Writing an Audible review for books you listened to can be extremely helpful for other audiobook listeners!
Reviews are invaluable when we’re trying to decide whether something is worth buying or not. That’s why it’s so great for other readers and for authors when you leave a short audiobook review as often as possible.
Writing an audiobook review is very easy. There’s no need to write 10 paragraphs, summarize the book, and do an in-depth analysis. You can write a helpful comment in just a few minutes!
As an avid audiobook listener, you are probably aware that the narration can make or break a book. That’s why your impression of the narrator is a crucial part of any helpful Audible review.
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Why it’s important to leave an Audible Review
With every Audible review, you support authors and narrators. Even with a negative rating!
Like many others, I have bought my fair share of my audiobooks because I knew I’d likely enjoy what other people criticized. (“Oh really, you felt this book had too many bedroom scenes and bad words? BUY!” 😆)
And sometimes, it can look suspicious when an audiobook has exclusively positive ratings. When you write a negative review – depending on what you write, of course – this could give the other reviews and the book more credibility.
After all, no book can be loved by absolutely everyone!
But you might also stumble over a new author whose audiobook has no reviews yet. If you enjoyed the story and thought the audiobook production was good, your opinion will help other listeners take a chance on this book when, otherwise, they wouldn’t have.
It’s never a waste of time to leave a positive audiobook review, though, not even for a bestselling book. Even if you only do it to gush about how much you loved the story and the narrators.
People look at a book review to get an idea of what other listeners thought of it. That’s why it’s enough to write a few short sentences with info that’s specific to the audiobook. For an in-depth discussion of the book, most readers would turn to book blogs, Goodreads, or Amazon. Which brings us to….
What an Audible Review should focus on
Many audiobooks are published long after the ebook has been released. That means you can assume there has been a good amount of discussion and reviews for popular titles. Of course, you can and should still add a few sentences about the story itself. But your focus can be on the narration.
A mediocre story can make an excellent audiobook with the right narrator. But an unfitting narration can ruin even the best book!
Questions to answer in your Audible Review
Did the audiobook meet your expectations? Start your review by describing how much you enjoyed the audiobook and if there were specific issues that you didn’t expect based on the blurb and sample.
I loved this audiobook but I was a bit disappointed that my favorite narrator only read the epilogue.
How did the story make you feel? You don’t need to summarize the book but give back shortly what stood out for you.
It was such a cute and funny story with some super hot scenes.
Did the narrator make it easy to follow the story? It should be easy to distinguish between different characters during dialogue scenes. And the narrator should read the story in a lively way with good intonations that pull you in so you stay focused on the story.
This was my first time listening to this narrator. She did a great job and I was captivated the entire
tim e.
Did you find the narrator’s voice fitting for the main protagonist? Sometimes, narrators sound too old or too young. Or they are too bouncy when the story is solemn.
The narrators were cast perfectly. Their voices were very fitting for the main characters and really brought them to life.
Do you recommend the audiobook and will you pick up more? End your review with a clear takeaway message about whether you recommend the audiobook or not, whether you only recommend it for certain listeners, and if you plan to get more books from the author and narrator.
I’ll definitely continue with this series and recommend it to anyone who loves this genre!
How to write a negative Audiobook Review
Again, don’t underestimate the value of negative reviews! If you’ve ever decided against picking up a book because it only had positive ratings, or if you’ve ever picked up a book after reading a negative review, you know how important they are.
This is something I have to keep telling myself, too. It’s difficult to convince myself that a critical review can still support the author. And to keep in mind that it’s really important for other readers.
Going by the questions above, this is an example of a constructive negative review.
This audiobook wasn’t quite what I expected. I was in the mood for a light college romance. But this was very dark and angsty which wasn’t clear to me from the blurb.
The female narrator was great, but for me, the male narrator sounded too old to be a college student.
Fans of darker New Adult romance might enjoy this story, but it wasn’t for me.
How to leave a Review on Audible
While you can only write an Audible review for an audiobook that you have listened to on the platform, you do not need an active Audible subscription to leave a review! You can actually log into Audible with your Amazon email address and password and don’t need to set up an account with a payment method.
So, no matter where you are in the world, you can accept Audible codes for free audiobook review copies and write an audiobook review in return. Check out my blog post on where to get free Audiobook Review Copies.
If you listen to audiobooks with the Audible app, you can simply leave a few sentences after finishing the audiobook. When the audiobook ends, Audible asks you for a star rating.
And when you click the arrow, you get to a screen to leave a review.
On a computer, you can go directly to the audiobook’s Audible page or to your Audible library, and choose “Write a Review” under the star ratings.
The minimum length is 15 words. So “loved it” doesn’t quite cut it. But if you go by my questions above, you can type out a few quick sentences that are helpful for other listeners.
You can also edit your Audible review later on. So, if you’re a control freak like me, don’t worry about typos or forgetting something. You can still change it later!
Reviewing… sometimes.
I’m not one of those people who will tell you that you HAVE TO leave audiobook reviews for EVERY title. You don’t!
But if you want to support your favorite indie authors, or if you have 3 minutes after finishing an audiobook, leave a quick review whenever you can.
You can save or pin this image to quickly look up the audiobook review questions again later on!
Eline Blackman (pronouns: she/they) fell in love with books as a child – with being read to and reading herself. 10 years ago, she bought her first Audible book. It was love at first listen! An average of 250 audiobooks per year has become the new normal and you will rarely see Eline without a wireless earbud. Romance and Fantasy are the go-to genres for this audiobook fan.
This was very helpful, although I read a lot, I don’t feel that I am very good at writing so I usually avoid doing reviews. Also if I don’t finish or don’t like a book I feel bad about leaving a negative review about something someone worked so hard on. I will leave reviews on the audio books and more of the kindle books using your guide.
Thank you so much for leaving a comment 😊 I’m very happy you found my post useful! I absolutely understand your feelings about writing negative book reviews. I have to keep telling myself too that every review is important, also the negative ones (with which I mean constructive and polite reviews, not author/narrator/book bashing, of course).
I had never thought that audiobook reviews should be different, but reading your post made me realise that indeed, the purpose is not the same with an audiobook. Thanks!
Thank you for stopping by!
The experience with an audiobook is very different and the narrator is absolutely crucial for that 🙂 I even know a lot of audiobook fans who sometimes choose their audiobooks by the narrator instead of the author. They look up their favorite voice actors on Audible and go through their catalog. It’s very important that you like the voice and that the narrator works in a way that’s easy to follow.
That’s not to say that the story doesn’t matter. But I would say both are equally important for enjoying an audiobook. A very good story can make up for a not-so-great narrator. And a great narration can really lift up a weaker story because the characters seem so much more alive and 3-dimensional.
What a good and useful post! I was just wondering, can I leave reviews for books I haven’t got through Audible? Cause now I’m getting those Libro.fm ones, I kind of still want to leave Audible reviews for them if I can, if at least to help the publisher. I was wondering if I’ll be able to? Cause I don’t think I can leave them on Libro.fm itself.
Thank you <3
No, on Audible you can only review what you bought there. I had an audio arc as mp3 and thought it was a shame I couldn't leave a review for it. But it cuts down a lot on spammy reviews, so I think it's probably a good thing doing it like this.