Here on Lovely Audiobooks, I mostly talk about all the upsides of various audiobook subscriptions. Nevertheless, in this article, I will not only tell you how to cancel Audible but also why it might be a great idea to do so!
The Benefits of Canceling an Audible Membership
Well, maybe you just don’t like audiobooks, and this will be the only time you’ll ever visit my blog. Then it’s a given that you should cancel that Audible membership as it will obviously save you a lot of money for something you don’t need. That sure is a benefit.
However, if you do love audiobooks, canceling Audible might still be beneficial for you!
Firstly, during the cancelation process, Audible often offers a significant discount if you agree to continue your membership. Over the years, I have been offered 3-months or even 12-months memberships for up to 50% less countless times!
If you choose to go for a discount, your membership starts over again and you get billed right away. Audible really doesn’t mind at all when we cancel just to subscribe again!
That being said, we can’t do this all the time. They simply won’t offer a discounted subscription every few months and will just let us go if we keep threatening them with cancellation.
Secondly, while Audible overall offers many benefits for its price, it is not the only audiobook service in town. And something else might fit you much better!
If Audible Premium Plus is too expensive for you, you could look into buying audiobooks from Chirp or through Amazon Whispersync deals and continue listening to one or two audiobooks a month but get them for less than $10 (compared to an Audible membership that costs us $14.95 on average).
If you want to cancel Audible because you want to listen to more than one audiobook per month, you could look into Kindle Unlimited or take a closer look at Audible Plus.
If you want to wrangle back some power from Amazon and Audible’s questionable treatment of authors, you can choose to support indie bookstores instead!
LibroFM is an audiobook service with a membership model similar to Audible’s. But you buy your audiobook from an independent bookstore of your choice instead of a big multinational!
Personally, I used to cancel my Audible subscription all the time because I just didn’t need it, as I was listening mostly to free audiobooks or to Audible books I bought cheaper with Whispersync.
Only with the start of Audible Plus did I actually take the step to sign up for a 1-year subscription with a very sweet discount. Each credit costs me only a little more than what I usually spend on a Whispersync audiobook. And I always want to have access to Audible Plus as I have come to enjoy it greatly!
How to Cancel Audible Subscriptions
Now, before we get to the technical part, be aware that you cannot keep your Audible credits once you cancel your membership! Make sure you spend them all before you go through the cancelation process.
But don’t worry, you keep all the Audible books you already bought! And, of course, you can join again at any time. You will still have access to your account and your audiobook library.
Once you cancel and your membership runs out, you won’t get any monthly Audible credits anymore, and you will lose access to the Audible Plus catalog until you sign up again.
Any Audible Plus books you borrowed will be removed from your library automatically.
If you are currently on a free trial with Audible, you can also cancel right away and won’t get charged! The audiobook purchase you made with your test month credit will stay in your library.
And, as I said before, you can always log into your Audible account, even when you don’t have an active subscription.
To cancel your Audible subscription, navigate to the upper right corner where it says “Hi” and your name. Click on that link. Now a menu opens up stating your current membership status.
The first link in the menu is Account Details. Once you click on that, you arrive at an overview page.
At the bottom of this page, there’s a button saying “Switch membership”, and right next to it is a text link saying “Cancel membership”. Click on that, and Audible will guide you through the rest of the cancelation process.
This will look different depending on whether or not you are eligible for a discounted membership.
If you feel uncomfortable with the cancelation process, you can also contact Audible customer support to have them cancel your membership for you.
And you have the option to pause your Audible membership. That can be a nice alternative if you have Audible credits left over and don’t know what to spend them on.
However, pausing means you will have to remember to cancel Audible before it renews and you get billed again.
Personally, I prefer to spend any left-over credits on pre-orders if there are no titles right at that moment that I want to buy. Pre-orders will remain active even when I cancel Audible, and the audiobooks will be added to my library once the title is released, even if I’m not an active subscriber anymore!
What happens when you cancel Audible?
You won’t get billed again, and you can still borrow and listen to Audible Plus books until your membership runs out. All the books that you bought remain in your Audible library, and you can continue listening to them without an active subscription.
If you have Audible credits left, you should spend them before you cancel your subscription. Otherwise, they disappear once your membership ends.
Eline Blackman (pronouns: she/they) fell in love with books as a child – with being read to and reading herself. 10 years ago, she bought her first Audible book. It was love at first listen! An average of 250 audiobooks per year has become the new normal and you will rarely see Eline without a wireless earbud. Romance and Fantasy are the go-to genres for this audiobook fan.
All About Audible / /
