How we decide

Every verdict on this site comes from the same thirteen checks, set in advance and applied to every book in the same way. Six point to listening and seven point to reading. Here they are, with what makes each one apply.

A check either applies to a book or it does not. Where we could not confirm it from a named source, it does not count.

See how it’s weighted

Why format matters at all

Most people pick a format by habit. But the same book can be a five-star experience in one format and a slog in the other, and it usually comes down to structure rather than quality. A book that jumps between 1974 and the present day asks you to hold two threads and check back when you lose one. In print you can do that in a second, but on an audiobook it is genuinely difficult. A fast thriller with one narrator, told in order, only needs your attention, and you have attention to spare on a commute or a dog walk.

So the question is not "is this a good book". It is "what is this book asking me to do, and which format makes that easier".

Each of the thirteen checks either applies to a book or it does not, and both sides are counted before any verdict is written. Every verdict also carries a confidence figure: ninety-five and above is clear cut, eighty to ninety-four is clear, sixty-five to seventy-nine is leaning, and anything under sixty-five is a close call. We publish the close ones as close ones.

How the points add up

Each check is worth a fixed number of points. When a check applies to a book, its points go to that side. When it does not apply, or we could not confirm it from a named source, it scores nothing.

Listening checks

Check	Points
Full cast or produced audio	10
Read by the author	8
Single point of view and narrator	7
Award-winning or praised narration	6
Unfamiliar names or dialect	3
Long book	3
Most a book can score	37

Reading checks

Check	Points
Jumping timelines	8
Three or more points of view, one narrator	8
Story depends on images or layout	9
Many similar-sounding names	8
Literary or dense prose	7
Narration criticised	5
Maps, family trees or footnotes	3
Most a book can score	48

From points to a verdict

1. Add up the points of the listening checks that apply, then the points of the reading checks that apply.
2. Work out the marker: listening points divided by all points, times 100.
3. A marker of 55 or more is Listen. A marker of 45 or less is Read. Anything in between is Either.
4. Confidence is 50 plus the distance of the marker from 50. If no check applies, the verdict is Either at 50%. If fewer than 10 points apply in total, confidence is capped at 65%.

Confidence	What we call it
95 to 100%	Clear cut
80 to 94%	Clear
65 to 79%	Leaning
Under 65%	Close call

A worked example

A book with a single point of view and narrator (7 points) and award-winning narration (6 points) scores 13 listening points. Jumping timelines (8 points) scores 8 reading points. The marker is 13 divided by 21, which is 62, so the verdict is Listen at 62%, a close call.

Rules we apply

These decide how evidence is read before the points are added up. Any verdict that one of them shapes says so on the page.

• Availability first. If only one format exists, that format is the verdict at 100% and no scoring is run.
• The edition scored. We score the highest-production edition on either Audible store: a full cast beats a duet, and a duet beats a single narrator. If two are equal, the newer one is scored, and if they are still tied, the UK edition.
• Dramatisations. A dramatised adaptation is never scored in place of the full-text recording.
• Authors reading their own fiction. “Read by the author” applies to memoir only. If a novelist reads their own novel, any award or critic praise counts under “Award-winning or praised narration” instead.
• Unconfirmed casting. If no source confirms which narrator reads which character, “Full cast or produced audio” does not apply.
• One narrator per viewpoint. If each viewpoint has its own narrator, “Three or more points of view, one narrator” does not apply and “Full cast or produced audio” does.
• Maps with a PDF companion. If the audiobook comes with a PDF of the maps or extras, “Maps, family trees or footnotes” does not apply.
• Not confirmed means not counted. A check we could not confirm from a named source scores nothing, and the page says so.
• Thin evidence. When fewer than 10 points apply in total, confidence is capped at 65%.
• How much you expect to love a book is not one of the thirteen. That is a fact about the reader rather than the book, so it stays out of the scoring.

When we say "either"

"Either works" is a real verdict. It means the points for each format are close, or nothing we could confirm pushes the book either way. In that case the honest answer is whichever you will actually finish.

What the checks are based on

They reflect what readers and listeners generally find easier to follow in each format. They are not a claim about everyone. Plenty of people follow jumping timelines on audio without any trouble at all, and some readers would rather hear a dense literary novel than work through it in print. Verdicts are rechecked annually, because editions and narrators change.