Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to The Audio Club. So over the last few weeks whilst planning this show, I've been talking to a lot of people about audiobooks, and something's come up which I didn't first expect. And that is that audiobooks seem to be a little bit like Marmite, in that some people love them, and some people just don't seem to think that audiobooks are for them, which is totally cool. But it made me think of this video idea, and that is to give you three tips on how to enhance your audiobook listening experience. So if you're a fan of audiobooks, maybe these tips will help you to really take that enjoyment of an audiobook up to the next level. Or if you're on the flip side, if you're not fully convinced by the audiobook boom, then maybe these tips will help you, you know, develop some sort of fondness towards them. So my first tip is to set out time to listen to an audiobook. Now this might go against your current schedule, and if your schedule is to listen while you're driving or while you're doing something, you know, replacing an audiobook with music and that works for you, then that's great. Obviously don't change anything that's working already. But for some people, and I think I myself are one of these, it's sometimes a little bit hard to concentrate on an audiobook if you're doing another thing, and not giving it your full attention, obviously, might lead to not enjoying or not getting the most out of that audiobook. So when we read a print book, we often set out time in our day to read that book, maybe a little bit of a schedule, so we know that we're getting consistent reading and that at the end of this schedule, you'll be able to finish the book. This might be time before bed, time in the morning, time while you're waiting for a train or on the train, etc. And that is exactly what I think people can do for audiobooks to increase their enjoyment. You can really set out a time in your day to listen to that audiobook fully, where you know that it's going to get your fullest attention possible. So let's take before bed, because that seems to be a really popular time to ingest content. So if you set out a little bit like an hour before bed, instead of reading a book like you usually would, pop in your headphones or do something similar, however you listen to it, or a speaker if you want it loud enough, and try listening to your audiobook then, fully giving it your full attention, especially if it's a fiction. Let it immerse you in the story. And I'm sure will enhance your listen a little bit more. This leads to my second tip, which is give the book the most attention you possibly can spare. So audiobooks, just like print books, just like any other medium, they need you to to allow them to whisk you away into a world. And that only happens if you're giving it the right amount of attention and right amount of concentration. So I like to think of listening to audiobooks a little bit like watching a film. So you can watch a film cinema. Let's think about what cinema does. It traps you from the outside world. It puts you in a dark location. And the only thing you can do is immerse yourself in that film. You have a big screen, you have the surround sound speakers, you are there ready to ingest that content. And most people often find that they enjoy films a lot more when seeing them at cinema. Contrast that to watching a film on your phone around your family who are all talking. And you know, there's things going on around you. You're watching it on a tiny screen. Maybe the audio is not that great of quality. Your enjoyment is going to be a lot harder to to grasp from that piece of content because of the way that you're watching it. So audiobooks are exactly like that. If you're listening on a phone while there's other people talking and you're not really giving it that full attention, of course, it's not going to, you know, immerse you straight away. Whereas if you're, you know, in the car where there's no one else around and you have it loud and you're just focusing on the open road and allowing the audiobook to immerse you into it, obviously, driving is a bad example because you want to be safe. But you get the point. Then I think that is a really, really nice thing to remember when planning out your audiobook. Listen now, the third tip speaks more to people who aren't really big audiobook listeners. Maybe they listen to something, you know, once every few months or maybe when the credit rolls around. But other than that, audiobooks just don't tend to be a part of their daily routine or weekly routine. So the next tip is to be more specific with the type of audiobook you're listening to. Now, this was a big one for me when I first started listening to audiobooks. I myself thought I was into a specific genre and I started listening to audiobooks in this genre and I really wasn't getting that much into it. But then on the off chance I listened to an autobiography, I think it was by Nick Frost, and it just totally transformed my view of audiobooks and I realised I was actually listening to the wrong type of audiobook. Now, of course, you don't need to stick to one type. It's actually really nice when you diversify. But this was just what I needed to really get me in. So the first few audiobooks I actually really, really enjoyed was all part of an autobiographical genre. And I didn't know that I was a huge fan of biographies until that happened. So I just let it happen, started listening to binging biographies of people that I enjoyed their content of. And the next thing you know, I was fully immersed and actually preferred the audiobook version, preferred that added sense and really enjoyed being told the story. And then from there, I decided fully on board with the audiobook train. I decided to diversify my listening. And then now I'm a fully fledged hooked fan. So if you're having troubles connecting with audiobooks, maybe you think that, you know, you just don't like being told a story or whatever, and that might be completely valid. I would definitely, I would definitely recommend picking another type of audiobook to listen to. And it might just be that you were listening to the wrong type of audiobook. So with these tips, I really don't want to box them in and box you in and give you rules to follow. It's really not about that. These are just tips just to keep in mind whilst listening to an audiobook, just to give you the maximum chance of enjoying and being immersed into that piece of content. Now, the last little thing I wanted to say before I let you get on with your day is a little bit of a bonus clip. This might sound really weird to those who haven't tried it, but I'm sure the people who have tried it will be on my side for this. If you just so happen to have the print book available as well as the audiobook, try listening to the audiobook whilst you're reading the print book. Now that does sound a little bit weird and sounds like, why would you, why would you take two? Why would you listen to it twice? You know, why would you listen to it and then read it? It just sounds like, seems like a bit of an overload of the senses. But it is actually a really fun exercise. I don't know whether that is because you don't need to put as much effort into reading it. I don't know if it's just it helps people, especially if, you know, a lot of people struggle with reading long pieces of text. I don't know if it helps with that, but it just something happens where it really does boost your enjoyment. I don't know whether it's because it's got that added sense that you're using, but give it a try if at all possible and let me know your thoughts. So thank you very much for watching this little offcut of the audio club. Please make sure to check out our other videos. They're not all like this tips and tricks. Just thought it was a fun little thing to bring to you. And if you have any extra tips or anything that you found that I might have missed off, please leave in the comments below and we can pick it up in another video and expand on that. So once again, thank you very much for watching and I'll see you in the next one.