The Audible Backlog
Posted on January 14, 2024 by Aywren
Not that I need another backlog in my life, but I’ve done some math looking at my audio book library. One of my goals for this year was to “read” more books – which also encompasses listening to audio books (usually while I’m doing something mindless on the side).
This was something I started last year that I noticed I was particularly doing well with. I started to pick out short reads that I’d never heard/read before, but wanted to, such as The Last Unicorn or The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I would put it on when I did things such as my daily FFXIV crafting and map gathering, and I noticed that I was making good time just a bit each day.
Last year’s reading goal was 5 books – which sounds so paltry, I know. But compared to what I usually read, that’s a lot. I used to be the kind of kid whom would never be found without a book in hand, so the fact that I let reading fall by the wayside so much is a sad thing.
Turns out, I knocked my goal out of the park last year, and I am redoubling my effort, especially with my audio book library this year. I’ve had an Audible membership since 2014, so I’ve amassed 181 audio books during the last 10 years. Some of the are the short Audible free books we used to get, until they cut the free books out for the Silver Membership.
Yes, I’m on that “hidden” Silver Membership for the site, which means instead of paying for a credit every month, I pay for one every other month. A few years into having a membership at Audible, I realized that a book a month was way more than I’d ever be able to keep up with. When I went to unsubscribe in order to try to catch up to the backlog I already had, they offered me a credit every other month, and I agreed. I’ve been on this membership type for many years since.
I tend to use my credits at the two for one credit sales that pop up from time to time. But I also used my credits towards massively towering fantasy novels – think Robert Jordan with his Wheel of Time series that can easily hit a narration time of 30-40 hours per book. I also picked up a lot of books by authors I’ve already read years ago – mostly Tolkien, McCaffrey – that sort of thing. Books I’d like to hear again one day, but nothing I’m in a rush to listen to.
A Look at the Backlog
I decided to check into my Audible backlog and this is what I found:
- 181 total books
- 26 of those books are “old fantasy”
- 39 books I have listened to in completion
The “old fantasy” books are the ones I described above – hugely long fantasy books or fantasy books I’ve already read. Books I have in the library just to have them. I’ll get around to them one day, but for the sake of the math I’m doing here, I’ve removed them from the total number of books in my backlog – this leaves 155 total books I intend to actually listen to.
Which means, at 39 read, I’ve finished about 25% of my Audible backlog.
That’s not great, but it’s a good place to start.
I’ve further gone into my library and created a list that focuses just on the shorter and most interesting reads in my library. The thought is to tackle short books I’m interested in to slowly whittle down the unread number.
I’ve almost completed book number 40 – I’ve only got about 45 mins left to finish it up. So, seeing that I’m already getting books done this early in the year bodes well.
Ultimately, what I’d like to do is make audio books a daily habit. If I can chip away at my backlog and do a good job on it this year, I might reward myself by going back to a credit a month again. But that really depends on the progress I make.
Be looking for an update on this later in the year!