Why I’m All-In on Audio (And Why DRM Just Lost Me as a Reader)

Okay, here's something funny. I write books for a living, and I almost never sit down to read one with my eyes anymore.

I just don't have the time. My hands and eyes are always doing something else — knitting, painting, walking the dog.

But my ears? My ears are wide open. And lately, that's where all my reading is happening.

I doubled-down on audio this past year, and it changed everything for me.

How Audio Fits Into My Day

Here's a pretty typical day for me right now:

• I knit in the morning with a YouTube tutorial playing in my AirPods.
• I take Lulu (our Jack Russell terrier — most of you know her by now) for a walk while listening to a cozy mystery.
• I sit down to paint or sketch in my art journal in the evening with an audiobook running in the background.

It's bliss. The tactile thing I'm doing with my hands and the story playing in my ears combine into this perfect little flow state. I'm not being productive in the “checking things off a list” sense. I'm just… living with a story in my head while I do the things I love.

PIN

PIN

PIN

My listening list lately has been all over the map:

• Binged a stack of cozy mysteries (shocking, I know).
• A sci-fi short story to cleanse the palate.
• A re-read of Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (more on that in a sec).
• Currently working my way through the Dune prequels, which are scratching every space opera itch I have.

A Word About Rama

I read Rendezvous with Rama as a kid and absolutely loved it. So when I decided to revisit it as an adult, I thought I would just re-read it. I had it on Kindle, anyway. Might as well. But finding the time was difficult and it was hard to get into. So, instead of giving up, I went straight to the audiobook — and it was fantastic. Being back inside that world while I was painting or walking Lulu was pure joy.

Naturally, I wanted to keep going. The series doesn't stop at one book — there are sequels. So I went looking for book two in audio.

It doesn't exist.

The publisher decided not to put the rest of the series into audio. Maybe the first audiobook didn't earn enough. Maybe they didn't think there was demand. I have no idea. All I know is that when I went to find Rama II in audio, I came up empty.

So I tried the next best thing: I bought the Kindle ebook and figured I'd use text-to-speech on my phone to listen to it that way. I would download the book and listen to it using ElevenReader.

Nope. The DRM on the book blocked it.

I'll give credit where credit is due — Alexa was able to read it to me out loud, so I'm not totally locked out of the story. Some DRM allows for that. But the whole experience was a stark reminder of how much DRM gets in the way of accessibility, especially for readers like me who increasingly rely on text-to-speech to actually finish the books we buy.

PIN

PIN

My New Hard Line as a Reader

From now on? I'm only buying books that are either available in audio or have no DRM.

That's the rule. That's the line.

I'm done fighting with locked-down ebook files. I'm done paying for books I can't actually consume the way I want to consume them. And honestly, this is an accessibility issue too. Text-to-speech is a tool that a lot of readers depend on — not just busy hobbyists like me, but folks with vision issues, dyslexia, processing differences, you name it. DRM that blocks TTS isn't protecting authors. It's punishing readers.

What This Means for My Books

You might already know this, but just in case:

• All of my books are DRM-free. Always have been, always will be.
• All of my books are available on ElevenReader in their store at a low price, so you can listen to them in AI-narrated audio if that's how you want to read.
• Virtual Voice editions are coming to Amazon for all my books eventually. It's going to take me some time to get them all together, but they are on the way.

I'm a huge fan of ElevenLabs as a company. I love their voices, I love their business practices, and I love how thoughtful they are about working with authors. I had the chance to interview someone from their team on the Brave New Bookshelf podcast, and I've gotten to know other folks there as I've advised them on what authors actually want from a platform. Putting my books on ElevenReader was a no-brainer for me, and I've found brand new readers through that store who never would have found my work otherwise. That's a win all around.

Where We Are Right Now

Honestly, I think the audio market is in the most exciting place it's ever been.

There are more affordable options for audio than ever — human-narrated, AI-narrated, hybrid, in-app TTS, smart speakers, you name it. As a reader, I have so many ways to consume the stories I love. As an author, I have so many ways to make my books available to the readers who want them in audio.

I'm genuinely grateful for all the choices. And I'm putting my money where my values are: on books with audio, books without DRM, and platforms that actually serve readers instead of fencing them out.

So tell me — how do you read these days? Paper purist, ebook devotee, all-in on audio like me, or some chaotic mix of all three? I'd love to hear how stories fit into your life!