On November 1st, Audible unveiled its new Romance Package, a subscription-based service geared toward lovers of romance audiobooks. For one low monthly fee, listeners can take advantage of a wide selection of romances in a variety of sub-genres. I was thrilled as soon as I heard about it, and I eagerly signed up for the service. Now, after a little over three weeks spent with the package, I’m here to share a few of my thoughts with you.
First off, the price isn’t bad at all, especially if you’re already an Audible member or a Kindle Unlimited subscriber. You can add the romance package to your already-existing membership for $6.95 per month. If you aren’t a member of Audible or Kindle Unlimited, you can get the romance package for $14.95 per month. No matter which option you choose, your first month will be absolutely free.
Once you’ve signed up, you can browse through the extensive collection of romances Audible has included in the package. Overall, I was pretty pleased by what I found, although it’s important for potential subscribers to know right off that all romances are not included. I’m not sure how Audible staff chose which books would be included and which would be left out, and I was a little puzzled by some of the exclusions. For example, all of the books in Yasmine Galenorn’s Otherworld series are part of the package except the first one, and about half of Keri Arthur’s Reilly Jensen series can be listened to through the package. If you love historical romances, you’ll be pleased to know that a good number of Loretta Chase audiobooks are included, but there are some notable exceptions. A Duke in Shining Armor and Dukes Prefer Blondes were left out. I found this to be the case with many other authors I searched for, and I was sometimes quite dismayed by the books I could not listen to as part of the package. Still, it’s early days, and I can only hope the list of titles will expand as the package gains popularity.
One of the very best features of the package is the sizable list of categories and romance tropes Audible has created to help every romance listener find the perfect audiobook. There are forty-one Micro-categories and one-hundred-thirty-one story and character tropes listeners can choose from while searching for their perfect romance audio experience. It’s an ingenious way to find the books you’re likely to enjoy.
The Steaminess Score is another of the package’s neatest features. Not all romance listeners enjoy the same amount of heat in their audiobooks, and the steaminess score helps listeners find the books that best meet their needs in this arena. The score consists of five steps with one being the lowest amount of steam and five being the highest.
Members of the romance package can also skip to what Audible is calling “the good parts” of the audiobooks they download. This feature is not available for every book yet. In fact, it seems to exist for only about one-hundred books so far, but Audible editors promise this list will grow soon. Basically, you can skip to ten parts of the book that Audible has decided are of particular interest to romance listeners. Some examples include first meeting, flirty banter, and, of course, the hot moments. Since I tend to listen to books from start to finish without jumping around, I can’t comment on how well this feature works. Still, it seemed worth noting here so potential subscribers could take advantage of it if they so choose.
One possible drawback to the service is the fact that it can only be used with the Audible app for IOS or Android. If you listen through the web-player or any other means, the package won’t be of use to you. Luckily, I use Audible pretty much exclusively through the app on my iPad, so I’ve been enjoying what the package has to offer with no trouble.
It’s also important to point out that you’re borrowing the audiobooks through the package. You can have ten in your library at any given time. You can borrow them for as long or short a time as you choose, and returning them so you can get new ones is a quick and seamless process.
So, if this sounds like something that might appeal to you, visit the Romance Audio Package signup page and try it free for one month. It’s not a perfect service, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
Shannon
Editor’s note: this package is available in the US. Our UK correspondent notes it is not available there.
i joined up and have been EXTREMELY pleased. I’m an Audible subscriber and listen with the Audible App on my iPod (say that 6 times fast…). I’ve been able to sample some books and authors I was thinking about trying but unsure about (and quickly rejected 2 of them after only a couple of chapters, so it was a good deal for me).
And (oh joy) I was able to download two Meghan March “duos” that I’d been resisting getting because, well, 2 credits to complete a story (they are split into two 5-hour segments, and you have to get them separately) seemed a little much. Not all Meghan’s works are included, as noted, but I hope they will be adding to the offerings as time goes buy, presuming the program is successful.
Just adding that the package seems to be available for anyone who has an Audible US account. I’m in Australia and I was able to sign up.
Thank you so much for pointing this out. I was not aware of the effect the service was having on authors and narrators.