Audible creates 'Send This Book' feature

Audible is to give away audiobooks from Patti Smith, Jon Ronson, Harper Lee and others for free to mark the launch of a new feature which will enable listeners to give any audiobook they own to others.

The new 'Send This Book' feature will enable listeners to give any audiobook they own to others instantly via e-mail, text, Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, using their iOS, Android or Windows 10 device. Each recipient will get their first title for free to download and keep forever, whether they’re an Audible member or not.

To mark the occasion, well-known figures are giving away the audiobooks they consider "essential listening". Jon Ronson, Gemma Cairney, Mary Beard, Robert Winston, Karren Brady, Jude Kelly, Matt Dawson and Noma Dumezweni will each be sharing a link to their chosen audiobook on Twitter, inviting members of the public to download the title for free.

Ronson, author of The Psychopath Test (Picador) and The Men Who Stare At Goats (Picador), is to share A Very English Scandal: Sex, Lies and a Murder Plot at the Heart of the Establishment (Viking), written by John Preston and narrated by Daniel Weyman; Cairney, BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ will recommend Just Kids (Bloomsbury), written and narrated by Patti Smith; Beard, professor of Classics at Cambridge, will recommend The Odyssey (Penguin Classics), written by Homer, narrated by and Anton Lesser; and Winston, professor of Science and Society at Imperial College, will share The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories From My Life (Viking), written and narrated by John le Carré. 

Brady, businesswoman and Baroness of Knightsbridge, will share The Kept Woman (Century), written by Karin Slaughter and narrated by Jennifer Woodward; Kelly, artistic director of the Southbank Centre, will suggest To Kill A Mockingbird (Arrow), written by Harper Lee and narrated by Sissy Spacek; Dawson, presenter and former England Rugby Scrum-half, has picked Room On The Broom (Macmillan's Children's Books) by Julia Donaldson and narrated by Josie Lawrence; and Dumezweni, actor, who plays Hermione Granger in "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child", will recommend The Alchemist (HarperThorsons), written by Paulo Coelho and narrated by Jeremy Irons.

All the titles can be downloaded here.

To use the feature, customers press the share icon when listening to an audiobook, then tap ‘Send This Book’, select their preferred sharing method (email, text, Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp) and enter the recipient’s contact information. Users can send each audiobook to up to 10 people. If it is a recipient’s first time accepting an audiobook via this feature the recipient does not need to sign up for a free trial or use a credit card to download the title.

Tracey Markham, UK country manager at Audible, said: “Our members know how irresistible a good audiobook can be. Now, for the first time, listeners can share their enjoyment by sending complete titles to anyone in the UK for them to download and keep forever without having to pay a penny. Whether you’re a book club member who wants to share an audiobook with the entire group, a teacher recommending a title to your class, or an enthusiastic listener giving to a friend, Send This Book lets you share the audiobooks you love with those you care about most.”