Full List of Alexa Commands for Audible

Audible is owned by Amazon, so you won’t be surprised to hear that the two services integrate together really well.

In this article, I’ll share a full list of Alexa commands for Audible along with helpful tips to access some of the bespoke features only available through Amazon’s voice assistant.

If you’ve not yet signed up for an Audible subscription, find the latest trial offer here.

Can I Control Audible with Alexa?

Yes, you can control Audible using Alexa via your Echo smart speaker or Echo Show display. You can select a title, skip through the chapters, set a sleep timer, and more. Alexa can also give you book recommendations and there are free books available.

To get started, all you need to do is say “Alexa, read me a book on Audible” or any of the other commands below.

If you do not have an Audible subscription, Alexa will prompt you to join using your voice or you can sign up here using the same Amazon account as you use for Alexa.

If possible, I would recommend downloading the Audible app to your smartphone and logging in with the same Amazon account as your Echo speaker. You will find it much easier to browse.

Alexa Commands for Audible

Here is a full list of audible commands for Alexa:

“Alexa, read my book.”
“Alexa, read me a book on Audible.”
“Alexa, read [name of book] on Audible.” – Choose a new book to read. If you don’t own this book or have access, you’ll be able to purchase it with your voice.
“Alexa, read [author] on Audible.” – Chooses their most popular book.
“Alexa, read me a [genre] on Audible.”*
“Alexa, what’s in my Audible library?”
“Alexa, play/pause/resume.”
“Alexa, go back/forward by [seconds or minutes].”
“Alexa, skip to next chapter.”
“Alexa, go back to previous chapter.”
“Alexa, go to chapter [chapter number].”
“Alexa, read faster/slower/at normal speed.”
“Alexa, stop reading in [minutes or hours].” – set a sleep timer.
“Alexa, what should I read next?”
“Alexa, start an Audible trial.”
“Alexa, what’s free from Audible”
“Alexa, switch profiles.” – To switch to a profile with an active Audible subscription

*Some of the genres you can choose between include mystery, comedy, bedtime story, and adventure.

Audible Book Finder on Alexa

If you’re struggling to choose your next title, there’s a dedicated book finder skill that was created by Audible.

Here are the Alexa commands for book finder:

“Alexa, open book finder.”
“Alexa, ask book finder for inspiration.”
“Alexa, ask book finder for trending books.”
“Alexa, ask book finder for new releases.”
“Alexa, ask book finder for [book title].” – gives similar book suggestions.

Audible Stories on Alexa

Another skill developed by Audible is the Audible Stories skill which provides free short stories for children, read by iconic voices such as David Jason, Juliet Stevenson, and Colin Salmon.

You don’t need an active Audible subscription or trial to access this feature.

Here are the Alexa commands for Audible Stories:

“Alexa, open Audible Stories.”
“Alexa, ask Audible Stories for [genre].”

The genres you can choose from for audible stories are horror, mystery, sci-fi, kids, fiction, bedtime, and random story.

Audible Podcasts on Alexa

Audible has a selection of podcasts including some original podcasts that you can’t access elsewhere.

Unfortunately, Audible isn’t available as an Alexa podcast provider in the UK just yet so if you want to listen to your Audible podcasts on your Echo speaker, you’ll need to connect via Bluetooth and start your podcast manually in the Audible app.

If you are reading this from a region where Audible podcasts are supported (such as the US), here are the commands for this:

“Alexa, play my podcast.”
“Alexa, play the podcast [podcast name] from Audible.”
“Alexa, go back/forward.”
“Alexa, go back [X seconds].”
“Alexa, go forward [X minutes].”
“Alexa, next/previous episode.”

Note: If Audible is your default podcast service, you will not need to add “on Audible” to the end of the commands.

How to Listen to Free Audible books on Alexa

Each month, there are free titles available to listen to via Audible and your Echo smart speaker or the Alexa app.

To listen to a free Audible book on Alexa, simply say “Alexa, read me a free audiobook”. She will then tell you which audiobooks are free that month, there are usually two free titles although this can change.

Once you know which titles are free, you can say “Alexa, read [book title] on Audible” to begin.

Remember, you will need to finish the books before the end of the month otherwise you’ll have to upgrade to a paid Audible membership to hear the ending.

For more free audiobooks, see the above section on Audible Stories.

Harry Potter Quiz on Audible

One final Audible feature on Alexa that I love is the Harry Potter quiz. Audible have partnered with Pottermore Publishing to create this quiz to promote the Harry Potter audiobooks which are narrated by Stephen Fry.

The quiz itself is hosted by Imogen Church and contains new questions each day, simply come back to work your way to the top of the leaderboard and prove you’re the no.1 muggle.

To access the Harry Potter quiz:

Say “Alexa, play Harry Potter quiz.”
Select your house and choose from easy (O.W.L) and difficult (N.E.W.T).
Answer questions to climb the leaderboard.
Revisit the quiz each day to gain more points.

Troubleshooting: Why won’t Alexa read my Audible books?

If you’re struggling to get Alexa to read your Audible books, here are a few common problems and how to solve them:

Is your Echo up to date? Ask Alexa to update her software to resolve this.
Are you using the correct account? Audible doesn’t support sharing of Audible books via household sharing using an Alexa-enabled device right now. The Amazon account linked to the Amazon Echo speaker (or other Alexa device) must be the same account that has an active Audible membership or trial.
Did you join Audible with a username? If you’ve been an Audible member for quite some time, you may have joined with a username rather than using your Amazon account. If this is the case, you’ll need to merge the two. This is easy, login to audible, head to ‘Account Details’, and select ‘Merge Now’.

Is there an Audible Skill for Alexa?

No, there is no Audible skill for Alexa because Amazon have built Audible functionality into Alexa as a native feature. This means you can easily use Audible to listen to audiobooks using Alexa, provided you have used the same Amazon account for your audible subscription and Alexa device.