Auto-narrated audiobooks

Instead of being read by a person in a recording studio, auto-narrated audiobooks are read using Google technology. This high-quality narration offers a variety of gender and accent combinations. Publishers can convert their existing ebooks in under 2 hours, at a fraction of the cost of conventionally produced audiobooks.

Publishers must provide an English, Spanish, German, French, Hindi or Brazilian Portuguese EPUB ebook file and must offer that ebook on Google Play.

For a limited time, there's no charge to create, publish, and download these audiobooks.

Yes, publishers can sell auto-narrated audiobooks on any retail platform that allows them. After publishing the auto-narrated audiobook on Google Play Books, the publisher will be able to download the audio files. However, if the auto-narrated audiobook is for sale elsewhere, it must also be for sale on Google Play Books.

Non-fiction titles, particularly self-help, business, history, biography, health, and religion, are great candidates for auto-narration. Currently, auto-narration performs best on titles with limited dialogue and emotional content. Cookbooks, textbooks, and other titles that rely heavily on images, tables, or data graphics are also not ideal targets.

The tools for creating auto-narrated audiobooks are intuitive and easy to use. The platform does not require specialized knowledge of audio production or editing. Users with experience editing text documents will be able to create an auto-narrated audiobook. You can also view a step-by-step guide to creating these audiobooks.

Publishers will select and create these auto-narrated audiobooks. Once publishers assert that they own the audio rights to the title in the selected language and countries, Google will help these publishers process the files to create the auto-narrated audiobooks.

Publishers will receive a 52% revenue share on auto-narrated audiobooks.