While some people prefer grabbing a book and physically reading, listening to an audiobook can be as engaging and immersive. In fact, audiobooks are an excellent way to learn new things while doing something else, and they can help with memory retention.
But besides popular platforms like Audible and Spotify, where can you find audiobooks to listen to for free? The answer is YouTube. Yes, there are a wide variety of audiobooks available to listen to—legally. Read on to discover the best YouTube channels for awesome, free, and legal listening material.
YouTube is one of the best Audible alternatives as you can listen to legit audiobooks for free, including audiobooks from author Christine Kersey. Her fiction novels range from sweet contemporary romance to suspense, post-apocalyptic, and dystopian.
On her YouTube channel, she frequently posts audiobooks as well as updates and announcements about her upcoming books. Her audiobooks are usually available in various parts and series, which consist of multiple books.
Her EMP Collapse series, for instance, is composed of four books: Chaos Begins, Chaos Rises, Chaos Soars, and Chaos Collides. The best part is that Kersey makes all her books available for free on YouTube. Plus, apart from her Pandemic series, she narrates all of her books herself.
Do you love old Western stories, fairy tales, or classic horror tales? If so, the English Audio Books YouTube channel is perfect for you. The selection of playlists on the channel makes it easier to navigate, as you can find audiobooks based on popular characters, genres, and authors.
The only downside of this channel is that, at the time of writing, it has not been updated in several years. However, it still offers over 140 different audiobooks with popular classic titles like Frankenstein, The Swiss Family Robinson, The Lost World, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
LibriVox Audiobooks features some interesting and unique listens, such as Narrative of My Captivity Among the Sioux Indians and The Railway Children. Additionally, there’s The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects and The Roswell Report: Case Closed—both books that are ideal for UFO enthusiasts,
The channel has an impressive number of free audiobooks that you need to listen to, about 25,000 to be exact. Essentially, this is because the LibriVox channel is regularly updated with new audiobooks throughout the week, so there’s something new to listen to all the time.
If you love listening to audiobooks but wish they were more riveting and immersive, then you’ll love Steve Parker’s take on audiobooks. Simply put, he takes ordinary audiobooks and adds drama with sound effects and music to create a completely new experience.
Some of the most popular audiobooks on Parker’s channel include 1984 by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and Animal Farm by George Orwell.
Be warned, though, that these audiobooks are so well done and mesmerizing that you might never want to listen to anything else ever again.
Like English Audio Books, The Audio Books channel is fairly outdated without a fresh audiobook uploaded in years. Yet, there is a selection of must-listen titles on the channel that’ll never get old. Dracula, Through the Looking-Glass, and The Count of Monte Cristo are just some classic audiobooks that you should add to your listening list.
In addition, be sure to navigate to the Playlists tab, where you can find short science fiction collections, lectures by Col. R. G. Ingersoll, the Bear Creek collection, and so much more.
Steven Red Fox Garnett is a storyteller, narrator, voice actor, and audiobook producer, and his YouTube channel is full of original audiobooks and live streams. This channel is special in the fact that it offers something for everyone, whether you love short stories and read-along classic tales or classics like Sherlock Holmes and Han Christian Andersen fairytales.
Are you a fan of fantasy games? You can listen to Steve as he narrates his way through the action role-playing game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Looking for something different? The Audiobook Advent Calendar playlist consists of 24 surprise stories over 24 days—perfect for festive season listening.
Public Domain Audiobooks are completely free to listen to and, of course, completely legal. Moreover, the stories are narrated by various volunteers, which can make each listening session distinctive from the next.
This YouTube channel is a must if you’re a science fiction fanatic as it features a huge range of well-known science fiction titles by prolific writers like Tales of Space and Time by H.G. Wells, Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, and many stories by Henry Beam Piper.
It is true that listening to audiobooks is as good as reading books, and with almost 1,000 different audiobooks, Greatest AudioBooks is a wonderful place to begin your listening journey.
You can start off listening to whatever peaks your fancy, be it a classic romance novel like Pride and Prejudice, a gothic suspense novella like The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or an in-depth scientific non-fiction book like How to Analyze People on Sight by Elsie Lincoln Benedict.
The channel is updated on a regular basis, so there’s always something new to listen to. However, there’s no chance you’ll ever run out of listening material.
Audiobooks are available in endless different genres, but if you steer more towards classics, detective, and self-help books, then Audiobooks: A Collection of Great Books is the channel for you.
Sure, the channel doesn’t have a huge library of audiobooks, but what it does offer is fascinating, especially if you love traveling back in time using 19th-century classics and 20th-century classics.
Additionally, the self-help category boasts motivational titles like Wishes Fulfilled: Mastering the Art of Manifesting and Psycho‑Cybernetics by doctor and professor Maxwell Maltz.
While children can greatly benefit from reading books, did you know that audiobooks are also great for children? There are many reasons why kids should listen to audiobooks, including improved vocabulary and word recognition, and it’s just plain fun.
Storynory is one of the best audiobook channels for kids on YouTube, with over 40 different stories. The vast majority of the stories are short and sweet, being no longer than 30 minutes long, perfect for young children who have much shorter attention spans compared to adults.
Some of the listens that kids will love include The Enchanted Tea Kettle, The Bear’s Birthday Party, and The Cat Who Wanted to Be a Monkey.
Free and Legal Audiobook Channels That Every Book Lover Should Know
Audiobooks are certainly nothing new. They come with various benefits, and they’re one of the best ways to “read” a story while doing something else like exercising, cleaning, or driving. However, when it comes to audiobooks, where can you find a range of wonderful titles that are free and legal to listen to?
YouTube is one of the best resources for audiobooks, whether you’re looking for classic romance tales and science fiction adventures or self-development books and stories for kids to listen to.