8 Answers2025-07-04
The Public Lending Right. PLR. It’s already been done another way, in other countries. The model does not currently exist federally in the U.S. but could be a way for authors to receive compensation for each loan of their book from a central fund, often government-backed. Many countries have a form of Public Lending Right in place, including the UK, Canada, Germany, and Australia. The idea is that libraries lending books instead of selling them could cost authors money and therefore authors should receive compensation for the fact that libraries are providing a public good. While it won’t bring in a fortune, efforts to bring Public Lending Right to the U.S. have been stymied by funding and administrative issues. Many authors would be happy to see their Canadian brethren receive periodic checks based on sampling of library data for their titles. Lit fiction authors, and poets in particular, would have a good chance of receiving decent sums of money were PLR to be established in the U.S. as their books don’t garner massive sales but are frequently studied and borrowed by libraries across the country.
4 Answers2025-07-10
My #1 source for audiobooks. Inexpensive. I refer many people to this site. One-click download. Only a tiny amount of extra effort required, for example if you have multiple devices (e.g. phone, tablet), each book needs to be downloaded on each device. However, your progress, etc., will synchronize between devices in apps like Libby if you have signed in to your account. Thus, it’s possible to start listening to a book on your phone on the way to work, and then pick up where you got to on your tablet at home. It’s been well-thought-out.
5 Answers2025-07-25
It's like they're serving up a big ol' bundle of Audible Essentials which your library paid for. As a publisher of original audio, the range of what Audible has to work with for cheap licenses (older titles) or to promote their new Originals is pretty broad. A single audiobook by a local publisher is a niche title by an unknown creator. No bundle creator wants to take a chance on some unknown single title when they can stuff that same slot with a big known commodity that a partner of theirs has already generated a stream of income with. This is just good old economics, not evil.
7 Answers2026-07-29
While the books I review are available, there are often multiple versions of the recording available depending on the platform. For example, on Scribd I believe there are two different versions of some of the older classics which have been re-recorded over the decades. Newer versions have better sound, but often the older versions have more character from the individual narrator. It is not like new film adaptations of the books, it is the same book but read by someone else. So the search to find out if a book is available often turns into which version of the book would I like to ‘read’.
10 Answers2025-12-24
I wasted an entire afternoon of my life trying to find the perfect “free” audiobooks for you. That meant scouring out all the free trials and then putting every popular audiobook on hold at the library to see how fast they would come in. Along the way I found a ton of very poorly made “free” audiobooks that I wouldn’t recommend to my worst enemy. But if you’re looking for a particular book, then search for that book followed by the word “audiobook” on YouTube. There are often samples of audiobooks for books you want to buy — in the form of free chapters — from the authors or publishers of said books. Other people just made full, unabridged versions of books. I haven’t figured out how I feel about those. They could be a good way to test out an audiobook’s narration before buying it, I suppose. But then you should support the creator if you liked it. For purely free and legal audiobooks, your public library can’t be beat. Put holds on the popular ones and then wait for them to come in, it’s like getting a present from past you.
3 Answers2025-07-05
Borrowing books from public libraries to read on your Kindle is an absolute delight for me and for many other Kindle owners. There are several libraries that now offer eBook versions of the books that they lend and you can read them on your Kindle using services such as Libby. Many titles including the romantic novel ‘The Love Hypothesis’ and the thriller ‘Gone Girl’ are available to borrow for free.
Many libraries participate in regional systems of neighboring libraries, so you can search across a large collection of books. Most library websites have step-by-step instructions for new users. One drawback is that popular titles may have a waiting list of readers, but I just use that time to read less well-known titles by other great authors. For frequent readers of many books, public library ebook lending is just the best.
9 Answers2026-03-29
A good grovel is rarely found in new releases. They are typically embedded deep within the backlist of romance novels, especially older historicals with stubborn heroes. They need to be dragged through emotional mud before they finally come to their senses. Most of these novels make great audiobooks, with voice actors bringing the old story to life with the appropriate amount of drama. So, even though the rest of the world is moving forward to the latest and greatest, the 80s, 90s and early 2000s are a great place to look for some good, old fashioned, over-the-top grovels. A digitally remastered audiobook of an older novel is a wonderful thing to discover.
10 Answers2025-08-19
I think the main thing that collaborative updating can bring is when a free resource site goes down or changes its terms of service for audiobooks. Often it is the users of said service who will first notify others of the change, on Reddit. This means that threads can be updated (often with a strike-through of the old link and a new one) long after the original post was made. I’ve seen comments from a year ago or more be updated by newer comments and that kind of self-correcting is only really possible in a highly active online forum. A static blog post published in 2020 listing out ‘10 Best Free Audiobook Sites’ is often of little use a year or more later, but the same topic posted on Reddit can be very useful as the discussion can be updated with new information on an ongoing basis.
10 Answers2025-08-09
There are a few very old Kindles and a few very specialized Kindles that cannot read the latest DRM’d e-books. But any Kindle from the last decade or so should work just fine. If the book doesn’t open it is almost certainly a problem with your library account or your Amazon account not set to the correct region. The help section for Libby is actually pretty good at troubleshooting these kinds of issues.
3 Answers2025-07-21
I am a huge fan of audiobooks. When I found out that ‘The Drop’ was available as an audiobook, I was really excited. The audiobook was narrated by a very experienced voice actor, he did a great job bringing the story to life and made the experience of listening to the book very enjoyable. The quality of production for the audiobook was also excellent, it was free of any annoying background noise and the volume was consistent throughout.
One of the reasons I love to listen to audiobooks is because they can add so much to your daily life. I can fold laundry, walk my dog, or be doing just about anything else while listening to a really good story. The narrator has done a great job with the pacing of The Drop, the tone of the story is spot on, and I think he must have really worked hard to create such an immersive experience for the listener. This is a great choice for someone who doesn’t have a lot of time to read but would enjoy a great story. And The Drop is available as an audiobook on Google Play Books and on Libro.fm as well.