Audible Puts an Entire World of Well-Being at Customers’ Fingertips

“There are a lot of stressors in our lives right now. Every one of us has unique, individual stressors,” said Gabrielle Bernstein. The New York Times best-selling author, podcaster and motivational speaker was giving a talk at the Minetta Lane Theater in spring 2024, leading the audience through a series of effective exercises to reduce anxiety. That talk has since been released as the Audible Original, How to Release Anxiety, and it joins a vast array of titles we’ve produced to help listeners find moments throughout their day that they can dedicate to personal growth and relaxation, whether that’s a twenty-minute guided meditation, a walk with a motivational pep talk or career advice during a commute.

These are just some of the ways Anya Hoffman, a senior director of content and programming at Audible, sees our customers using the vast range of well-being content available on Audible’s service. “We organize our well-being content into seven pillars: mental, physical, social, motivational, financial, career/occupational, and spiritual, which is also where meditation and sleep listens can be found,” she explains. Within each of these pillars is a wide variety of formats and lengths, from bite-sized listens to full audiobooks to podcast series, created for any type of listener and pretty much any occasion.

A listener might fall asleep to one of 140+ Originals designed for slumber, and then wake up with an inspiring podcast episode; they might listen to a book during their commute about finding peace in a chaotic world, and take a quick midday break with an immersive soundscape whose frequencies are tuned precisely to elicit responses in the body like calm, focus, or even pain relief.

That breadth of content and use cases is one reason why listeners turn to Audible; the other, of course, is the caliber of authors, experts and thinkers with whom we work to produce content. “I’m very excited about Self-Conscious with Chrissy Teigen,” says Hoffman. In the new podcast, the multihyphenate Teigen invites guest experts to dive into territories from boundary-setting to people-pleasing to manifesting. The title is available on Audible as well as other services, so users unfamiliar with Audible can get a taste of the high quality of our Originals.

One of Teigen’s guests includes New York Times best-selling author and podcast host Mel Robbins, whose recent release The Let Them Theory, available in audio exclusively on Audible, continues to demonstrate Robbins’ deftness with distilling complex concepts into easily remembered daily practices and disciplines. In this case, Robbins urges listeners to let go of the opinions and actions of others, reclaiming power and focus in the process.

Esther Bochner, who is a senior director of content marketing at Audible, explains that “Listening to Mel’s books is like having a close friend advise you, set you straight and inspire you to shift perspective and be your best self, all at once.”

Hoffman adds that Robbins is a “homegrown talent,” having self-published her first book, The 5-Second Rule, on our ACX service in 2017. She then signed with Audible and continues to co-produce consistently popular books with us, including six Audible Originals. “What I love most about Audible is their unwavering…focus on delivering the highest-quality audiobooks, ensuring that every detail—from narration to production—is exceptional,” Robbins says. “Their priority has always been creating incredible experiences for listeners.”

It's this focus on quality that helps drive some of our most successful relationships with authors in the well-being space. Like Rachel Rodgers, whose devoted following loves her brand of relatable, accessible financial advice, which is given through the lens of wanting to empower historically excluded communities to achieve their financial goals. We have released several of Rodgers’ titles, including Million Dollar Habits, Six-Figure Side Hustle and Plan Your Year Like a Millionaire, which was one of the bestselling titles in our well-being category last year. “Our customers can’t get enough of her,” says Hoffman. “People want to see their challenges and experiences reflected back at them.”

Gabrielle Bernstein is another “huge author” for Audible, says Hoffman. “Her audience absolutely adores her.” In addition to the live talk at the Minetta Lane Theater, she has a new Original called Self Help, which delves into a specific therapeutic approach known as Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy, of which Bernstein is a trained practitioner, and offers listeners ways to apply it to their everyday lives.

“Customers are looking for listens that have a clear promise to improve their lives, solve a problem or inspire them, and these titles all do that,” says Hoffman.

That’s why we worked with a slew of experts to create the series, “30-Day Guides to Improve Your Life,” launching throughout the year, one title at a time. Each one offers daily short pep talks to help build habits and change behaviors, with the first being 30 Days to a New Relationship with Alcohol by Holly Whitaker, author of Quit Like a Woman. “Holly talks about drinking in a way that’s so nuanced; not all-or-nothing. The goal is if you want to make a change or think about alcohol in a different way, this guide can help you do it.”

One very common use case for listening to Audible is while commuting. This inspired our team in London to convert a bustling King’s Cross train station into a peaceful oasis by installing a “Zen” tube carriage, festooned with cherry blossoms, in which visitors could immerse themselves in a few minutes of Atomic Habits, A Quiet Life in Seven Steps and The Healing Power of Nature. We chose to open the experience on January 20, popularly known in the UK as “Blue Monday” (the “gloomiest day of the year”), in order to bring some balance and inspiration to commuters. Similar experiences in Madrid, Berlin and Paris are in the works, with “wellness pods” placed in busy areas such as tourist attractions and shopping plazas, to inspire visitors to cut through the chaos and get some headspace.

After all, as Bernstein told the crowd at the Minetta Lane Theater, there are many opportunities throughout the day to take back power and get grounded, with help from the right listen. She ended her talk by reminding them that they can use the anxiety-releasing exercises throughout the day, or set reminders to meditate, “or have this Audible Original just playing in the background all day.” She was half kidding, but she had a point: any imaginable way someone needs to feel supported, soothed, encouraged or inspired, there’s a listen for that.