If you are an Audible user, here are my recommendations to maximize the value of your Audible subscription.
The Price of a Credit
Any Audible member can either buy a book for a dollar amount or 1 credit. This means that the maximum price you pay for an Audible book is the price of a credit.
I have the Premium Plus 2 credit a month plan for $22.95 a month ($11.50 per credit). Any Audible member can buy additional credits if they want to buy more books than they have credits for in a given month. The option becomes available when a member has only 1 credit left. The value of these credits varies based on how many you buy at a time and the price increases from time to time. But the maximum price for a book will always be the price a member pays for the credits divided by the number of credits.
When to Buy with Money Rather than Credits
Anytime a book that you want to buy is available for less than the price of a credit ($11.50), it would be better to buy it with cash rather than use a credit, assuming you have other audible books you would like to buy. You can use a credit, but everytime you do that you are paying more for that book than it should cost.
Take Advantage of Sales
Audible will always have monthly deals. Additionally, it will from time to time have site wide sales or 2-for-1 sales from a list of eligible books. The two for one is only useful if there are two books you actually want to listen to, or were thinking you may want to try.
The monthly deals has a list of books that are on sale. Prices vary widely but many are under $7. Some books are still over $11.50 so they are not actually on sale. You should use a credit if you want them.
The site wide sales are tough because not everything is on sale or at least not a big enough sale to fall below $11.50. I have my wish list filled with books that I would be interested in getting and when a site sale comes I check the prices for these books and see if anything is worth getting.
Check the Kindle Price for Any Kindle/Audible Bundle Deal
Sometimes, the price of the Kindle version bundled with the Audible version is cheaper than the Audible version by itself or an Audible credit. The Kindle version does not always offer the option to bundle with the Audible, but it frequently does. So even if you don't want to get the kindle version to read, its worth looking to see if it gets you a better deal on the Audible book. You do have to look at the Kindle version on the Amazon website to see if there is a bundle and, if so, what the price is.
Audible as a Cheaper Alternative
Oftentimes, Audible can be the cheapest option for a book. The price of any other book format may be higher than 1 credit.
Some books aren't good fits for Audible - photography books, computer programming, etc. And not every book is available thru Audible. But for those that are available and a fit, Audible might be the cheapest option.
If this is new to you, I hope it helps you get more value out of your Audible membership.