Apple has officially launched AI-powered book narration to help authors and small publishers convert their English-language titles into audiobooks. Once an author submits a request, it must be approved by Apple’s team. Then it takes one to two months to process the book and conduct quality checks. Apple is currently accepting submissions from novelists—only literary, historical, and women’s fiction for now—before moving on to nonfiction. Audiobooks are distributed via Draft2Digital or Ingram. Authors/publishers retain audio rights and can still produce and distribute other audio versions. Learn more.
Meanwhile, Google Play Books has partnered with digital book company Bookwire on AI-created audiobooks in English, Spanish, German, French, and Brazilian Portuguese. Bookwire’s audiobook service WAY (We Audiobook You) allows Google Play Books customers to create auto-narrated audiobooks in addition to Bookwire’s standard audiobook production offering. Learn more.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
