The big news of the week is Spotify's announcement that it is opening up its AI narration tools for audiobooks to all indie authors in the US. Audiobook Creation Tools was the ElevenLabs collaboration with Spotify that had been in beta. It allows authors to turn their books into audiobooks within their Spotify for Authors account using a selection of ElevenLabs' AI-generated narration voices.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
Questions Over SPP’s Status
First, some clarification about what that cessation of trading actually means, with a few more details. You will recall that it was at least a little unclear whether the company had been struck off at Companies House or not. This matters because a company that still owes monies is not able to strike itself off. First, an administrator will come in and seek to do everything possible to gather monies owed and pay out monies owing (the latter in a particular order related to the kind of debt).
The first piece of clarity provided by The Bookseller is that the move to strike the company off was suspended on August 22. This seems to relate to
The tool is now out of beta and available to any authors based in the US. As with the beta, there is no exclusivity demand. Authors can convert their e-books (in ePub format) into audiobooks and then distribute them anywhere. At present authors can use Audiobook Creation Tools for free for up to five titles. It's interesting to note in the Spotify blog piece that there remains a commitment to transparency. Audiobooks made using Audiobook Creation Tools will be clearly labeled as AI-generated on the platform to allow listeners to make an informed choice about their listening.
AI's Growing Role in Audiobook Production
Still with AI and audiobooks, Frankfurter Buchmesse has produced a paper showing the extent of the adoption of AI in the audiobook industry. Publishing Perspectives has a very handy infographic. Some of the headlines are interesting, such as the fact that only 15 percent of audiobooks have no AI use at all in their creation (which doesn't mean 85 percent of audiobooks use AI narration, but AI somewhere in the creation process including streamlining workflows). I also note that the overwhelming consideration for whether to use AI or which AI tools to use is transparency when it comes to rights and the quality of voices (86 percent).
Finally, when it comes to what the infographic calls “barriers” to the use of AI, the principal one found, cited by 50 percent of respondents, is the choice made and restriction imposed by authors, agents, and others in the industry.
Webtoon Introduces AI Translation
A final AI story. Webtoon, the giant graphic narrative platform used by many indies, is introducing an AI translation feature for self-published titles. This has of course caused concern among translators at the same time as opening up new opportunities for indie authors — rather like Spotify's Audiobook Creation Tools.
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