For many years there has been the possibility of purchasing an audiobook, which is an audio file in which a person reads a book to us. And many people like that, even if it is not excessively popular.
But recently, Amazon offers people who self-publish their books in the US Kindle Store to access a new tool that, through AI, a “virtual voice” converts that book into an audiobook and offers it on the platform Audible.
This innovation represents a before and after for self-published authors, especially in the United States. Thanks to this tool, anyone who publishes their book in the Kindle Store in that country will be able to convert it to an audiobook easily and quickly, without the need for a professional narrator.
What used to cost them around $700 and a wait of three or four weeks, now they have it for free and in less than an hour. And although the quality and intonation of the reading may not be the same, they say it is more than acceptable, and at an unbeatable price.
In this way, the Audible platform has increased its catalog by more than 50,000 new audiobooks in a very short time.
The process is simple: the author uploads their ebook to KDP and selects the option to convert it to an audiobook. The AI tool is responsible for analyzing the text and generating a narration using a synthetic voice. The author can choose between different voices and adjust the reading speed.
The advantages are the price (zero) and the speed of making the audiobook. And the quality of the AI system will improve with time and use, and get closer to that of humans.
I am clear that despite the possible limitations, the arrival of AI in the creation of audiobooks has the potential to further democratize access to culture and reading, allowing more people to enjoy books in audio format.
AI is therefore presented as a powerful tool that can transform the audiobook landscape. While it is true that there are some disadvantages that must be considered, the advantages it offers are undeniable. It remains to be seen how this technology will evolve in the future and what impact it will have on the publishing industry.
We see that AI is incorporated into more activities every day, and in many cases it transforms them in depth. But not using this technology is not a smart choice.
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