This article contains tips on how to take advantage of the Whispersync for Voice feature by Amazon and get audiobook discounts. I’ll also show you how to add Whispersync to your Kindle books. If you’re an Amazon consumer, particularly Kindle ebooks and audiobooks consumer (i.e., Audible members), you’re probably familiar with or at least have heard about Whispersync.
The Amazon audiobook service is called Audible, and to read more about Audible membership and how to save money during sign up or after you’ve subscribed to Audible, read this article: How to Save Money on Audible Membership. You can try the membership service for free for 30 days and get 2 free audiobooks (you can keep them no matter what).
Try Audible for 30 Days and Get Two Free Audiobooks
Whispersync is a neat feature that lets you synchronize the location of your latest read in the Kindle ebook and audiobook when you have both versions of the same title in your library. Many ebooks, though not all, offered by Amazon are Whispersync for Voice-ready enabled, allowing you to pick up where you left off from the audio or ebook version. It’s great because it combines the flexibility of the audiobook, like being able to multitask while listening to a book, and the handiness of highlights and writing notes on the Kindle ebooks.
Now, why would you want to buy both the ebook and audiobook versions of the same title? One reason is for the discounts!
When you buy either an audiobook or a Kindle ebook that is Whispersync for Voice-ready, Amazon will likely give you an offer to buy the other version at a heavily discounted price. Sometimes, the total price for this combination will be lower than the original price of either the audio or ebook version.
I usually prefer ebooks, since I like to go back to certain sections of the book, get quotes, etc., which would be difficult with the audio version. A few times, I’ve found out that buying the audiobook first, then taking advantage of the Whispersync offer, I get a lower total amount spent and I have both the ebook and audiobook versions in my library.
Here’s an example on how to do it, screenshots included.
How to Add Whispersync to Your Kindle Books and Get Audiobook Discounts
Example: I did this recently with Trevor Noah’s book, Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood. With raving reviews, this book turns out to be a perfect example on why it’s great to have the ebook and audiobook versions. Trevor is both hilarious and insightful. He’s a comedian from South Africa and a brilliant storyteller. He’s currently heading the satirical news show The Daily Show, which he inherited from the legendary Jon Stewart.
Trevor was born during apartheid and grew up in the complex post-apartheid South Africa. His life stories are out of this world. Noah narrates the audiobook version, which is awesome, since he fully characterizes the people he mentions in the book. So, not only you get to listen to the words as he intended them to sound, you’ll also get the full affectation and the true pronunciations of the numerous languages that he masters. He even says “Volkswagen” the proper way.
This is the Amazon page for the Kindle book. It’s priced at $14.99.
If you see on the right of the image, beneath the 1-Click purchase button, there is a box that you can check that says “Add Audible narration to your purchase.” In this case, the additional cost of the Audible narration is $4.99. To get both the ebook and audiobook, check this box.
If you see the original price of the audiobook alone, it’s listed at $21.95. So if you actually go the ebook + audiobook route, your total is $14.99 + $4.99 = $19.98, which is less than the audiobook alone. Of course, there will be taxes applied to your purchase, but the taxes will exist in both cases. Note that if you have an Audible membership, you may get the 30% discount on any purchased audiobook, so this comparison wouldn’t apply. In any case, the additional cost of having both versions in your library is marginal.
Additional Notes
One thing that happened to me when I purchased this book was the notification that the credit card on record in my Amazon account and Audible account has to be the same. I think if they were the same, the purchase of both versions could be done simultaneously.
I actually had some Amazon credit that I could use to buy the Kindle ebook, so I went through the steps to purchase the ebook first, using my credit. Then I went to my Audible account, and it knew that I had purchased the ebook, so the audiobook was priced at $4.99. I then purchased the audiobook version using the credit card I had on the Audible account.
Kindle book purchase:
Audiobook purchase:
This means that if you have some Amazon credit (e.g., from gift cards, etc.), you cannot use this to purchase audiobooks, since the audiobooks are sold on the Audible website, with separate accounts. Just a heads up.
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You can explore more titles and use this trick to see if you can get good deals on audiobooks. Many ebook titles, especially the classics, are free on Amazon. Once you’ve “bought” them and have the ebooks in your account, the audiobook offer becomes very cheap. To find Whispersync deals, or to scan through your ebook library to see the Whispersync discount offer, go to this page.
You can see the links there for deals or “Add Audible Narration to Books You Own”. The last link there will scan all of the ebooks you’ve owned and list the prices to add Audible narration.
Hope this is useful for you, and enjoy reading and listening!
Want ideas on which audiobooks to start listening to? Check out my favorite books from 2015, 2016, and 2017.
Other how-to articles on Audible Membership
How to Save Money on Audible Membership
=) Hope you find some books to use this trick on!
This is crazy smart!