Dear Everand,... | A Rant

When a dedicated audiobook listener has to start fighting with her favorite platform.

So, I’ve been MIA for a bit, but I’m back. Thanks for hanging out and waiting.

» “You work on commission, right? Big mistake. Big. Huge. I have to go shopping now….”

Cleaning the kitchen? Making the bed? Going for a walk or jog? Audiobooks.

Driving to an appointment? Prepping and cooking dinner? Dusting the bedroom? Audiobooks.

I’m not going to get into a lot of stats, but over the past few years I’ve become a heavy audiobook listener and have come to rely on them to support half my reading each year.

In March 2020, I fell in love with the platform formerly known as Scribd (this is still a working company name, but in November 2023 they unbundled their services into three: Scribd, Everand, and Slideshare). In November 2014, Scribd added audiobooks to its subscription library and offered them on an unlimited basis until February 2016, when they apparently switched to unlimited reading from a rotating selection with three books and one audiobook per month from their entire catalog with unused credits rolling over to the next month.

The credit system was then discontinued in February 2018, in favor of what I found when I discovered them: a constantly rotating library of ebooks and audiobooks with an unlimited number of borrows.

I used the hell out of Scribd. But in October 2024, my heavy usage started to falter. Everand switched back to a credit-based system (I am on the 3-per-month plan, paid annually) — and credits do not roll over each month. Unused credits disappear into the unknown and die alongside what is essentially your unspent money.

Now, my beloved platform has become a thorn in my side — an assignment I must keep up with. Because of the personal reasons which results in me being offline for most of the beginning of the month, I missed my chance to spend two of my three credits. And honestly, I can’t be certain that I didn’t miss some in previous months. So now I have a stupid reminder set on my stupid phone to make sure I allocate those stupid credits for audiobooks on the monthly date when I receive new stupid credits. Grrr.

This does not make for relaxing reading or audiobook choices. Now I am constantly switching back and forth between Libby or Hoopla (where I now have library cards with three library systems) and Everand to see where I want to spend a credit and where I want to place a hold and wait. Not to mention that I now must be diligent about sampling each audiobook I consider because otherwise I’ve wasted a credit in unlocking something I end up DNFing.

The thing that really bums me out is that I honestly loved this platform. I would happily sing its praises in my Instagram stories and to other readers I know. Everand was all I ever wanted out of an audiobook (and occasionally an ebook) subscription service. I don’t love owning audiobooks — most of them I’m never going to listen to again and it’s not like they’re something you can display, like the physical books on my shelves. And frankly, you don’t actually own them anyway…you’ve heard the license thing, right? Yeah.

So. Here I am, counting down the days until I wrap up my already paid for subscription (it renews in December) missing the days when it was a monthly subscription with unlimited access to most of their entire library of audiobooks. I didn’t mind switching to an annual subscription, but this credit-based system and the agony it causes has me with one foot out the door. I have my monthly reminder set and my eye on December when I call it quits. Meantime, I’ll be in the depths of despair.

What can I say? I want the fairytale.

—C.