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All About Audiobooks

The Best Platforms for Listening

Whether you qualify listening to audiobooks as reading or not, they're great for consuming stories while on the move and a helpful way of reading denser texts that are hard to focus on. 

You probably think of platforms like Audible or Audiobooks.com when looking for your next audiobook, but there are plenty of other platforms with wide selections of content. Plus, they might even be more affordable, as $15 a month might seem like a lot if you're not a frequent audiobook listener.

Last year, Spotify started making over 100,000 audiobooks available to users at an additional cost, but last month, they announced premium subscribers now get 15 hours a month of free listening. Though it's not unlimited, it's still a great deal considering the millions of podcasts and tens of millions of songs also available on the platform. 

The public library, of course, has lots of audiobooks available for loan. The problem in 2023 is that many people no longer have or use CD players that are required to play the physical media. Instead, check out platforms like Libby and Hoopla, both of which connect to your local library's selection. You might face a queue, but they're totally free and highly accessible. 

On Google Books, you forgo a subscription price and instead buy each individual book. There's quite a range of prices, but once it's in your library, it will remain so. 

Kobo, which is just a scrambling of the letters of book, is another versatile option. They offer digital books as well as audiobooks, and you can opt for subscriptions for one or both formats. Their content is available via app or on their ereaders. 

Last but certainly not least, check YouTube! You might have to do a bit of digging, but there are lots of titles available. Sometimes as one long video, and other times broken up by chapter, you can favorite the videos or like the playlist to keep it ready to be listened to.

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Capitalizing Seasons and Directions

Capitalization is oftentimes a confusing topic. We all know names of people and countries should be capitalized, but what about other words like winter and east? Here are some capitalization reminders for when it comes to seasons and directions. 

Seasons

Seasons, most of the time, should not be capitalized. They are not proper nouns, but instead general nouns, and therefore, they should almost always be lowercase. The expectation would be something like the Winter Olympics, as it is the proper name of the event.

If you were to be writing a poem where the season is personified, this would be another instance where the word should be capitalized. 

Directions

General compass directions—north, south, east, and west—should not be capitalized unless they are referring to a place or area that is generally referred to with a direction in its name. If you are talking about traveling to the southern United States, leave it lowercase, but if you wish to call it the American South, then it is capitalized. 

Other examples with capitalized directions include Eastern Europe and Northern California, and others that remain lowercase are southwest France or the east of Arizona. 

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Featured Articles of the Week

From an article about ghosts of the Christmas season by one of our HubPages editors to quelling naughty dog behavior, these are our featured pieces of the week. Check them out below!

• PetHelpful: How Can I Stop My Dog From Trying to Hump All Dogs? by  Adrienne Farricelli
• Owlcation:  Spirits of the Season: Ghosts From Christmas Past to Present by Jennifer Bové
• Exemplore: Devious Folklore Characters Who Keep Unruly Children in Check by Rupert Taylor