Audiobook Clubs Bring People Closer Together: A How-to Guide
Make listening an experience to share with friends. Follow our how-to guide and get your audiobook club started today
What’s your favourite way to listen to audiobooks? Do you pop in your headphones and transport yourself during your commute or do you prefer to dim the lights with a glass of wine and listen at home? Maybe you like to gather your friends together and listen as a group.
Starting an audiobook club gives you a chance to spend more time with the people you care about while enjoying an enriching, entertaining form of storytelling together – or sharing your reactions to what you listened to on your own. It can be tough to get together with friends on a regular basis, but a club like this gives you a reason to spend more time bonding over amazing stories, as well as an opportunity to discover new titles to explore.
This how-to guide will help you get your audiobook club started.
Invite Your Friends to Join
The first step is finding people to join who will be interested in the titles you choose. Will you be listening primarily to the best fiction audiobooks, nonfiction, podcasts, comedy, biography or a mix of genres? If you want to focus on one genre, invite friends who already listen to that type of story. You can also invite friends first and decide what kind of audiobooks you’re going to listen to as a group.
Pick a Title
Decide on a system for choosing titles. One way is to give everyone a chance to choose a title they’ve been longing to listen to, and you can draw names out of a hat to determine the order.
Another way is to ask everyone to come with one or two suggestions and then have a group vote to decide what’s next. Remember to mention the edition, too, so everyone enjoys the same listening experience. There are some truly unique audio versions available these days.
Jane Austen’s Emma is the perfect example. Austen is a classic pick for audiobook clubs, but there’s so much more available than titles with a single narrator. You can find Emma as an Audible Original Drama, narrated by Oscar-winning actor Emma Thompson with a full cast of voice actors and vivid sound design that takes the story to new heights. Take a look at the Audible Originals section to find more dramatic adaptations of titles you might pick.
If you’re looking for more suggestions, our Audible Essentials list can help you find inspiration – this roundup offers editor-picked audiobooks too good not to share. From classic fiction audiobooks to up-close-and-personal memoirs, find it all right here.
Organizing and Hosting Club Meetings
Consistency is the key to keeping your audiobook club going, so ask your group how often they can meet — whether it’s weekly, monthly or whatever frequency works for everyone.
Next, decide on hosting responsibilities. Rotate hosting duties or, as the organizer, take charge and invite everyone over. And host any way you want - whether you’re serving dinner or snacks themed around the title or serving a signature drink featured in the story. These small details keep everyone engaged and eager to come back to their club.
How to Listen
You can let everyone listen on their own time or dedicate part of the meeting to listening on your Alexa-enabled device while guests snack and enjoy a glass of wine. Listening together keeps everyone in sync, so no one’s behind schedule when you sit down to talk about the title. It’s also a way to share the experience of those cliff hanger endings, deepening mysteries and shocking reveals. Those moments are always better together.
Set aside about 1 to 1.5 hours each meeting to make some headway and use the rest of the night to chat about it.
Spark a Conversation
Not everyone in your group will be comfortable opening up with their opinions right out of the gate. You can help keep the conversation flowing with a few questions or prompts to get everyone sharing. Try some of these:
• How do you feel about the main characters? Are they believable? Could you relate to them?
• What do you think the characters look like? Can you describe them?
• Were there any scenes or passages that stood out to you?
• What would you change if you were to turn the story into a movie?
This is just to get you started and give everyone a chance to share and bond over the same story.
Get Listening with an Audiobook Club
Sharing an audiobook with your social circle is one small way you can get on the same wavelength. Not sure where to start? You’ll always find new recommendations on Audible.ca for timeless classics, hot new releases and our top selling audiobooks.
Sharing your favourite audiobooks with your friends is a great way to spend more time with the people who matter to you. Get your audiobook club organized and let us know your tips for success, plus any titles you’d recommend.
If you could host an audiobook club, what would your first listen be? Tell us on Facebook!
