How to share books on Audible

One of the broader complaints people have about digital media is a lack of true ownership — including the ability to share something you bought with anyone you like. So what’s the situation with the Amazon’s Audible, the dominant player in the audiobook industry?

Can you share Audible books?

In most circumstances, no. Audible once offered a “Send this Book” feature that let you send titles for free, but that was killed off in April 2021.

What the service does have, however, is something called Family Library Sharing. This lets you share Audible (and other Amazon) books with a member of the same Amazon Household. There are some additional restrictions, however — you can only ever share audiobooks between the two adult members of your Household, not kids or teens, and you can’t share anything in the Audible Plus catalog.

How to share Audible books

First, you’ll have to set up an Amazon Household via the company’s website. The feature is only available in certain regions — it exists in the US, for example, but not in Canada. Follow instructions in our linked guide. Going in, know that both adults will need their own Amazon and Audible accounts.

With that in place, follow these steps:

• Go to amazon.com/mycontent, then click on Books.
• Choose a title you want to share, then click Add to Library.
• Use the window that appears to customize Family Library options.

Remember again that audiobooks can only be shared between adults in a Household, and the Audible Plus catalog is excluded.