I am using it right now to make audiobooks of my Chronicles of the Imagination series. I am taking the time to listen to the audio, correct pronunciations, and add pauses, though many authors probably will not with their books. I have done two novels in the series so far and I am generally pleased with the final product. There is definitely room for improvement which I look forward to as the program is improved. Voice 2 - Female British is so far the voice I have been using. The others don't sound the best to my ear, but KDP has promised more voices by year's end. I in no way see this replacing or even being a threat to real narrators. However, it is a great way for authors without the budget for a real narrator to break into the audiobook world. Then perhaps in time they can add a real narrator as well. Virtual Voice would probably be most efficient for non-fiction books, but as a fiction author, it is doing a passable job for me. All in all I am quite pleased to be part of this Beta Program.

Thank you for the info! I didn’t know Amazon was adding this option! I personally also prefer a real human narrator, but as a writer in a low income household self-publishing my books, with a small audience (as in I occasionally sell 2 or 3 books every now and then), if I wanted to increase the options I offer my readers by adding an audiobook and reach a wider audience that way as well, this option is more at my reach than hiring a real person to narrate my books. I could try to narrate them myself but I think Amazon wants the audio to be super clean and there are a lot of birds around my house and you can hear them in the microphone 😅. I think AI is a tool that can make something like this possible for a person like me. That said, it still sounds a little robotic, so I share your fear about the reviews. One has to wonder if it’s worth it or not to even offer an audiobook to your audience in the first place. This is something to think about! But yes, I think the choice is a good thing for those authors who can’t afford a narrator but would love to add the audiobook option to their audience. (*Edited for typo and to add: if I ever make an AI audiobook, I will eventually try to make and release an updated edition narrated either by me or someone I hire. I believe we need to keep art human. But resources like this though can be useful for a lot of people and bring their vision to reality when otherwise it would have been financially out of reach).

@cynthiaking5308

3 ай бұрын

It’s not just the voice. You also need a sound engineer. Intro and outros.

@rhwhisenhunt

20 күн бұрын

Same here!

As an avid audiobook reader, I will ALWAYS advocate for human narrators first. This is certainly not a replacement for real narrators. I think it’s great to make books more accessible but they should be CLEARLY LABELLED as AI narrated and I think they should be *significantly* cheaper to buy. (I suspect they won’t be because Amazon.) As a reader, I don’t want to spend the same amount as I would on an audiobook only to find it’s AI narrated. It’s also SO important that real narrators get compensated fairly for the hours of work that go into an audiobook, so that should be reflected in the pricing. I’m more than happy spend more if it means the book is read by a real person.

@MandiLynnWrites

3 ай бұрын

The minimum price Amazon lets you put an AI narrated audiobook is $3.99, so it can be cheaper. The actual price is still left to the author. But I think it's fair to have the book be labeled as AI narrated. Like I said, I think a narrator can make or break an audiobook and I don't think I personally would want to listen to an AI narrator (at least as of yet)

No, I won’t be doing this. But, it would be great for self editing, having your book read out loud is something I’ve been doing for a while and it helps deepen the editing process.

There will "Never" be an electronic version of my novel. Never an eBook. Audio for the reading impaired is different. There is nothing permanent about digital media. Electronic media will get into the wild. So, someday I will get around to voicing my novel. Reading the written pages "no batteries needed" and developing the characters in one's own mind is why we read books. My paperback copies will endure. Sincerely, Arrr. Akerace Drill. Thank you, Mrs. Lynn, for this update.

Honest opinion: HELL NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I give full support to our fellow HUMAN artists. Never. Never. N.E.V.E.R.

@abell509

3 ай бұрын

​@@chelseawritesbooks8763 I'm concerned about the AI companies' seduction tactics of being "easy on the budget". As an author, I'll narrate it myself or ask a friend if I can't afford Shane East, etc. The selling points are just more of the same, tired old false narrative: automate and save money. It's a lose/lose long term. Money woes are not an excuse in my opinion. If our books don't sell, that's on us as writers. AI narration can't fix poor writing and can't fix low sales numbers. I'm not saying this about our host, I'm saying this as a general statement. Mandi has very useful classes on marketing and all aspects of publishing. Perhaps authors can take her classes before deciding to go AI with the audio version in order to save money. ❤

@MandiLynnWrites

3 ай бұрын

If you watch the full video I state I’m not a fan, but can’t ignore how it can be helpful while also putting narrators out of jobs. I actually posted the video to see what other people thought

@abell509

3 ай бұрын

​@@MandiLynnWritesI'm glad that you started the discussion. And just to clarify, I am not making accusations. I'll edit my comment. I only gave my opinion on the topic because you asked for feedback. ❤

@Dedalus94

4 күн бұрын

It's so tricky, because some (most) indie authors won't ever pay a human to narrate their books because of the cost. So if that author uses the AI, they only gained an option, not took away money from anyone. I absolutely think if someone has the capital to hire a narrator, they should, but most people don't and will never, so letting them make their book accessible without breaking the bank is ultimately a good thing. Maybe a hot-take but there you go.

I wont lie, i'm fine with Ai being used as a tool. As a dyslexic writer, I use AI to read my stuff back to me. I used chat gpt when I'm struggling to find a word but I know the gist of what it means and *feels* like. I also have AI art in my pins on pintrest for inspiration (though I also feel the slightest irritation every time I see them). However, when it comes to final product, I am adding any author caught using Ai for narration, cover art, or writing sections of their book to my personal black list. I won't risk my reputation working with them and I personally feel ucky interacting with their work. Im in the same boat as most people with not being able to afford people to do things for me. But there are so many creative ways to raise the funds (I personally plan on doing a Kickstarter with bonus things like artwork or signed copies for my book. ) or find people who will work out a payment plan with you. Using AI for the final product is just the easy, lazy way out.

@Dedalus94

4 күн бұрын

It's so tricky, because some (most) indie authors won't ever pay a human to narrate their books because of the cost. So if that author uses the AI, they only gained an option, not took away money from anyone. I absolutely think if someone has the capital to hire a narrator, they should, but most people don't and will never, so letting them make their book accessible without breaking the bank is ultimately a good thing. Maybe a hot-take but there you go.

Depends on how later versions sound. For instance, voice inflections of (midwest, southwest USA, different ethnicities, languages...?) etc, character types. Do you don't lose your audiobook adaption rights or share it while it's on Amazon if you use the service for free? What is Amazon's % . Also if you use Amazon AI for audiobook, what if you want to share it across multiple platforms? Or unpublish it and use elsewhere. I like the interactive energy of having a voice over artist read the book,: the pauses, the breaths, performance of it all. I also like how voice over artists lower /raise their registers to sound like other characters. I'm not against trying it, just if it requires too much time, like you said, just do it yourself, especially if you have equipement.

I'm going to test it with my new release coming out Friday "Chronicles of Carnage". It's actually how I found your video, after looking up tutorials on it. You did an exceptional job btw! Definitely following to support!

Thank you so much for this video. As a new author with 6 books out now, I am really hoping this feature is offered soon. I have loved bringing my ideas to life and can not wait to explore more ways to get my voice to the world.

This is the video I’ve been looking for. Also your hair looks amazing.

Thank you for doing this. I’m not at that point of my publishing journey but I have seen it in my audible subscription. Some of them are good but you can tell which authors didn’t bother with proofreading before publishing. That’s a plus for human narrators, I assume that a human narrator would notice a misspelling and would ask the author what they actually meant. I actually prefer virtual voice when I’m listening to nonfiction in general. Usually for fiction I’m reading romance… AI is not good at reading adult romance. It might be good to experiment on virtual voice for the author, to see if an investment in getting a human narrated audiobook is viable. Audiobook reviews are split between performance and story, those are two separate reviews on the customers end. You can get a five star story and a one star performance. Those two don’t average to make the overall review either. That’s another separate review.

Thank you for another great video, Mandi! I don't plan to ever have an AI narrator for my books, but I do admit that this new beta program is fascinating.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I like AI when it comes to editing, but I'm not sure about replacing the human narrator. I've published 2 of my books through ACX using Royalty share with the narrator and I, and I love how they both turned out. Doing the royalty share option you make less, but you don't have to pay anything upfront.

As long as Amazon makes sure and notes the books that are read by an AI compared to a real person. Don't just lump them all in together. There should always be a flag somewhere saying, 'this book is read using AI technology' so readers can make an informed choice because what I foresee happening are people buying these books read by AI, opening it up and going WTH is this robot sounding, Google read voice and then regretting that they bought it because they are disappointed in how unnatural it sounds. That's not fair to the reader. Warn them first. There are certain audio book narrators whose voices I don't like. If I see them listed as being the narrator for a book, I pass and get the ebook. If someone doesn't want to hear an automated AI voice, you should tell them first so they can make an informed decision. I just hope they'll make this clear on the sale page.

I like what this means for accessibility so more people with learning disabilities or blind people etc can read more indie books however I still don’t support AI as an author

It's so tricky, because some (most) indie authors won't ever pay a human to narrate their books because of the cost. So if that author uses the AI, they only gained an option, not took away money from anyone. I absolutely think if someone has the capital to hire a narrator, they should, but most people don't and will never, so letting them make their book accessible without breaking the bank is ultimately a good thing. Maybe a hot-take but there you go.

I'm a dyslexic author. I use A.I. To have my book read to me. It helps so much. This in my own opinion is great news if you want an audible book. I'm not rich enough to hire someone to read my book. However, I do have an open invitation for my vampire book to be published by Weird Darkness and Audible book. I understand both sides of the argument. But this is a great start for beginning authors like myself. When you get a fan base, you might able to hire actors to read or have them come to you. I'm excited about this news. Yes, I would do this.

Definitely going to try this for my next book. Hate to say it, but narrators are just too expensive for someone with my income.

I'm so divided, as an indie author with a very limited budget, I like the idea of having inexpensive options. But as an artist, I also don't like the idea of taking work or opportunities from other artists. 😵‍💫

I think this is a fantastic option, because as much as I would love to hire real people for every step of creating and publishing my book, your boy is broke and I cannot afford any of that. I intend to hire as many people as makes sense and as locally as makes sense in the future, but right now I'm a one-man show. This is a fantastic opportunity for people like me, all risks to actual employment aside.

I'm willing to try it.

I have 4 YA adult fantasy fiction books on Amazon that I converted to AI audiobook. I don't like my own voice and I can't afford a human narrator, I'm sure they're the first ones to oppose this, I don't blame them. I have been listening to my books on Evie which is okay to catch errors but more robotic sounding. So, these AI voices on Amazon sound more natural to me. I mostly use voice number 7, a very natural and nice sounding American female. However, the editing has been very time consuming mostly due to emotive sound effect I'm shooting for, such as some phrases that should sound neutral or serious sound too upbeat. For example, "Thank you for the condolences." or when it's a male speaking, they tend to sound excitable and feminine. Luckily that doesn't happen too often. So those are my main quirks. Until I can afford human narrators I'll probably use AI narrators.

I would love to have a couple of my books narrated but like you said, it is expensive plus two of my works need a younger voice. Some of the characters speak in old world language as well. I am wondering if the AI can express emotion (express an exclamation) if the words (He shouted) are not on the page. "Get out, now!"

When it comes to typical royalty rates for audiobooks: According to ACX on a royalty agreement a Narrator and the Author each receive 20% royalties. Narrators can also be paid up front pfh (per finished hour) and then I believe you receive 40% royalties and the narrator receives none. This is in accordance with SAG-AFTRA for Voice Overs artists.

Thanks for sharing this new resource. It is a good thing if you're publishing on a budget.

I haven't tried it through KDP, but I have tried it through Apple Books when they were doing a beta program for it. There wasn't much options like you have shown for setting it up on KDP. While it sounded alright, but I had no sales with the audiobook as in the description it did say that it was recorded by AI, and I feel that affected the sales

We are allowed to narrate our own book though right?

@MandiLynnWrites

3 ай бұрын

Absolutely! It’s just very time consuming and I believe there are certain criteria you have to meet.

@TheBarePantryShow

3 ай бұрын

@@MandiLynnWrites I narrated my book with my camera. I separated the audio from the video (so MP3). The only reason I made the recording if for 3 loved ones who are visually impaired. They were the ones who brought up the audio book thing. After watching your video, I think I've changed my mind. Lol It seems stressful.

I read somwehere that self-publishing of audiobooks is only available to U.S. citizens. Is this true?

I’d be curious if you can have a different voice for each character

There is a KZread channel called AI Read to Me. It has AI narrated audiobooks of out-of-copyright books. The AI voice sounds more natural than Amazon's or Google Play's.

Interesting!!!

This sounds like google auto narrated, where I have 8 books in AI, so far. It takes me about two weeks to vett my books so that it comes out more professional. I have not been invited to do virtual in the amazon setup. I will take it if they invite me. I do not have hangups when it comes to AI. Those are the fears of people. I am open to the future with AI.

AI doing audio is something I don’t know how to feel. I think it’s come a long way, but still doesn’t have the heart a human reading does. With AI art and writing, there’s no need for it outside of saving money. When it comes to audio, there is and always will be the benefit of making your book available to the visually impaired. With dyslexia, I prefer to listen to my books as well. Sure, many book reviewers won’t take a chance on a book unless they have an audio version because they don’t have time to read physical books and I’d like to have one for that reason but not enough to use AI right now. I might be interested in playing around with it if it was available to me someday. When it comes down to it, it’s not about ‘what do you think?’ in terms of the quality of the voices but of the ethics of it.

AI is fine depending on the topic.

I published an audio book through Audible and did NOT like the process or result...but still had to pay. I think the narrator was using AI in many parts anyway, considering how stiff and robotic he sounded and how he pronounced certain words. It seemed suspect. Not sure I'd publish fully with AI UNLESS there was a way to warn customers that it was an AI narrator.

Live human narration only, I'll never buy or create an AI audio book.

I don't like AI because I watched too many sci-fi movies to trust it 😅

Yay now I can get the awful ear pain of listening to ai voices reading me a poorly written ai book!