I'm a member of Goodreads.com and this will be my second year signing up for the Reading Challenge. You can track my progress in the left panel. Last year my goal was 12 books, which meant I had to read 1 book a month minimum. That's a very doable goal for a busy person like myself. Here's a snapshot of what I "read".
Sometime during July, 2011 I activated a membership with Audible.com through a $1 for 6 months offer I received on my Kindle with Special Offers and so began my journey and I'm not ashamed to admit a love for listening to audiobooks. This was a steal of a deal because I received 1-credit per month and 1 credit would get you one audiobook. (The math: I received 6 audiobooks for $1). So then the BIG QUESTION popped into my head -- Should I count audiobooks towards my goal of books "Read". I decided to include them. :-) Of the fourteen (14) books I completed only 5 were in audiobook format. I know you're wondering, I thought you received 6 credits so why didn't I get 6 books, right? I decided to GIFT an audiobook to a dear friend of mines. :-)
Today I decided to google the question "Do audiobooks count towards your reading goal?" and was pleasantly pleased when I saw others had the same question and the overwhelming response was "Yes, audiobooks should be counted". One response I especially liked was that audiobooks should be counted if "unabridged", meaning the book is read in it's entirety and not shortened for the audiobook. Unabridged books take a considerable amount of time to listen to with the average listening time being between 10-12 hours. Interestingly, it would probably take the average reader only about 6-8 hours to actually read the book in print.
Taking this into consideration I am planning to increase my reading challenge goal to specifically include more audiobooks. I primarily listen to audiobooks during my commute to and from work and while at home doing things such as cooking, cleaning and hobbies like sewing and crocheting.
Do you have an opinion on this subject? Weigh in via a comment below and let me know your thoughts.
Check out some of the books on my To-Read List. It will be interesting to see which ones I get to this year. If you have a book recommendation for me please feel free to leave that in a comment below. Thanks!
HEYYYYY!!!
Did you notice that my reading goal follows the SMART Goal technique? Check out my other posts about goals:
