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Are you a die-hard bibliophile but can’t always find time to read? Then you might want to consider audiobooks, which are growing in popularity for people just like you. Amazon’s Audible offers a monthly subscription audiobook service and boasts having the world's largest audiobook library with access to more than 180,000 titles. You can download these titles to your phone, tablet, or computer. If you have the ebook and the audiobook of a title, you’ll love the Whispersync for Voice technology.
What is Whispersync for Voice? Whispersync for Voice, simply known as Whispersync, is a feature that allows you to switch between all of your Whispersync-enabled devices without losing your place. Here’s the cool part…this feature allows you to listen to your audiobooks and easily switch to reading the companion ebook and vice versa. All it takes is a wi-fi connection, and you can pick up where you left off without losing your place, your bookmarks, or your notes. You can switch between an Audible for Android app and an Audible for iPad app seamlessly and also access your ebook from your phone, e-reader, or laptop or any compatible device. Why is this beneficial? Let’s say you have a one-hour commute to work, carpool or ride the bus or train, and use the time to read. You can continue with the story even as you get off the train and walk to your office building. But of course, you can’t read and walk at the same time (or at least you shouldn’t). So instead, you listen. That’s the beauty of the Whispersync feature. With a simple tap of a screen, you can switch between reading and listening, pop in your headphones, and continue the story. Perfect for those books that are so good you can’t put them down. Another beneficial feature Whispersync not only lets you switch between reading and listening, but you can also do both! It lets you read while listening to your ebook, highlighting the text as it’s being narrated, great for when you need to boost comprehension and retention. Alternatives to Audible Amazon Audible is the only place where you can use the Whispersync technology, but you do have other options for audiobooks. You can borrow books through Overdrive. If your library doesn’t have the book you’re interested in, request it. With enough requests, they might acquire it. iTunes is another alternative. Audiobooks.com has a similar subscription plan to Audible, including a 30-day free trial, which equates to one free credit when you try the service. Downpour is another alternative source for avid listeners. They also offer a monthly subscription plan free credit upon sign-up. Audiobook Month June is Audiobook Month, so keep your eyes open for specials, coupons, and giveaways at all at the aforementioned retailers. And make sure you stop by my audiobooks page to see the list of books I’ve produced in audio, and listen to the samples. For any of those books you already have in ebook format, Amazon offers the audiobook as an add-on for only $1.99 each, and they’re all Whispersync-enabled. Happy reading and/or listening! - Delaney Diamond In a previous blog post, I gave you two solutions to ensure you don’t miss newsletters from your favorite authors. You can find those here. Today, I’m suggesting one more way to stay up-to-date. Solution #3 Subscribe to the author’s newsletter RSS feed. I subscribe to various blogs via RSS feed and read them at my leisure when I have time. I prefer to subscribe to author newsletters via email so I don’t miss time-sensitive announcements such as sales or new releases, but this is a good option for readers who don’t have a preference. I’ll use my own newsletter as an example, which I send out via MailChimp.
 And there you have it! Follow these steps and never miss a newsletter from your favorite author again.  We all have our favorite authors whose books we obsess over. We scroll through their social media updates, read online interviews, and check their blogs for announcements and news. We also subscribe to their official newsletter, where we get first-hand information and updates about previous works, sales, appearances, and projects in the pipeline. The problem Some web-based email services, to streamline messages and make email more efficient, group together newsletters and events and separate them from the inbox into a promotions or other tab. Your inbox gets automatically sorted by what the service deems important messages, leaving you to take care of the rest that fall into the “others” category. In theory, this sounds great. It's a time-saving option that lets you get down to the business of reading only priority emails, and lets you get a handle on the amount of messages you receive. But practically, because you don’t choose which emails are considered priority, you may be missing out on messages that are important to you. This means there’s a chance you’ll miss or delete the important author update you’ve been waiting to receive. So what can you do to make sure you receive newsletters and updates from your favorite authors? Solution #1 First, make sure you subscribe to the newsletter in the first place - an important but sometimes overlooked step. Newsletters are often double opt-in lists. Once you subscribe, check your email for the confirmation message and click it to confirm you want to receive the author’s news. Second, you can tweak your email settings to make sure that the newsletter lands in your inbox and not a different folder. For this example, we’ll look into tweaking your email settings using the most popular web email service, Gmail.
Solution #2 Maybe you want to get rid of sorting altogether and have all emails come directly into your “Primary” inbox. You have the option to turn off the tabs. Here are the steps:
 If you ever want to enable the tab function again. Use the following steps:
And there you have it! Follow these steps and never miss a newsletter from your favorite author again. |
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