I received an invitation from Amazon inviting me to use their new beta AI voiceover tool. The pitch was that I’d be able to create Audible audio books super-fast with their new platform and AI voiceovers.
“Isn’t that awesome!” I thought. Well, it was to a point.
Let me take you through what I experienced with Amazon’s AI virtual voice tool for narration so you can see what works, what doesn’t and whether it’s really worth your time.
Why Use a Virtual Voice for AI Narration?
The shortest answer is that it’s cheap. In this case Amazon is providing Audible virtual voice service for free (in beta right now only for select publishers).
Second, it’s easy(ish). In theory, you can click a button beside your existing KDP ebook, choose a voice, have your book narrated, and be done in a matter of minutes.
The alternative is hiring a professional to manually narrate your book. This can take weeks, especially if there is a lot of back-and-forth for edits. And the price is usually quite high.
One online example (from a Google search) states that a 60,000-word book could easily cost between $600-$4,800. Some narrators also negotiate a royalty so you would end up paying them part of your earnings for a set period of time.
For small publishers in particular, that’s an unbearable expense.
What is Amazon's KDP Virtual Voice for Audiobooks?
It’s a free service provided by Amazon to KDP authors. It lets us use artificial intelligence voices to narrate our previously published Kindle books.
How do I Use Amazon’s Audible Virtual Voice Narration?
It’s very easy.
❶ Login to your Kindle account and click the Bookshelf tab.
❷ Click the button to Add Audiobook with Virtual Voice.
❸ Explore the different voices (there are many) and choose the one you like.
❹ Let Amazon create an audiobook cover from your existing Kindle cover.
❺ Set your price.
❻ Preview your audiobook.
❼ Publish.
Once you get further into the editing and publishing process, you’ll find other handy features, including:
- The ability to selective change the voice speed for individual sections
- Customize the pronunciation of words
- Insert a pause anywhere you like
- And others
Will Amazon Eventually Charge for Audible Virtual Voice Narration?
From what I found, the answer is no. It will remain free. While Amazon has not said their reason, my suspicion is that the more people they can help overcome the time and cost barriers for producing audiobooks, the more books will be available for Amazon to sell and make money from.
Hiccups to Watch Out for When Publishing with AI Narration
I did discover several things while I was producing my first audiobook using AI. Let me share those with you so that if you decide at some point to use AI voiceover through Amazon, you’ll know what to watch out for.
If your book has images that are relevant to your text, the AI voice will not be able to read them. (Example: Graphics of different storytelling ads.)
Here’s an example. In my Kindle book, I have screenshots of the examples with notations of attribution.
The AI voice cannot read the text that is part of the screenshot because it’s all an image. But it will read any text notations I included such as the “© Liberty Mutual, All Rights Reserved.”
So, in this case, the text that follows the image isn’t going to make a lot of sense because the reader cannot see the example or understand the storytelling copy that is in the screenshot. You would need to go through and write the text from the image or create descriptions of landscape scenes or other graphics that are not readable.
In my opinion, Amazon’s AI KDP voiceover tool would not work well for books that are dependent on readers being able to see the images for the text to make sense.
I suggest that you go back through your Kindle book and read it out loud to yourself. Keep in mind that the virtual voice is going to read the text exactly how it is on the page. Change anything that sounds odd to you before you move on to have your audiobook produced.
Professional-Sounding Virtual Voices, But…
I found the virtual voices to be very professional and they come in numerous accents, ages, tones, etc.
However, they do not highlight the emotion of the book very well, in my opinion. If I were to record an audio track for my own book, I would understand where the inflection needed to be different. I would know when to use an excited tone or when to show another emotion such as sadness or wonder.
These AI voiceovers are not to that point yet.
Do I Recommend AI Narration for Audible Books?
Yes. I think it’s a good way to be able to expand your sales to people who normally would not prefer to read a book, but rather listen to one.
However, I do not recommend it if:
- Your book text is greatly dependent on the images
- Your book that requires the voiceover expresses a great deal of emotion
As I mentioned, this program is currently in beta and you have to be invited to use it. If you have been, I encourage you to go in and play around. You do not have to publish a book. If you get halfway through the process and decide this is not right for you just click out without tapping the Publish button.
Overall, it’s an exciting development to have the AI narration for audible books available from Amazon. Once it becomes available to the public, it will give everyone the opportunity to publish audiobooks without the extreme cost.
