The use of an artificial intelligence voice to produce an audio version of a work of fiction or non-fiction has been around for quite a while now. Early versions were clearly early versions. The voices were monotone and robotic sounding and not really suited to the nuances and inflexions of a fiction story.

Time has passed, and the quality and ability of the AI voice to sound more human has improved in leaps and bounds. Joanna Penn provides regular updates on her podcasts (The Creative Penn Podcast: Writing, Publishing, Book Marketing, Making A Living With Your Writing | The Creative Penn), and earlier in the summer, she spoke about a new, and currently free, service on Google Play that takes your text manuscript and converts it to audio, with the option to select one of several AI voices.

As an experiment, in June, I put Thieves in the Temple through the process and added it to my Google Catalog along with the eBooks (Thieves in the Temple by Richard Freeborn – Audiobooks on Google Play). The quality wasn’t bad, so I priced the audio the same as the paperback, and added a notation it’s AI narrated. I intended to put a proper cover on it, like the eBook and paperback versions, but something bright and shiny distracted me, and I never got around to it.

And I’ve sold copies! That surprised me as I’ve done no marketing or promotion, just added it to the catalog and left it there. It’s now my top seller on Google!

Who knew?