San Francisco, California – ElevenLabs, a voice AI company, has recently announced that it is now allowing authors to publish AI-generated audiobooks on its Reader app. This move comes after a successful partnership with Spotify for AI-narrated audiobooks.
Last year, ElevenLabs began inviting authors to participate in a trial of their publishing program through their app, with full availability now open to all authors as of today. The company’s goal is to provide authors with affordable and accessible tools for audiobook creation, eliminating the need for expensive studio production costs.
In an effort to compete with platforms like Audible, ElevenLabs will offer audiobooks within its Reader app, providing authors with a more generous royalty rate compared to other platforms. Authors will receive payment when users engage with their content, with an average payout of $1.10 when listeners engage with an audiobook for 11 minutes or more.
During the testing phase, the average user spent 19 minutes listening to published books on the app, indicating promising engagement rates for authors. While the initial payout is only available to authors in the U.S. with English titles, ElevenLabs plans to expand to include payouts for titles in the 32 languages it supports for audiobooks.
Additionally, ElevenLabs intends to create a marketplace for authors to sell their content, providing a platform for indie creators to reach a wider audience. By offering paid plans ranging from $11 to $330 per month, authors and publishers can generate audiobooks using ElevenLabs’ AI technology at a more affordable cost than traditional studio recording methods.
Furthermore, ElevenLabs has successfully powered other audio platforms like Pocket FM and Kuku FM, showcasing its versatility in turning text into engaging audio content. With plans to expand into more consumer experiences, CEO Mati Staniszewski envisions ElevenLabs as a publishing and distribution platform for indie content, creating more opportunities for authors to showcase their work to a global audience.