While the majority of books I consume come in physical form, I do enjoy a good audiobook, and with a 45-50 minute daily commute to work, I’ve got ample time for listening. I’ve thought about creating audiobook versions of my own stories, but the process has traditionally been a time-consuming and expensive one, so the thought has remained just that.  However, with the opening of Google’s auto-narrated audiobooks service on Google Play, I’ve been able to take my first step into the wonderful world of audiobooks.

I thought I’d try a couple of short stories to begin with, just to see how it all works. Google isn’t the only company working in this space, but they’re the first ones to open it up to the indie-author community and while the service is currently in beta, the technology behind it is pretty impressive. At this point, they have more than thirty different voices to choose from in English and Spanish. In English, there is a range of male and female voices with American, Australian, British, and Indian accents. Unfortunately, there are no Kiwi accents as yet, and given the size of the New Zealand market, I’m guessing the wait could be a long, if not interminable one.

The first story I selected to work with was The Art of Cigarette Smoking. Since it’s about a young man and his relationship with a packet of Marlboro cigarettes, I figured a male American voice would be most appropriate. I chose the one Google calls ‘Mike’. All the American voices have names beginning with ‘M’, so I don’t suppose it’s ‘his’ real name, but there is a solid, amiable quality to the voice that I think suits the story, as well as sounding perfectly ‘Mikeish’.

After selecting a voice, the process is pretty straightforward. The voice simply narrates the words from an uploaded manuscript. Mispronounced words can be corrected by either spelling the word phonetically or speaking the desired pronunciation into the software via a microphone. Pauses between words can be extended by typing extra commas, and there’s enough natural variation in the AI technology behind each voice to make it sound human and organic. It even places a rising inflection at the end of words followed by a question mark.

What it doesn’t allow for is EMPHASIS and yes, I tried typing in capital letters but it made no difference. I’m sure this feature will come at a later date, because it would make a big difference. For descriptive passages without dialogue, it’s not overly noticeable, and since The Art of Cigarette Smoking just happens to be a story without dialogue, I was pretty happy with the end result. You can check it out here:

I’m a little less happy with the outcome for the second story I tried, The Golden Cockroach. Since it’s set in Australia and written from the point of view of a young woman, I selected ‘Charlotte’, an Ozzie female voice, for the narration. As much as we Kiwis enjoy taking the piss out of any and all things Australian, it was actually awesome to have this option, and I felt it really helped me to visualise the main character, Nina, and her situation. However, The Golden Cockroach is a story with numerous passages of dialogue, and while overall, the reading is still an impressive one (and again, Charlotte’s voice sounds perfectly ‘Charlotty’), the lack of any emphasis in these spoken exchanges is noticeable. You can check it out for yourself here.

So, is this service a welcome one for indie authors?
Absolutely! The audiobook market is a growing one and it’s fantastic to be able to cater to ‘readers’ who want to consume stories in audio form, for whatever reason.

Is it as good as having a real live person performing a customised narration?
No, but given the minimal costs involved in creating an audiobook via this process, I think the end product can be sold at a price point that reflects this. Recording a custom-narrated audiobook is an expensive process, and so the end-product commands a premium price. An auto-narrated audiobook needn’t.

Will I be creating any more auto-narrated audiobooks on Google Play?
Not at this point in time, at least not until the ’emphasis’ problem is solved, or a Kiwi accent is added to the mix of voices available. Or unless readers tell me they want me to.

Are you an audiobook fan? Got a favourite one? Would you like to hear any more of my stories in audiobook form? Let me know in the comments.

FREE BOOK!

A gritty and engaging story of human faults, fears, and frailty, What Friends Are For is the prequel short story to my tragicomic novel, Taking the Plunge. Introduce yourself to the characters from the novel and find out where it all begins for Kate, Tracy, Evan and Lawrence.