Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

This guide has been prepared to show you the required steps involved in listening to audio books on your Amazon Alexa smart speaker. The guide covers all the Amazon Alexa Echo Speaker and Show devices, including those with a screen and those with just a speaker.

Should you have any difficulties please don’t hesitate to get in touch at info@tltechsmart.com.

We have also created a series of videos to help you, which you can find on our YouTube Channel.

People without an Amazon Echo device can use these feature as long as they have the Alexa app installed on their phone or tablet.  Here are some handy links to the app stores for Android and Apple:

Audible #

Audible is a great way to immerse yourself in a good book, often the authors also do the narration which adds a whole new dimension to the experience.  There is a huge range of books. If you take out the subscription (which is at the time of writing £7.99) you get one book a month included.

You can browse books on the mobile phone app or through the desktop website.  There’s a wish list where you can add new books.  You can download books into the library on your phone.  This means you can listen to your content both online or offline.  You can also listen to your library using an Alexa speaker.  The great thing about this is that it keeps your place as you move from your phone to the other speakers in your home.

There are some free titles available to try out and see if you like the service, just say: ‘Alexa, what’s free from Audible?”  You also get the first month and book for free and can cancel the subscription if you decide it’s not for you.

Playing an Audible Book on your Alexa Speaker #

Here is a step-by-step instruction of how to play Audible books on your Alexa speaker:

• Go into the Alexa app on your mobile phone or tablet.
• Tap the Play icon on the bottom bar.

• Scroll down till you see the Audible Library section, where any books that you have downloaded to your device will be visible.

• Tap on the book that you would like to listen to. A list of your available Alexa speakers will appear, select the one that you would like and it will start to play on the device.

You will notice that within the list of devices, that your device (i.e. mobile or tablet) can also be used to play your chosen book.

Kindle #

You can also listen to Kindle books using Alexa. This is not as nice a listening experience as the texts are read in the Alexa voice.  However, the Kindle books are very affordable and if you are an Amazon Prime member there is a vast library of free books and magazines.

To find out more about setting up and using the Kindle services see the Amazon website.

Playing an Kindle Book on your Alexa Speaker #

Here is a step-by-step instruction of how to play Kindle books on your Alexa speaker:

• Go into the Alexa app on your mobile phone or tablet.
• Tap the Play icon on the bottom bar.

• Scroll down till you see the Kindle Library section, where any books that you have downloaded to your device will be visible.

• Tap on the book that you would like to listen to. A list of your available Alexa speakers will appear, select the one that you would like and it will start to play on the device.

You will notice that within the list of devices, that your device (i.e. mobile or tablet) can also be used to play your chosen book.

For further tips on using Amazon Alexa and helping you to get familiar with the features we’ve also prepared a Quick Tips guide.

If you want to try out some more of the entertainment features you can also read our blog article with more help and advice on displaying photos, playing music, games and more.

We hope that you’ve found this guide useful, if you would like to be kept updated periodically when new content is available you can subscribe here.