How to Share an Audible Book with a Friend (for free!)
You know that I’m a huge Audible fan and I’ve been using it for years (if you’re new to Audible, I wrote a whole post about how to use it here).
But like most tool, there are always a bunch of features you’re not really using or don’t even know about, and the “Share Audible Book with Friend” feature is one I just discovered!
Every book that you own in your Audible Library, you can share with one friend. It’s totally free and you can easily send the Audible book of your choice right from the app.
If you’re listening to a book that you’re loving and think that your mom would love it too? Two clicks and she can listen for free too.
Or if you’re listening to a book club pick, you can share it with a fellow member of your book club who also has more time to listen to audiobooks than to read.
Are there any catches?
Yes – you can only share Audible books with the same friend once.
So if you send The Boys in the Boat to Sue, she’ll get a free copy of it, but you can’t send her any more free Audible books. And she can’t receive a free one from any other friends.
(Who is Sue? I have no idea – it was just the name that came to my mind for this example).
How to use the “Share Audible Book with Friend” feature
To share an Audible book with a friend, just open your Audible app and push the “My Library” button at the bottom of the screen.
Then find the Audible audiobook that you want to share and tap the three dots to the right of the title.
One of the options that pops up will be “Send this Book.”
Tap that and it’ll give you the option to email or text the download link to whatever friend you’d like.
How easy is that?
Plus, you’ll look like the most thoughtful friend, neighbor, sibling, aunt or book club member on the planet.
Which I always consider an extra bonus in life.
P.S. If you’ve never used Audible before, you can sign up for a free 30 day trial here and get TWO free audiobooks. No friends required.
Can you share a book even if someone already has an audible account?
Yes! But they can only accept one book, so make sure they really want it 😉
So the “share a book” is really just a marketing tool. I cannot really gift or lend my books like I can when I own a hard cover or paperback. And once I share even a single book with a person no one else can share a book with them. It’s just a marketing scheme to allure new customers to sign up. It’s not even as good as the 30 day trial membership available to all new customers. I call BS.
I think it is tricky for people to recognize that digital books and physical books are not apples to apples. You can’t carry 1000 books in your backpack but you can easily put 1000 ebooks on a Kindle. You can’t read a paperback in the shower but you can listen to an Audible audiobook in the shower. There are pros and cons to each one and it’s not fair to assume they’ll both be exactly the same.
OBVIOUSLY it’s a marketing tool! Audible isn’t a charity. What’s the problem with that?
I’m actually at this post looking for info on doing that, as I fear it’s no longer a possibility at Audible. I was looking forward to enticing a friend to get into audiobooks by sending a free copy of Richard Osman’s fab latest, WE SOLVE MURDERS. Now that I’ve extolled it to him, I think I’ll have to bite the bullet and pay for a gift version. 🫤
What are the possibilities on being able to send more then one book? My father is at a rehab and cant see him so id like to transfer him more then one book.
you can gift books using your own credits so essentially buy credits and gift him books.
When I click on the three dots in Audible, I do not see the “send this” option :-/
I do not see he “send this” message either. “share” function sends a link for he person to sample and purchase.
Me neither
Me neither too! 😉
That’s because Amazon/audible removed this feature recently. You can no longer share an audiobook unless you add that person to your Amazon household, which also means that person can see and access your credit card information and order anything with your credit card too. It’s a shame they did this!! You bought the audiobook, you should be able to share it, just like a hard copy book!!
Nor do I
If I merely like a book, but don’t love it, am I able to share it? My mom is, however, dead so I guess it’s moot.
Thank you, Janssen. I used this information to swap audible books with a friend today!
YAY! I’m so happy to hear it!
What actually happens if you try to send a book to someone you’ve already shared one with before?
Your phone explodes. Just kidding. You just get a “nope, can’t do that” message.
I love this feature and use it all the time when I’m trying to convince people to try audiobooks. I also LOVE that you can return books on Audible. If I listen for hour or so and am not engaged or don’t like the narrator, I always return it.
If I share a book is it still in my library also or do I lose it?
You keep it!
Has this option changed? I tried sharing a book and it want them to pay for it…
Yes, it looks like they’ve discontinued this option.
Hi there. I don’t have the option of sharing a book. Does anyone know why?
It looks like they’ve stopped offering it! 🙁 Ugh. That sucks. I loved this option. I’m going to write and complain!
Once I’ve shared 1 book with a friend. Can I share any other titles from my library 1 time with the same friend?
Unfortunately, no. Each user can only accept one share total.
The one book share is nice but extremely limited. I wish there were an option for me to share books at my expense. I think it’s a huge missed opportunity for Audible!
Can I share the same book once with Sue and once with Lisa? (So sending the same book twice to 2 different people that have never received a book before.)
Nope. You can only share each book once (and each person can only GET a book shared with them once).
I sent a book to my sister, and she only received a recomendation, how does she actually get the book?
She’ll need to download the Audible app and sign up for a free account (or just use her Amazon account) and then she should be able to click the link from your text or email and get it in her app!
Can I share an audible book before I’m done reading it myself?
yes!
I wS able to do thiis today bu clicking on the three dots next to the title in my library.
This does not seem to be an option anymore. I have tried all the three dots.
So sad.
Me too, same. Terrible really. Cost the same as a book yet we can loan them to our friends….. sigh
☹️
Did you try jumping to the end and clicking on “finished?”
So, I purchased a book, paid pretty much full price and I don’t “own” it? Like a paperback? This is not a good plan.
I agree 100%. It’s a scam. If you buy it you own it.
No, you own that copy that is attached to your account forever, even if you cancel your membership. No you cannot pass it around freely like a book, but it’s not the same thing as a book. It costs a lot more to produce and to buy. I don’t see the scam, they already DEEPLY discount them from retail price. What more do you want? The author to give you a handy while thanking you for reading?
I have also been using audible for many. years. I am finding that some very old purchases (maybe 10. years old??) are no longer showing up in my library. I have found this because I see books that I want to listen to and then recall that I have already listened to them but they don’t show in my library. Have you had this same issue?
thanks
Van
The only options I get are “play”, “remove from device”, “untag as finished”, “read summary” or “rate and review” 🙁
Somehow, nothing is happening in my audible app when I click “Send this Book”. Has anyone else had the same problem?
I only get Book details, rate and review, and mark as finish. I dont need an update? I am in Canada, is it different here?
Is the book you’re looking at one you received for free? I believe ones that were free don’t have the option to share, and only show those three options you mentioned – Book details, Rate and review, and Mark as unfinished.
You used to be able to share your login info with four other people, so that they could also download books from your library. Is that not the case anymore?
I don’t know! I never used that feature so I can’t tell you – I’m so sorry!
You can share access to your Audible account through your Amazon Household, which is limited to two adults and several teens and children. So if you’re using that to connect Amazon accounts with someone already, it’s harder to share with another adult.
You can authorize multiple devices on your Audible account, so you could share your login directly. However, your Audible login is also your Amazon login, so that person theoretically would have access to view your purchase history, browse your lists, and even make purchases on your Amazon account. So it had better be someone you trust.
Is there a way to donate an audible book to my local library?
I’ve never heard of that and I’m inclined to say no because libraries generally don’t use Audible.
can you share books from an Australian audible book to UK friend???
Yes I had the same experience
I prefer to read physical books but my friend prefers audible books. How do I gift an audible book when I don’t have an audible account? Thanks!
Just sign in with your Amazon account and then you can gift any book – click “More options” under the title and then choose “Give as Gift.”
My wife has an old kindle and it no longer supports Audible I also a newer kindle and an Audible account can she listen to her books on my kindle? If he’s how
Yes – she’ll need to log in with her Amazon account that connects to her Audible account and also use Bluetooth headphones.
I have a brand new Paperwhite and it is 100% the very worst bluetooth transmitter I have,, with stutters in transmission every minute or so. each of these means a missed word. They cursed Kindle with an outdated (and therefore super cheap) version of Bluetooth.
As for the justification of not permitting sharing your books, that’s just a symptom of Bezos’ hypergreed- with an audiobook, there’s only one setup expense. a fee to to copyright holder and to the reader. after that there’s NO cost for materials or distribution. It’s like selling the selfsame car over and over and over again. Just like expensive software, One cost to write it, the internet delivery means zero costs in CDs and manuals (which used to be supplied with every copy) – now there’s no costs except running the delivery server. And with all that hyper profit, we’re not “allowed” to lend our books? Bezos became the world richest man by also being the planets greediest. And that’s the truth of it.
Can I send a gift book directly to someones Amazon Echo device?
When you buy a book, it’s yours to do with as you wish. You can loan it to 100 friends if you want to. Why shouldn’t you be able to do this with an audio book? I don’t understand.
You’ll have to take it up with audiobook producers and distributors! I’d guess that the answer is “physical products and digital products are different.”
Hi my friend shared me a book. Clicked the link but its asking for an address
I sent a book, but my friend can’t open it. Dies anyone have something that explains it from her end?
I cannot down load a book my friend wants to share with me! Could you possibly help me?? Thanks
This feature is no longer available on Audible as of April 2021. FYI.
https://help.audible.com/s/article/send-this-book-terms-and-conditions?language=en_US
Sadly this feature doesn’t exist now (in the UK at least)
Trying to share a book with my mother but can only do it by buying it again, for her.
Y audible doesn’t show a “send this book”. It does show a “share”. Are they the same?
Hi,
I am try to share my book with my mother, but the options to share isn’t there. When you lush the 3 dots, what comes up is: Title details, who wrote the book, share but when the person opens it only shares 30 seconds of the book, Mark unfinished, rates & reviews, add to favorites, add to, archive this title, and remove from device.
Please help if you can. Thank you 😊
If I buy audiobook on cds, I can loan them out all day long. They should allow you to loan audiobooks but only for a time and only to one person at a time just like cds. The way they do it now you do not own the audiobook. Only the right to listen to it as long as you have an amazon account as that is where it is stored. And saying it costs a lot to produce and that they aren’t making much is not true. They are making plenty even if discounted as you only get the discounted price if you are paying for the membership.
I agree! I understand that the authors need to get paid, but Amazon should at least let you share every book with at least 1 person.
I use my local library for almost all of my audiobooks, but sometimes they do not the book I am looking for. There should be a way to rent an audiobook, does anyone know if there is a site that lets you borrow a book for a fee.
Thank you, but I’ll just stick to OpenAudible and a flash drive. More hassle but less constricting. Be nice if you could lend any book for say a week or month and have it disabled on your end and then it would be more like lending a physical book.
It’s also against the terms of service and can get your Audible account shut down which would mean you lose ALL your books.
I’m wondering if someone could help me. I’m sorry if I’m asking the same question as someone above, I just can’t find a straight answer. I have my own Amazon account but don’t pay for audible. I have a kindle and use it for books. My dad uses audible and has over 30 audiobooks on it that I downloaded with his credits as I wasn’t able to share between household. I’ve been doing this since. I was hoping to merge accounts or at least have my account as a family member share option but the only things that sync are the books and not the audiobooks. I feel like maybe they don’t allow it in my country? So confused, no one seems to know what to tell me and I’ve spent hours trying to figure it out. I opened a new collection under my dad’s account and names it after us and cant even see the collection under my kindles shared option. What’s even the point of offering if it doesn’t work I wonder ? Any advice would be really appreciated ! Thanks so much, I enjoyed your blog ☺️
Great tip! I’ve been looking for ways to share audiobooks with friends without breaking the bank. This method is perfect – thanks for sharing!
This article is outdated, as this feature is no longer available.
I have checked nearly every book I own from Audible and I have never seen a “Send this book” option. Once in awhile I will google how to do it but it never works.