If you’re an Audible listener, you know the little surge of joy that happens when you’re listening to an audiobook and suddenly there’s a notification that you’ve unlocked a new badge. But those badges are mysterious little buggers and it’s hard to find a description for each badge. Until now! Below, I have outlined each badge and what it takes to get it. (I’ll also pop this in a Book Riot post in the near future for reference). Huge thanks to Shelly Willis on Quora, who answered a question about Audible badges with all of this information (which is really hard to find on the actual Audible site…at least it was for me). So, thank you, Shelly!
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I’ll admit, I didn’t even know about Audible badges until someone mentioned them during the Book Riot Insiders Audiobooks chat. But as soon as I knew they existed, I wanted them all (well done, Audible marketing, well done).
If you have an Audible account, you can see which badges you have by going to the “me” tab under “more” on the bottom of your Audible app. (I don’t think you can see which badges you have by viewing your Audible account on a regular web browser, I’m pretty sure you have to use the app, but correct me if I’m wrong and I’ll mea culpa all over the next newsletter).
There are 15 total badges; within each category, you can obtain the Silver, Gold, and Diamond levels. There are cute little poems that sort of sound like Harry Potter spells when you click on each badge you DON’T have. If you click on a badge you do have, it just tells you what you did to earn that badge.
Without further ado….
Stenographer
This one is all about bookmarks. The more bookmarks you place in your Audible books, the higher level you’ll attain.
Silver: 10 Bookmarks
- Gold: 40 Bookmarks
- Diamond: 125 Bookmarks
Social Butterfly
The more you share your Audible achievements with your social media followers, the higher you’ll go with this badge.
- Silver: shared 5x
- Gold: shared 25x
- Diamond: shared 100x
Audible Obsessed (Daily Dipper)
- Silver: Listening every day for 7 days
- Gold: Listening every day for 30 days
- Diamond: Listening every day for 90 days
Weekend Warrior
- Silver: 5 hours in one weekend
- Gold: 10 hours in one weekend
- Diamond: 24 hours in one weekend
Repeat Listener
- Silver: same audio book 3x
- Gold: same audio book 10x
- Diamond: same audio book 20x
All Nighter (Night Owl)
- Silver: listen to 4 hrs at night
- Gold: listen to 6 hrs at night
- Diamond: listen to 8 hrs at night
Marathoner
- Silver: listening 16 hours straight
- Gold: listening 18 hours straight
- Diamond: listening 24 hours straight
Watchtower
- Silver: look at your stats 50x
- Gold: look at your stats 200x
- Diamond: look at your stats 500x
High Noon
- Silver: 2 hrs during lunchtime
- Gold: 3 hrs during lunchtime
- Diamond: 4 hrs during lunchtime
The Closer
- Silver: 1 complete book start to finish
- Gold: 5 complete books start to finish
- Diamond: 10 books start to finish
7 day stretch
- Silver: Completed 7 books in a single week
- Gold: Completed 15 books in a single week
- Diamond: Completed 50 books in a single week
Procrastinator
- Silver: 10 unfinished books in your library
- Gold: 20 unfinished books in your library
- Diamond: 75 unfinished books in your library
The Stack
- Silver: having 50 books in your library
- Gold: having 200 books in your library
- Diamond: having 500 books in your library
Mount Everest
- Silver: completing a title that is 30 hours long
- Gold: completing a title that is 60 hours long
- Diamond: completing a title that is 78 hours long
These last two are a little confusing. I don’t have either of them so here’s what the poems say for each:
Nibbler: “Entertain several books, though none of them stay, we’ll be calling you Nibbler by the end of the day.”
Dabbler: “Nobody says your library’s diminished; it’s teeming with books! (just a few of them finished.)”
I think think Nibbler badge used to be called the Undecider. If so, here’s the criteria for the Nibbler and Dabbler badges:
Undecider (Nibbler)
- Silver listen to 3 different titles in one day
- Gold: listen to 15 different titles in one day
- Diamond: listen to 40 different titles in one day
The Dabbler:
- Silver: listening to parts of 3 different titles in one day
- Gold: listening to parts of 15 different titles in one day
- Diamond: listening to parts of 40 different titles in one day
New Release of the Week:
Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson (narrated by Fajer Al-Kaisi)
It took Eden Robinson (author of Monkey Beach) eight years to write Son of a Trickster–-a surprising outcome for a piece that began as a 10 page short story. A trickster in her Haisla (Indigenous British Columbia) culture is a mythologised figure, also called a Wee’git.” This mythological figure, Robinson explains, is used to teach children “about protocol, or nuyum. But he teaches people this protocol by breaking all the rules.”
Son of a Trickster, as the title suggests, focuses on the teenage son of Trickster, Jared. Jared is kind of a slacker–-he smokes too much pot and drinks too much. His mom is busy dealing with her own substance abuse and mental health issues and his dad can’t be relied on to pay the bills. Still, Jared’s doing his best to keep things together for himself and his family. But with a grandmother who says he isn’t human, ravens who speak to him, and his blackouts, keeping things together is a pretty tall order.
Links for Your Ears!
Jane Austen thanks busy readers for ‘finally listening’ in audiobook campaign for Audible
I mean, some of us a) read Austen in print and/or b) listened to non-Audible audiobooks of Austen’s work but okay, I hear ya, Audible. (PUNZ!)
Why Tor Books’ first podcast drama Steal the Stars should steal your attention
Audio dramas like Welcome to NightVale aren’t exactly audiobooks but they come pretty close. If you’re looking for something to scratch the audiobook itch, Arts Technica suggests Tor’s new podcast drama.
HarperCollins is Experiencing a Huge Demand for Audiobooks
More good news for audiobooks! Not surprising at this point, but it’s always good to hear.
Hope that’s helpful, audiobook fans! As always, you can find me on Twitter @msmacb.
Until next week,
~Katie