Audiobooks! Hiring a narrator, DIY, AI, etc. > Likes and Comments

This topic came up in another thread and it's a great topic for discussion.

This is for both established and new authors learning... here are some of the things we might chat about:

What have you done in the past, if you have chosen to add an audiobook (and also why/why not an audiobook)? Did you hire a narrator? About how much is the price range, what is the process like? Or did you narrate it yourself? A newer option is having AI do narration. Any experience with that?

My bad, I pointed you to the wrong place! Though this is connected. So that we talk more about audiobooks here, we also have these topics:

Is AI the new Industrial Revolution?
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

The Robot Revolution and a Universal Base Income
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and still consider hiring a narrator to be the gold standard. Good ones really know how to emote and make a story somewhat of a performance and more interesting. But that's $$$ and just not practical for some.

I've also read a fair number narrated by the authors themselves. They are "ok". I think if hiring an actor is going to cost more than you'd make, then of course, it makes more sense to diy as long as you don't do such a bad job it's embarrassing, lol.

I have not heard one by AI before, and am curious what that will be like. It will for sure impact a lot of people who are voice actors, it's an issue that's going to keep building for a while, hopefully the change is slow enough people are able to adapt without it creating major issues, but change is always hard.

I admit, I am on the fence.
How can an aspiring author, new and without a following, and seeking to self publish, avoid the audio market, and, as you mention, Gertie,
It seems very hard to do it yourself.

It has been a steep learning curve just seeking to publish ones book on Amazon, and that, has been with the help of an experienced formatter / illustrator.

He knew how to jump through all the hoops regarding margins and bleed, and a bushel full of terms which are beyond my ability to even recall and recount.

Then there is the purchase and registration of the ISBN, the paperback vs ebook, vs. Kindle formats, and a myriad, of little, but very important, aspects that I am overlooking, here.

Now, turn to Audio books, and all that entails...
Wow.

Some of the A.I. labs, though, will take you by the hand, and, for a relatively small sum (one lab charges about $100 a month promising that your project will conform with Audible standards and be ready for publication as long as you follow their protocols).

I'd like to record my own, But, it's exactly as you said in your post.
Being the one who wrote the words, does not confer Any inherent, advantage in the reading of them.

You might write so beautifully, and, evoke such tremendous emotions, and build such detailed scenes, and create incredible tension, but,
Be a terrible reader.

I remember listening to Fredrick Pohl, decades ago, having been enthralled with some of his work, only to find that, when he read his own work, he turned it into the driest, dullest, stuff I had ever heard. And this was the reaction of, an enraptured young, fan.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, The Wasteland Saga by, Nick Cole was one of the better read books I've listened to. Nick did such a fantastic job. My initial reaction was to double check the credits to see how many narrators had been employed. It was he, and, he alone. What a brilliant job.

I became a huge Nick Cole fan after that (And that series Definitely fits in the Apocalypse group!)

To sum up.
I agree fully, with, Rebecca, and others, on the dangers of A.I., but there is no putting that genie back in the bottle, Welding, Truck Driving, Writing, Music, Movies, Logistics,
War
The list of industries threatened by A.I. are, well,

Covered very well in a great many books that the people who participate in the Apocalypse group read on a regular basis...

Haha indeed there is no putting the genie back in the bottle. All we can do is try to make friends with it and make good wishes I guess...

Ugh, I accidentally deleted my comment instead of editing it. Just to reiterate, I think using AI for indie authors audio books may be beneficial but overall I am against it as it is stealing jobs and intellectual property.
Now that the genie is out of the bottle, I just hope they come up with some commons sense regulations to keep it from being a free for all in stealing others art.

Rebecca wrote: "Ugh, I accidentally deleted my comment instead of editing it. Just to reiterate, I think using AI for indie authors audio books may be beneficial but overall I am against it as it is stealing jobs ..."

I agree about the art, but most indy authors who use KDP to create AI audio books probably would not make an audio book otherwise. Tim's description is a good reason why I never tried.

I'm so glad you started this thread. I too am curious about the potential for good, and slightly in dread of the potential evil that can come from AI.

I have not listened to an audio book that was record by an AI voice - that I KNOW of, so far. So, can't speak on that topic just yet.

I've wondered about maybe using an AI generation tool for my own writing - I have an idea cooking in my head - for 5 years now! that I just can't get out. And thought maybe a good tool would help with that. If not in the next 6 months, maybe in a few more years, as the tools are evolving rapidly. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.

The experience I do have so far, is encouraging, though. In my day job, we recently started using a AI product called Synthesia. It's a tool for generating short videos - you plug in your "script", pick an avatar, pick a voice style, maybe record some screen activity (like using another program), and it merges it all together to generate video content. It's primarily positioned for creating training or promotional videos, which is exactly what my company is using it for. I'm actually pretty impressed with the quality of the avatars and the voices. They appear to be built from original people (staffers at the company or contracted talent). The premium subscription even allows customers to record themselves to be turned into avatars or voices to use in videos (although my company is electing not to do that, at the moment). So, if one company can do this, there's probably more out there with their own spin on things.

The AP wrote a story about Randy Travis using an AI program to synthesize (Clone), his voice for the song "Where that came, from."

Though, it was his own lyrics, it was something which, once again, allowed him to "Sing."


What you mention, Lisa, is something that really scares me, since, I've been trying to write ever since I was like, 8 years old, and now, when I'm 59, I'm actually able to construct stories,

And,

Now that I can...

A.I. might make all of that, obsolete. Ouch!

Rebecca makes a great point, and, it points to a really scary future.

I think Gertie just recently opened a thread talking about AI Industry and Universal Basic Income,
How many books have talked about that, about human "Work" being supplanted by AI, and all of humanity becoming either, threatened with culling on a mass scale, or, humanity becoming stagnant as they became a "leisure" species.

What happens when we become obsolete?

And, there is the thrust between those who seek a much, much, smaller human population, replacing soldiers, workers, farmers, even artists, with technology, only truly allowed through advances in Information Technology, and, whatever we are calling A.I. these days,
That faction seems to be focused on a new Aristocracy.

And then the expansionist faction, largely epitomized by Musk, but one most of us Sci-Fi fans have been on the fringes of for many decades,
Those who see Technology, and, A.I related techs as being the tools that would finally allow humanity to engage in a major "Flowering", and, "Seeding" of the Universe.

What a time to be alive.

And, in my simplified recapping of what I've been reading lately, I'm completely ignoring any questions of A.I., itself, running amok, and, changing the whole fabric of our reality.

Tim wrote: "The AP wrote a story about Randy Travis using an AI program to synthesize (Clone), his voice for the song "Where that came, from."

Though, it was his own lyrics, it was something which, once again..."

That is a great example of how AI can be used the right way.

I can't say that any of my attempts to use AI have been successful. Invariably when I ask one a question, the question answered was not the question asked.

I tried using it to write a scene. It was mediocre at best.
I'm starting to think that there is a lot of hype about this.

Yes. As much as there is fear that the AI robots will take over the world, I think we're still a long way off from that.

A few months ago, I was using ChatGPT to try to generate some images for a course on multimedia, that my company produced (it needed an update). For the section on multi-camera setups, I asked it to create an image styled like a sketch, of two people at a news anchor desk, with three cameras and three lights focused on the people. The first image it gave back had 5 cameras and 6 lights. Every revision I asked for, it kept adding more cameras and lights, behind and all around the people. It added people, it added chairs on top of counters, and laptops I did not ask for. The more I tried to get the image corrected, the worse it got. I was laughing so hard I got a stitch in my side. That's when I decided we are a long ways off from AI taking over the world just yet.

:D

Beautiful comments.

I had to get the Bing A.I. imaging tool to render about 30, or so, images before I found one I was happy with.

And, it felt like a total, random, crap shoot.

I saw some beautiful images,
One, in particular, that I saved to give to my Illustrator friend, in hopes he could work it into the actual cover for my story, after I finish with the Vella run, thing, and post it to Kindle, in the coming weeks.

My example there, is, like yours,
Lisa,
you see what you want, and just can't get the machine to take proper direction,
But,
I could take the image of a viking, beneath a great, black, gleaming sun, with a wolf at his side and a bear, ferocious, standing in the distance, facing him, on his left,
But...

You just want all that clutter, gone, that weird stuff that popped up, and,
take the helmet off!
Take the spear out of his hand and replace it with an axe.

Little things, but, when you add your request to the search field, it...

throws in a... cow (?), and a whole plethora of other problems that make no sense, whatsoever.

But, I could say to my friend, exactly what I wrote above, and, he'd ask a couple of questions, give me some feedback, make a suggestion or two and,
for the price of his time,
it wouldn't be a big deal.

We are still so early in this, very, very, fast moving process.

Thrilling and,
so,
so,
Scary.

One of the ways I've used AI for writing is to generate a photo of a non-existent person and then use the photo as a template to write a description of a character.