This Crazy Writing Life: AI And Indie Pubbing—Is This The End Of The World As We Know It?

By Steven Womack

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Want to read a book that’ll scare the bejeezus out of you? Grab a copy of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies—Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All. The authors—Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares—have studied artificial intelligence for decades and have reached the conclusion that if we keep going the way we’re going, AI will soon be smarter than we are. The next step is for it to become sentient and when AI is able to perceive, feel, and outsmart us, it will ultimately get into conflict with all us mere humans.

Then guess what? We’re toast…

Is that the way this is all going to play out? Who knows? As Yogi Berra once said: “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”

One thing I do know is that the whole AI thing is taking up more and more of our bandwidth each day. Major corporations are laying off tens of thousands of workers and replacing them with AI. From driver-less taxis to robotic Door Dash deliveries and fast food cooks, AI seems to be on everybody’s mind. Try calling a large corporation, hospital, or customer service center, hoping to reach a human. It’s harder than ever.

It’s no different in the publishing world, especially in the indie-pub space.

I’ve been lucky in that I’ve been able to attend the last four Novelists Inc. annual conferences. At each one of those conferences, the issue of AI in indie-pubbing—especially AI-narrated audiobooks—has been front-and-center. Is AI going to put human audiobook narrators out of business? Do we need a new army of Luddites smashing the machines to protect the paychecks and lifelines of the modern-day equivalent of textile workers.

Again, I’ve given up prognosticating. I’m usually wrong anyway.

But I can make some observations, and you can draw your own conclusions from them. Let’s start with AI-narrated audiobooks.

First, a brief history. In 1976, Ray Kurzweil unveiled the Kurzweil Reading Machine, the first modern text-to-speech synthesizer. He originally envisioned the machine as a way for blind people to have access to text (Stevie Wonder bought the first one). By 1988, the Apple Macintosh had an effective TTS (text-to-speech) capability, and development has continued to this day.

By far, the that biggest hurdle to creating audiobooks—especially for indie authors—is the production cost. Costs vary widely, depending on a number of factors, but professional audiobook narrators with credits typically charge from $100-300 or more per finished hour. Studio rental, editing, and mastering the files can add significantly to the cost.

For audiobook producers who choose to have multiple narrators, sound effects, etc., costs can double or even triple.

Not only are the costs out-of-reach for many indie authors, the ROI is often simply not there. A ten-book series by an indie author can easily cost $35-50K to produce and publish. Obviously, in a competitive marketplace where discoverability is also an issue, one must sell an enormous number of audiobooks just to make back the production costs.

The evolution of digitally narrated audiobooks has rocketed into high gear in the past few years. In March 2021, Hume AI began developing AI platforms that analyzed vocal inflections and facial expressions that better gauged human emotional states and could create more human-sounding voices (and AI characters).

In 2022, a machine learning engineer and an ex-Palantir deployment strategist—both from Poland—created ElevenLabs, motivated by what they felt were American films badly dubbed into Polish. In January 2023, ElevenLabs’s beta platform went public. Since then, a number of versions have been developed and deployed.

Today, ElevenLabs is leading the charge on realistic digital voice narration for audiobooks. They have a library of hundreds of voice samples. You can even create an ElevenLabs account and upload of sample of your own voice. It goes in the library and if someone likes your voice, they can choose you. Only you won’t actually narrate the book. ElevenLabs will synthesize your voice based on the sample and narrate the whole book and you’ll get a small licensing fee.

In November, 2023, Amazon rolled out an invitation-only KDP Beta test for digitally narrated audiobooks. Early results were considered by many to be problematic. The only appealing thing about it was that it was actually free (but you could only sell your audiobook on Amazon).

At this year’s NINC conference, I had the chance to sit in on a panel presented by Dr. Phil Marshall, the founder and CEO of a company called Spoken, which is the latest contender in the digital narration sphere. Marshall—who’s an M.D. and a surgeon who left the field of medicine to pursue a career in AI development— founded Spoken two years ago, a company whose mission is to make the most realistic and effective AI-narration available to authors at a reasonable cost.

“Listening is the new reading,” he explained. “Half of all Americans listen to spoken word media every day.”

Marshall then demonstrated the Spoken platform, which works on multiple levels. Authors can choose totally digital narrator voices, or they can use voices of real actors, whose voice samples are then synthesized and replicated by the AI platform to speak the text in the audiobook.

He emphasized the editing capabilities of the platform, which enables authors to manipulate voices at a single-line level. If an author doesn’t like the inflection or pacing of a delivered line of dialogue, for example, he or she can go so far as to record the line the way it should be delivered. The Spoken app then analyzes the author’s reading of the line and regurgitates it in the digital voice.

Marshall then outlined his company’s strategic partnership with ElevenLabs and Hume AI, in which authors using the Spoken platform can have access to literally hundreds (if not thousands by now) of voices available on those platforms.

This flexibility, combined with the pricing structure, even makes multi-voiced cast recordings accessible and affordable. In Marshall’s view, he noted, this represents one of the greatest opportunities for indie audiobook producers. He demonstrated a project he’s working on now—his own novel Taming the Perilous Skies—which will contain over 100 voices.

Spoken’s pricing structure offers two different options. Authors can work on a per project basis, which offers an unlimited number of voices, custom voices, full access to the Spoken studio, project download, and audio mastering at a price of $10 per 5,000 words. For multiple projects, authors can subscribe for $50/month, with 50% off all narration costs.

So there you have it, folks. A human-narrated audiobook can easily cost $3500-$5000 to produce. A 100,000 word digitally narrated audiobook will cost a couple hundred to get out there. When you take into account the digitally narrated audiobook will sound about 90 percent human, that’s not a bad compromise. And I don’t think we’re too far away from a place where you’ll almost have to be an audio expert to tell the difference.

The question remains for many people is whether or not this is morally and ethically right. If you look at technical revolutions throughout history, they have always disrupted the status quo. In the 19th century, the Luddites were textile workers rebelling against the automation in mills. Did that stop the process?

No, but it created a whole new segment of industrial jobs. Somebody had to operate those mills. Textile workers became machine operators in a factory rather than sitting at home with a traditional loom. And while Henry Ford did put a lot of blacksmiths and buggy whip makers out of business, in the end I think it’s safe to say he created more jobs than the ones he eliminated.

Besides, blacksmiths are still around, and I’d speculate that they’re making more than ever.

Another way to look at it is if I produce an AI-narrated audiobook, have I caused an audiobook narrator’s children to go hungry? No, because I can’t afford the human narrator in the first place. I drive a KIA; that doesn’t mean I took a Cadillac worker’s job. I can’t afford a Cadillac to begin with, not to mention I wouldn’t be caught dead in one.

Nearly twenty years ago, many gurus railed that the advent of the eBook industry spelled doom for print books. But are print books dead? No, they’re more popular than ever before.

So if you’re a human audiobook narrator and voice-over artist, do you need to be looking for a new career? I don’t think so. Human voices are always going to be needed, even in audiobook narration.

Two years ago at the NINC conference, I had a conversation with USA Today best-selling author Sylvia McDaniel, a hybrid author who’s penned over 100 romance novels. She’s very successful and a delightful person to be around. I’m genuinely fond of her.

She told me that her approach is to produce two audiobook versions of her novels. The human-narrated version is priced as a traditional audiobook—roughly the $10.99-on-up range—and a digitally narrated book for as little as $.99 with an Audible membership.

So if you’re an audiobook consumer and want the joy of hearing Tom Hanks narrate the latest best-seller, then you can shell out a little more for that privilege.

But if you’re just looking for somebody to read you the dang book while you’re driving to and from work, then that option comes a lot cheaper.

Does any of this sound familiar?

During the Great Depression, a lot of people couldn’t afford food and clothes, let alone expensive hardbound books. In 1935, a London publisher named Allen Lane came up with an idea to make books more accessible and affordable. He created a universal format that was cheap to produce and would easily fit into standardized wire racks that could be placed in any retail space, not just bookstores.

He founded a company—Penguin Books—to move this idea forward and the mass-market paper was born. For the next seventy years—until the advent of the eBook that replaced it—the mass market paperback was the chief medium for both fiction and nonfiction sales.

I think we may see something very similar to that in audiobooks.

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But it’s not just audiobooks. What else is expensive to produce for an indie author?

Foreign translations…

With Amazon.com in practically every corner of the globe, marketing eBook translations can be a lucrative revenue stream. Only it costs a boatload of money to hire a translator and there’s no guarantee you’ll ever see a decent ROI.

While at the NINC conference, I met indie authors who are using a company called ScribeShadow to produce AI-translated foreign editions. I spoke with a few authors who have used this service and have been very happy, especially given the 90 percent-plus savings in creating the foreign work.

What about the quality? Idioms and inflection? The nuances of slang and regional dialect? I once had to explain to a Japanese translator that my use of the Southern idiom slicker than snot on a doorknob didn’t mean there was literally mucous on the door handle. Yes, I agreed, that would be very unhygienic. 

One author explained to me that when you produce a foreign language eBook, if the translation sucks, readers will beat you to death in the reviews. She’s done a number of German translations—without speaking a word of German—and so far, her reviews have been positive.

This author doesn’t even use German proofreaders to check the translation. She told me she feeds an English manuscript into the ScribeShadow AI platform, and a German translation pops out the other end. Then she feeds the German translation into ChatGPT for a final check.

There you have it, folks; a foreign edition of your English masterpiece that’s entirely untouched by human hands.

As I’ve said so many times over the last year-and-a-half of writing these columns, it’s a whole new world out there.

As always, thanks for playing along.

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Wait! Stop the presses! The day after I turned this column in, Amazon announced via PublishersLunch that they’ve launched an AI translation service for indie authors publishing through KDP. It’s currently in Beta and will convert books from English and Spanish and from German to English (not sure exactly what that means), with more languages to be added soon.

To quote from Amazon’s announcement: With less than 5% of titles on Amazon.com available in more than one language, Kindle Translate creates opportunities for authors to reach new audiences and earn more…Within a few days, authors can publish fully formatted translations of their books. All translations are automatically evaluated for accuracy before publication, and authors can choose whether to preview or automatically publish completed translations.

And, like KDP’s digital audiobooks option, the service is free.

See what I mean, folks? Things are changing so you have to update columns before they’re even published. I’ll do some more digging and report back in next month’s edition. Best guidance going forward—jump in and hang on!

Audiobooks

By Dale T Phillips

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Since audiobooks are currently in the fastest growing book format right now, getting your novel out for sale as an audiobook is vital for success. If your book isn’t, you’re losing a lot, and leaving money on the table, as the expression goes. My audiobooks have sold hundreds and hundreds, and I love the continual income stream. Sadly, many writers from traditional publishers don’t have their backlists up as audios, so they’re missing out.

Reasons why you should have audio as part of your overall writing business strategy:

• Discoverability: Get a bigger audience and make it easier to find your work. Many potential fans like audio for a number of reasons, some just enjoying a good listen while walking, driving, running, or biking. You want all the fans you can get! These days, people have less time for reading print books, so audiobooks can be a saving grace. While To Be Read (TBR) piles are so big, chances are many readers won’t get to your print book for a long, long time, if ever, but if you’re on audio, they have a better chance of finding your work. If they like that one, they’ll come back for more. Having your book listed in audio format also gets more hits in internet searches, and is listed in more places, increasing your internet presence and the chances of someone finding your work. With over ten million books in print and electronic format, your book is a drop in the ocean. There are far fewer audiobooks: smaller ocean, bigger chance to make a splash! And it’ll get you into some extra markets. I was speaking with a person from a State Library about my books, and the first question was “Any of your books out on audio? Because we’re investing in those right now.” 

• Sales: As well as finding new fans and watching your sales numbers increase, you can make money. Once the book is produced, all you have to do is promote it whenever you want. But each title is another product in your writer store, and even little trickles of money add up to an income stream. It’s nice to have hundreds of sales in another venue.

• Reviews: While many print book reviewers are overwhelmed, there are many sites doing audio that can still accommodate a review. You have more chances of getting good notice for your work. It all adds up. Listeners can also post reviews and ratings, which help.

• It’ll make you a better writer: When someone else reads your words, it makes the clunky ones stand out, and the good ones sound better. Your ear will develop, especially for dialog.

• Freebies: With some audiobook production, you get free giveaway codes. You can gift these to reviewers, as contest prizes, or simply as rewards to readers. When someone buys a print book in person from me, I’ll offer them the free audiobook as a nice extra.

Audiobook Options

Historically, audiobooks were done by professional companies and were expensive to produce, costing thousands of dollars. So only better-selling books made it. Now there are options.

• Someone ELSE does all the work- (and takes most of the money). While it’s nice to have someone do all the work for you, as with traditional publishing, there’s a danger. They might stick you with a hideous cover, a bad version, a product priced wrong for the market, or take a long time to get it out- or never, while they hold the rights captive. In any case, it may not sell, and you’re stuck. And when someone does the work, they also take most of the profit. 

While you assume that a big publisher would do a professional version, there may be other factors. I got one from a BIG audiobook producer, but the narrator couldn’t pronounce ANY place name in Maine correctly- even easy ones like Bangor and Augusta! Letting someone else do it all means the quality control may not be there, and there’s little you can do about it. And you might tick off some fans. (I know I was!)

And that’s assuming you can get a publisher to produce it. Professional narrators run upwards of $100 an hour, and it takes hours to produce a book. Plus other production costs, and packaging, and distributing, they’re investing a few thousand dollars, at least. Since they expect a good return, they have to estimate the sales will exceed the output. So if you’re a typical mid-lister, with less than ten thousand print/ebook sales per book, they may not even do your book for audio. But they’ll likely still retain the rights, in case you hit it big. Then they can always do one later. But what happens is that you can go for years (or forever) without an audio version. 

So- check your contract to see what provisions there are for audio. Even if you signed them away, and they’re not doing anything with them, maybe you can re-negotiate. They may not give the rights back for free, but maybe you can offer them something for it that will make it worthwhile. 

• Do it all yourself, keep all the money. 

Two factors- Production and Distribution

It’s true you don’t need a studio anymore, so it’s become cost-effective. You can produce high-quality audio files in different formats with free software and inexpensive equipment. I recommend Audacity software for recording, because it’s free and simple to learn and use. 

Are you a professional narrator? If you’re charging money for the book, you want quality. Unless you’re famous, the listeners may not be forgiving of less-than-awesome narrating. Before you start this path, do some voice work (maybe some podcasts), and get comfortable with a microphone and sound editing.

Drawbacks- while this can be done, the main cost is time to record and edit. Most of us don’t have enough hours in a day now. And it may take hours of editing to get the sound to a professional level.

Distribution. Even if you do it yourself, how are you going to package, list, and sell the finished product? Tough to arrange this on your own. 

• Work with a Service, and split the money

While there are other services, my current favorite production option right now is ACX.com, which feeds into Audible.com, an Amazon company. They make it easy and profitable for independents to get their books produced, listed, and sold. Better yet, the finished product is on the Audible site, AND on your Amazon book listing, right beside the print and kindle versions. Huge showcase! And they can tie it into Whispersync, which lets you switch between devices and formats.

How to Produce Audiobooks

For ACX, you’ll need an account on the site (includes telling them where to send the money!). 

1. Check your publishing contract first, and beware of issues with anthologies, or other writers listed on your book as authors. 

2. READ YOUR CONTRACT TERMS! Audible gets an exclusive right for years, so make sure you’re comfortable with the terms.

3. Log in to ACX and search for your book, then claim it as yours, with the right to produce an audio.

Various ways to produce your book:

• Do all the narration yourself. ACX distributes the book for you, and you make 40% of the list price. 

• Pay a narrator up front for doing your book. Narrators are expensive. While you can still retain your 40%, consider the cost, and how long it might take to recoup that. You post your project with the offer to pay, and get bids. Decide on who you want. 

• Offer a royalty split, for no up-front money- This is my favorite way. You are hoping that narrators will do all the work on spec, in hopes of making money when the audio sells. You each get 20% of the sale price in this part. They’re putting in time, which to them equals hundreds, or even thousands of dollars, and you have no risk! But of course, you wrote the book, so your time is already invested. 

When you’ve claimed your book, and decided if you want a narrator, you post it up as a project, with a description and notes on what the ideal narrator should sound like- male or female, age, accents, humorous, serious, scary, etc. You post an audition piece, a short segment that will give a good indication if the narrator is right for the work (dialogue with different voices is a good indicator). Add any helpful hints on what the passage should sound like.

This posts the project up for people to audition for, and you wait for replies. You can also search on available narrators, and sample their voices to see if any fit, then send them a message to see if they’re interested in your project.

When auditions come in, listen if they’re right for your work. When you’ve found someone who has the right voice for the job, you then set a schedule and make an official Offer. There’s a date for a 15-minute milestone, which is a guide to see if they’re on the right track, and a date for the project completion. You may need some back-and-forth on pronunciation and tone, and you send messages via ACX. When they’re ready, they send ACX the files, and you give a listen. You can request changes if there’s something amiss, so you have complete quality control. 

When it’s done properly, you Approve the work, which then goes through ACX for their approval, and then gets posted to Audible for sale. You’ll need a cover image modified to their specs, a squared-off version of your book cover. Then it goes up on Amazon as well, linked with your print and Kindle versions. They will set the price of the finished book, based on length.

But there’s more! ACX sends you codes for free downloads of the work. You can use these for reviewers, friends, giveaways, and rewards for your fans- it’s an awesome way of promoting your work- for free! You send instructions and a download code, and someone gets the audio for free.

And the bonus program- if your work is the first someone selects when signing up for Audible, you get a bonus payment- it’s split with your narrator, but is a nice addition.