Read any good books lately? If someone answers “yes” to that question, it’s quite likely what they really mean is they listened to a book. How do I know? The statistics tell the story:
- · According to one recent survey, over half (roughly 149 million) of U.S. adults have listened to an audiobook.
- · In a 2023 survey by the Audio Publishers Association, a full 38% of U.S. adults had listened to an audiobook within the last year, and audiobooks have been growing rapidly in popularity ever since.
- · Global audiobook revenues are projected to reach $9.94 billion this year. (Statista.com)
- · The U.S. audiobook market is projected to reach $4.26 this year.
- · Fiction is, overwhelmingly, the top category for audiobooks.
- · Commuting to work is the most popular time to listen to an audiobook, followed by doing chores and working out.
Given the spectacular growth of audiobooks, you’ll understand why I wanted to produce an audiobook for my novel, The Physics of Relationships. Besides being a novelist, I am a professional voice talent. And I have the equipment I need to record and edit an audiobook. So…no problem. Right? Wrong. I had a problem. My novel is narrated in the first person by a sixty-three-year old woman. I have the misfortune of being a man…with a fairly deep, baritone voice.
For a while, I gave up on the idea of producing my own audiobook. Then one day, feeling frustrated, it occurred to me that there must be some kind of AI-driven technology that could change my voice. Enter Eleven Labs.
At first, people around me were skeptical. They suspected the voice would sound mechanical, robotic. I ran a test, however, and the results were shockingly good. I had become a woman! At least, my voice had, and nothing was lost in the translation. The new voice kept my phrasing, my pacing, and my emotional affect. The only thing that changed was the voice itself. I posted the first audiobook chapter of The Physics of Relationships on my author website. You can listen to it by clicking on this link: https://chashalpern.com/archive/PHYSICS_Ch1.v2_FINAL_10.4.24.mp3
If audiobooks are so popular, why doesn’t every book offer an audio version? The answer is simple: cost. It takes hours and hours of recording, cleaning, and editing to produce an audiobook. Depending on who you hire, a professional audiobook can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $20,000, or more. Meryl Streep was hired to read Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake. Imagine how much that cost!
I’m a novelist. I have to protect my writing time. But I’ve decided to offer my audiobook services for a few, select projects. I want to make it possible for writers and publishers to produce a professional audiobook at a reasonable cost. My hope is that others with the required voice and technical skills will help authors produce their audiobooks at a reasonable cost.
There’s an old saying: “Time, quality, cost. Pick any two.” My idea is to provide high quality and low cost…if I can produce the audiobook on my own schedule. I hope that others will follow my lead. Let’s do it for the 99% of authors who write from the heart, and make very little money. Let’s support those who tell stories that increase understanding, tolerance, and empathy. Create an audiobook and save the world!