Listening Books provides a high-quality, affordable online and postal audiobook library service for organisations that support anyone who struggles to read in the usual way due to an illness, disability or learning difficulty.
As a charity, we are able to offer low-cost memberships to organisations. Our two most popular packages are:
£75 per year
which gives you:
4 MP3 CDs by post - 4 audiobooks on loan at any one time
2 downloads at any one time, allowing you to download over 100 audiobooks across the year
£90 per year
which gives you:
4 MP3 CDs by post - 4 audiobooks on loan at any one time
2 downloads at any one time, allowing you to download over 100 audiobooks across the year
Login details to use on 10 PCs in order to play over 1000 titles live from our website
To find out about other Listening Books packages, please contact our library to discuss your needs.
MP3 CDs through the post
- MP3 CDs look just like standard CDs and can play on modern CD players, computers and DVD players.
- Your organisation will have access to our full library of MP3 CDs delivered straight to your door.
- All postage and packaging is included in the cost and there are no late fees!
- Choose the titles you would like, or let our library team make a list for you.
- Borrow four or more MP3 CD audiobooks at any one time, and exchange them as often as you like throughout your membership. When you send a title back, we will send you another!
- A fantastic selection of fiction and non-fiction books is available.
Downloading audiobooks
- An easy-to-use, simple way of transferring audiobooks to a PC or laptop to transfer to your users’ iPods and other personal MP3 players.
- Choose your own lending period (from 1-3 weeks) to download up to 2 titles for your users at any one time.
- There are no late fees and books will automatically return themselves at the end of the lending period.
- Our friendly library team are on hand to help with any questions.
Streaming audiobooks
- Play over 1000 titles live from our website.
- Unlimited, instant access to bestselling fiction and non-fiction titles at any time of the day or night.
- Choose to license up to 10 dedicated PCs or laptops (Mac computers are not currently compatible with this service).
- Choose which computers to license, it’s entirely up to you!
Ways to join
- Complete and return the attached application form (12 Lant Street, London SE1 1QH).
- Call 020 7407 9417 to join over the phone.
- Visit to complete our online form.
- Email .
- Payment can be made via PayPal, Visa or MasterCard, cheque, bank transfer or by requesting an invoice.
Our titles
- The Listening Books library has a vast selection of audiobooks for adults who struggle to read.
- All of the titles are either commercially sourced or professionally recorded in-house to the highest quality.
- Whether you’re a lover of literature for learning or leisure, there is something to suit all tastes across a range of subjects and genres including crime, classics, contemporary novels, travel and history.
- Popular titles include recent chart topper Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson, worldwide phenomenon The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and various titles by M. C. Beaton, one of the most borrowed authors in the UK. In our library you’ll also find Death Comes to Pemberley, the latest P. D. James novel to grace bookshelves as well as books by many of your users’ favourite authors such as Ruth Rendell, Agatha Christie, Jack Higgins, Alan Bennett, Maeve Binchy, Lee Child, Sophie Kinsella, Marian Keyes, Dick Francis, Miss
- Read and Catherine Cookson to name just a few!
- You can view our full catalogue by following this link and searching by title, genre or author.
Benefits of the service
- Our service not only provides a link to the wonderful world of books but is often a relief from pain, boredom and loneliness.
- For many of our members who cannot hold a book, our service is a lifeline, a friend and a comfort, lifting them out of what are often challenging circumstances.
- For children, listening to stories helps improve confidence, independence and can inspire a life-long love of literature.
- Many of our educational titles are recorded in our studios and are therefore unavailable elsewhere in an audio format.
“Being told stories is a very basic pleasure from childhood onward and I should
encourage anyone who loves to listen - to be informed, amused, entertained, exalted
and elevated by the spoken word - to join Listening Books!”
Polly, member of Listening Books