Why Won’t Alexa Read My Audible Books? – Fix Guide

Kevin Wood Updated on
why won't alexa read my audible books

The most common question asked by Alexa users is why won’t Alexa read my Audible books.

The problem of Alexa failing to read Audible books is caused by login issues. 

You should synchronize your Audible and Amazon accounts to read titles. Further, the Audible library status can affect how you access your books.

To fix Alexa’s won’t read Audible books, log in to Audible with your Amazon account.

In other words, simply combine the Audible account with the Amazon account such that they use a single login.

Further, adjust access to Audible resources by updating your library. If your Audible library is outdated, you will still not be able to access resources. 

Keep on reading to find out more about reading Audible books on Alexa.

Reasons Why Alexa Won’t Read Your Audible

reasons why alexa won't read your audible

Alexa will not read your books on Audible for various reasons. The top reason is the lack of synchrony. 

There should be access to available resources for Alexa to read the books. 

The other reasons why Alexa won’t read Audible books are:

  • Your Audible account is separate from your Amazon account and needs to be linked
  • Your Alexa app is asleep or has a poor connection
  • Your Audible  library is not updated and lacks resources
  • Your Audible books have been archived and need to be restored

Each of these problems can be fixed in simple steps and let us now jump into solutions and try to fix them.

Solutions to Why Won’t Alexa Read My Audible Books?

audible books not read

To solve Alexa won’t read my Audible books, you should troubleshoot the issues one by one. For this guide, we will start by looking at the most basic solution.

Work out with these solutions from the top to the bottom until you get your Alexa to read Audible books. 

Solution #1 Check Connection and Awaken the App

The application you are trying to use can have temporary issues. The Alexa app can sometimes go into sleep mode if it is not under use. This can be a problem when you send commands.

Besides the app going to sleep, your application may be lacking connection and poor Wifi or slow connection can lead the app to misbehave.

check internet connection

To check if the App has connection issues

  1. Open the Amazon Alexa companion app
  2. Check for Errors
  3. If there is no connection, your application will show an error stating “no connection“

If you find that the connection on your application is okay, proceed with the next steps. 

You can also diagnose any other internal Alexa application errors using the companion app.

Solution #2 Combine Your Audible and Amazon Account

If the Audible account is not linked with the Amazon account, you will not be able to read Audible books. 

There can be a problem with synchronization if you sign into Audible using your username.

combine audible and amazon account

To solve this problem, you have to allow Audible to log in with Amazon credentials.

How to combine Audible and Amazon accounts

  1. Sign into your Audible Account on your laptop or desktop using your username.
  2. Hover your cursor over the Username or Hi at the top right corner of your screen.
  3. Click on Account Details from the drop-down menu 
  4. Click on Merge now on your screen
  5. Follow the prompts on your screen to enter the Audible Password and your Amazon information.
  6. Once the details have been filed select your Payment Method
  7. Click on Finish and your accounts will now be merged
Note: Now that your accounts are combined, you will no longer need your Audible logins to login into your account. 

You can use your Amazon details to log in at any time. This will enable Alexa to read all your titles.

Solution #3 Update Your Audible Library

update audible library

Alexa will also not read your Audible books if your library has nothing to read. This is a situation where there are no books in your Audible library. 

The library can lack books if your account is new and you are yet to purchase books. 

In other situations, purchased books may take time to get updated in your library. 

To resolve this problem, all you have to do is log in to your Audible account and update your library.

How to update the Audible library:

  1. Open your Audible Application and login
  2. Tap on the Profile Button
  3. Tap on the  Gear icon in the top right corner
  4. Select  Help and Support
  5. Tap on More Menu in the top right corner
  6. Tap on Full Library Refresh
  7. Go back to your library and confirm if your books have been updated.
Note: Once you have refreshed your Library, your books will be updated under the All-Section. 

You should find the new book under Library > Titles > All.

Solution #4 Restore Archived Titles

An archived title is a book that was once in your Audible library but has been deleted. Once a book has been achieved, you cannot read it on Alexa. 

restore archived titles

The application will only read books that are available in your library.

To solve this problem, you have to check and see if you have deleted any titles. Sometimes, titles can be deleted by mistake. 

Find the deleted books under archived content and restore them to continue reading.

Steps to restore archived books in Audible

  1. Open and log in to your Audible app
  2. Tap on Library 
  3. Select Collections at the top of the screen
  4. Tap on the three dots at the top right corner of the title you want to recover.
  5. Select Remove From Archive 
  6. Go back and tap on Library to find the title you have just recovered.
  7. Tap on the Title to download it to your device so that it can be accessible from Alexa.

Solution #5 Refresh Recently Purchased Titles

If you are new to Audible, you may not have any content in your account to read.

Even if you recently purchased an Audible book, it might take time before it shows up. 

refresh recently purchased titles

If you wait for hours before a book you have purchased shows up in your account, you may force it.

Steps to refresh recently purchased titles

  1. Login to your Audible Account
  2. Tap on the Profile Button 
  3. Select the Gear icon at the top right corner of your screen
  4. Select Sign Out from your email address. This should be the email you used to purchase your recent titles
  5. When you sign out of the account, check the Marketplace at the bottom of the page to make sure it is where you purchased
Note: If the marketplace is not the same as the one where you purchased the book, the titles will not load well when you log in to your account.

Solution #6: Sort Your Library for Easy Access

Finally, you should consider sorting out your Audible library. There are situations when you may fail to access Audible books due to clutter. 

If your library has too many books, Alexa may take too long trying to access them.

sort your library

The situation worsens when you are on a low-speed connection. The application will not be able to retrieve your titles. 

However, if the titles are well sorted, the recently accessed books will be easy to retrieve.

How to sort out your titles

  1. Open your Audible app and login
  2. Tap on the Library and select Titles
  3. Tap on All 
  4. Tap the Sorting button and select “Recent”

After choosing Recent, your recently read books will be easily available for reading. This is not medicine for poor connection. 

If your internet is not stable, you may still run into trouble retrieving your titles.

Summary

To solve why won’t Alexa read my Audible books, check to ensure that your account is synchronized. 

Alexa will not read any content on Audible unless the two accounts are synchronized. The way to synchronize is by combining Audible and Amazon logins into one.

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