At the end of April 2022, Google Play Books announced a new beta service for selfpublished authors. They launched auto-narrated audiobooks that use AI (artificial intelligence) to help authors convert their ebooks into audiobooks. To qualify, the ebooks must be available on Google Play’s Bookstore.
Initially, it applied to authors in the USA, UK, Canada, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand, with authors receiving a 52% royalty split. Google has since expanded this to more countries.
This service is currently free to authors while the service is still in beta. This means that Google is still testing and fine-tuning the service. To help with this, they need more content for their AI language models to digest, which is why they’re keen for self-published authors to take up this offer.
Traditionally produced audiobooks, ones using human narrators, are expensive to produce. Most of us can’t afford to hire celebrities like Stephen Fry to narrate our writing. However, as anyone who has tried
