My first experience with an audiobook was on a roadtrip to visit our friends in California; my wife and I were getting ready to read P.D. James final work, Death Comes to Pemberley, a murder mystery set just after the events of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. As it had been years since either of us had read Austen’s seminal work, we figured we’d make good use of the seven-hour drive and refresh our memory of the characters — and plots — that had been part of the story. The reader was amazing, and brought life to the story in ways that I’d not thought possible. I wasn’t initially a fan of Jane Austen, though much of that was based on being forced to read her work as part of my high school English curriculum; there are a number of classic novels on that same list of books I will never pick up again, a list I had to re-evaluate after finishing the audio version of Pride and Prejudice.
When I began to publish my own works back in 2020, I considered adding audio versions to the mix. I quickly found that as an independent author, the cost for getting something done professionally was well beyond the meager budget I have, so it was an idea that I shelved until such time as I could afford to do it — and then promptly forgot about it.
This year, the force of nature that is the Artificial Intelligence revolution finally caught up with indie authors; a service provided by Audible became available that would produce an audio version of a Kindle book using a completely generated AI voice. I have to admit to initially having a healthy dose of skepticism as to the results, but I went through the process and found myself pleasantly surprised at what came out the other side. The reader sounds authentic, and for the most part, seems mostly capable of correctly getting the emotional aspects of the manuscript right. There are some unusual pauses, and I had to correct more than a few pronunciations, but on the whole the end product is reasonably good.
I was completely torn after that, and it took me a few weeks to decide if I truly wanted to go in this direction. The benefit seemed enormous, especially since it would make my works available to a new audience that preferred to consume their books in this manner. Combined with the automatic tie-in to those who have Kindle Unlimited, I decided to add all the books I have at the moment to the service; I’ll see how it goes for the next few months and what the reaction is from readers, and then make any changes after that.
Would I prefer a human reader? No question, and when I have the financial resources to re-do all of these with one, I will. But it was more important to me that I provide another alternative way for people to experience my books — kind of along the lines of still producing print copies for those that want a tangible experience with the work.
If you did listen to an audio version of one of my books, let me know your thoughts and/or share your comments as part of this post. I genuinely want to know if it’s an avenue I should continue — or if I should refocus on other options instead.