover, business owner, writer and mum (not necessarily in that order), living in the UK. About Sophie (She/Her)
Sophie loves books (obviously). She has a passion for photography and spotting wildlife, and is interested in anything made with passion and creativity. THIS BLOG IS SPOILER FREE!
Rating system: 5 Stars - AMAZING!! 4.5 Stars - Almost perfect! 4 Stars - I really loved it 3.5 Stars - I liked it alot 3 Stars - I liked it (I don't typically review books that I rate below 3 stars)
Archives
March 2023
Categories
All
Recently Read:
#Bookstagram:Upcoming Blog Tours:
|