Audiobooks discussion
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As far as I know, Audible doesn't have any productions without live narrators, but I imagine there are other platforms that do. But anyone these days can feed your book (physical or digital) into their computer and have an AI voice read it to them. So you would need to have a reason why they would pay you to provide that step.
Just read an article in online Washington Post from today about how AI voices (including some basically stolen from actual voice actors) are leading narrators to consider changing jobs. Based on that, I personally would refuse to listen to the type of book you are suggesting. I love audiobooks when they are well read by professionals. There is absolutely a niche for AI reading of textbooks and other material for people with vision or reading problems but otherwise it seems like unfair competition (same reason I refuse to use Uber or Lyft.) This is just me personally, but I think others who don't have the same ethical concerns would still question why they should pay you for an AI recording. (I assume you want to get paid!)
Robin P wrote: "Just read an article in online Washington Post from today about how AI voices (including some basically stolen from actual voice actors) are leading narrators to consider changing jobs. Based on th..."I just read the same article. Audible certainly needs to prohibit audiobooks created this way. Frankly, it ought to be illegal. They might allow mechanical voices, like Siri or Alexa, but it would not be very appealing to listen to one of those books.
I'm all for assistance aids when it comes to impairment, but audiobooks, and text-to-speech devices already exist to offer that. There's room for improvement in the speech/cadence/pronunciation etc areas for computer-generated voices, but I would have zero interest in a book converted from text and read by AI simply to avoid paying a professional reader. I'm very particular about audiobook readers as it is, and I cannot imagine a scenario where I would be willing to listen to a novel or full length book read by Siri.
I'm struggling with Maya Angelou reading her OWN memoir, because her way of reading aloud doesn't flow well, in my opinion. It's very distracting and one of the many reasons I generally dislike when authors read their own work. But I would imagine that I would have the same issues with AI-read audiobooks, so I would never listen to one.
G.M., as an author I assume you wouldn't want an AI program to imitate your style and publish a book that way. I feel like using AI to produce your books would be the same thing.
The only reason I was considering AI was cost. So the next question relates to sales of audio V ebook sales. A professional reader will be expensive. What has been the sales numbers experience where audio versions of a book are available?
G.M. wrote: "The only reason I was considering AI was cost. So the next question relates to sales of audio V ebook sales. A professional reader will be expensive. What has been the sales numbers experience wher..."Most members of this group are not authors and can't answer your question. Try asking in some of the groups for authors.
A1/Siri-type narration would be the kiss of death for your audio book and for sales. Have a look at some of the comments on Audible[dot]com regarding ratings for narration and how this is deciding factor in listeners' enjoyment of a book. I have just had my latest book, Sailor's Heart published on Audible[dot]com, following its publication in paperback and on Kindle. The narration was by a Scottish actor, which added to the story. You might consider the Audible option where you and the narrator split the royalties, rather than paying up front for a narrator, which I agree can be expensive.
I hope this is helpful.
Thanks Martin, that is an option I wasn’t aware of.
The first thoughts were is it worth the cost (cost v benefit) what is the process and the. I have come across a number of AI based text to audio sites and apps. Some seem to have a variety of accents etc now produce such quality speech. I then wondered if a file in this format was acceptable to Audible.