AI Narration Surprisingly Natural

I’m excited to share my wonderful discovery about AI narration. But first, a comment about the envrinoment we’re living in. There’s been so much fear about the rising use of AI with ChapGPT, and similar tools that help to generate ideas and content. Writers are using it to brainstorm, students to write essays, and others to answer questions. Some college instructors are already sounding the alarm.

I agree it’s a slippery slope. It could take away jobs. No one wants to be replaced by anything AI generated. But AI is here to stay. We’ve already been using it for social media, telephone communication for business, drones, vaccums in our homes, etc.

My New Audiobooks

Several months ago, Apple Books approached me with an offer involving AI narration. They offered to cover the costs of producing an audiobook for my women’s fiction novels: A Cry from the Deep and The Rubber Fence. The audiobook would use a digital narrator; they would produce it and we would share in the profits. They offered four great sample voices. The only caveat was I wouldn’t be able to proof the audiobook before it was published.

It was a lovely offer. I assumed that Apple Books was hoping to expand their library, make it more competitive in a market dominated by Amazon’s Audible books. I have no quarrel with either bookseller. I’m an Indie Author, concerned with writing a good book, reaching readers, and keeping down my costs. After considerable thought, I made the leap of faith. I accepted because I had no plans to narrate and produce them on my own dime. Because audiobook sales are iffy, I couldn’t justify paying the $5-10,000 it would cost to produce one audiobook. I couldn’t see how I could recover the money I’d have to spend, let alone make any profit.

But it wasn’t just the cost that had caused me to hesitate. I had also hesitated about the AI narration because I’m an actor (though I rarely do anything now), have many actor friends, and have two actors in the family. I know how tough it is to make a living as an actor. So of course I hesitated about AI narration. I didn’t want to take a job away from an actor. But since no one was going to cover my cost of hiring an actor and producing the audiobook, it seemed foolhardy not to accept Apple’s offer. I now have two new audiobooks, and no actor was replaced.

For the Hard of Hearing

The other benefit of AI narration that I hadn’t considered was how much it helps those who are hard of hearing. My husband suffers with a severe hearing loss and tinnitus. He is an avid reader of audiobooks because it masks the ringing in his ears and he can turn up the volume. He loves audiobooks, but there are some he rejects because he finds the narrator unclear and hard to listen to. This is especially true of actors who use accents in their reading or mumble the lines. He found no problem whatsoever with the AI narration.

He listened to A Cry from the Deep (a romantic adventure and mystery) and The Rubber Fence (psychological fiction) and found the voice for both books clear, understandable, and natural.

Judge for Yourself

You can listen to a sample of the audibook’s narrator in A Cry from the Deep. The narration begins in the prologue, set in the 19th century in Ireland. The novel then moves to present day in Provence.

I selected the same voice for The Rubber Fence. The narration is also superb, though I noticed the digital narrator didn’t pronounce the protagonist’s Ukrainian surname accurately. It’s a small matter, one that won’t affect the story and would probably be overlooked by most readers.

The Audiobook I Narrated

Another reason I jumped at Apple’s offer is because I know how much work it takes to produce an audiobook. Since I had done some acting (including radio drama and voiceovers), I narrated Sunflowers Under Fire for an audiobook several years ago. It’s a historical and biographical fiction based on my baba and her family’s life in Ukraine during the Great War and the wars that followed. You can read what I went through recording this novel.

I may have to narrate the other two in the series (the sequels take place in Canada), because AI wouldn’t be able to handle the pronounciation of all the Ukrainian words (names, food, and slang) .

Comments

We are definitely moving into a new world with more and more uses of AI. I hope those involved in developing these new uses employ the highest ethical standards. I’d love your thoughts on this post and where we’re going with artificial assistance.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you’re having a great spring!