I “Downgraded” My Audible Membership: I’m Now Listening More than Ever

by Nicole Engelbrecht 2020/10/18

A few years ago I made the shift from reading physical books to listening to audiobooks. Being a podcast fan, I enjoy the concept of the spoken story, but the shift was also more practical. 

The busier I got, the less time I had to actually plant myself on a couch and read a book, but regardless of how busy anyone is, there are always those pesky household chores that need to get done right? I signed up for Audible and started getting my literary fix while I was cleaning the house, and doing other necessary chores.

What Is Audible?

If you’ve heard the name, but aren’t exactly sure what it is, the best way to describe Audible is: an online bookstore for audiobooks, well that’s what it started out as anyway. 

The Audible platform was created by Amazon, and the more people became hooked on the convenience and enjoyment of listening to stories rather than reading them, the bigger the platform became. 

Although Audible remains the largest platform of its kind, even before the Covid-19 pandemic, and its ensuing financial fallout, Amazon realised that their product was becoming inaccessible to many. 

Audible Identifies a Missed Market

I had started out on Audible’s Gold Membership (now called Premium Plus) which, at the time was their cheapest package. The drawcard for this membership was the “free” credit you get every month which you can use to purchase a book.

While on that package, I only really used my allocated credit and didn’t buy any more books so I was listening to one book a month. At $14.95 the Premium Plus Membership is probably accessible to most Americans, but for South Africans that converts to about R250.00 which is a decent chunk of change every month. 

When I started working for myself, I had to be a lot more careful about my expenses, and a few months ago, I was considering cancelling my Audible membership. Although R250.00 is about what you would pay for a paperback these days anyway, I just didn’t feel like I was getting value out of the membership. Then Audible upped its game. 

A More Affordable and Higher-Value Membership

My finger was hovering over the cancel button on the Audible website when I spotted a new membership plan that had just been introduced: Audible Plus. As I compared the new plan, which costs $7.96 (about R124.00), to what I was getting on the Premium Plus plan I decided to give it a try. 

Since I’ve switched over to Audible Plus, I have listened to more content on Audible in two months than I had in the two years that I was on the more expensive plan! The reason for this is that while the Premium Plus membership gives you that seemingly-coveted free credit and access to a limited range of free Audible Original books, the Plus Plan gives you access to tons of free audiobooks and podcasts.

See that Included tag? When you are on the Plus Plan and you see that tag, the book or podcast is absolutely free! There are hundreds of titles in the Plus catalogue, and if you’re a true-crime fan, your tastes are definitely catered to as well.

What I’m Listening To

I’m not going to beat around the bush, and I don’t think you’ll be surprised to hear that I only listen to true crime and crime fiction books. These are some of the true-crime gems I’ve listened to since I have been on the Audible Plus Plan:

• To Kill and Kill Again: The Terrifying True Story of Montana’s Baby-Faced Serial Sex Murderer by John Coston 
• Sleep My Child, Forever: The Riveting True Story of A Mother Who Murdered Her Own Children by John Coston
• Hold Your Breath: A Novella by Wendy Walker
• A Killer in the Family by Peter Ross Range 
• Murder in the Yoga Store: The True Story of the Lululemon Killing by Peter Ross Range 
• When You Find Me by P.J. Vernon 

If you add up what I would have spent if I had purchased all those books outright, you’re looking at about R1,200.00 which I can guarantee you would never have happened. 

How to Get the Audible Plus Plan

So now that Audible is finally accessible to more people from a financial perspective, the only thing that might be holding some back is the fact that you need a credit card to sign up. I know that many people have started to move away from credit cards for various reasons, and I was one of those people for a long time, but I’ve found a solution to the credit card dilemma.

The Credit Card that’s Not a Credit Card

VCpay is an online service that gives you a digital credit card to use for online transactions, and the best part is that you aren’t actually using credit. When you sign up for VCpay you are assigned the details of a virtual credit card, but you transfer your own money into the “card” so you only use what you intend to, and there are no interest fees or other credit card catches or possible fraud. 

You’ll need to upload your ID, and for certain amounts also proof of address, and then you are ready to operate online as though you have a credit card like everyone else. It is honestly one of the most useful services I have come across in a long time.

So even if you don’t have a credit card through a bank, you can still use Audible.

Make Use of Audible’s Sign-Up Promotion

Another awesome thing that Audible offers is a free one-month trial service with a free book included. When you sign up, you will be asked to enter your credit card details, but they will only start billing you for your membership 30 days later, and you can cancel at any time during that period. 

Audible is a pretty transparent service so unlike some services that will just put through the charge to get your money, Audible actually reminds you that your first monthly fee is about to be deducted, and gives you the opportunity to cancel before the payment goes off. 

You also really can cancel at any time so if your situation changes, you aren’t stuck with never-ending charges and the hassle of trying to cancel. 

Use Our Affiliate Link to Sign Up

If you listen to the True Crime South Africa podcast and would like to support the show,  you can use my affiliate link below to sign up and Audible will pay the show a commission for your free trial regardless of whether you continue with the membership or not. 

Use this link to sign up and True Crime South Africa earns an affiliate commission.

When you select your membership type remember to pick Audible Plus, or, of course, you can go for the Premium Plus plan if you feel that’s better for you. 

Get Listening

There aren’t very many services today that offer truly great value, but this new Audible plan is definitely one of them. Just like podcasts, listening to audiobooks makes a wide range of normally dull and grudge tasks, much easier to get through. When I used to drive a lot for my job, audiobooks and podcasts always made the journey far more enjoyable. 

Publishers and authors are starting to realize that audiobooks are an important part of their catalogue, and even South African publishers are now releasing many of their titles on Audible. It’s also been proven that listening to an audiobook activates most of the same regions of your brain that reading a book does, so it’s a win-win all around, and a great way to get your kids “reading” more too!