Seth's Blog : Thoughts on audiobooks

Thoughts on audiobooks

I’m listening more than reading these days, and I find that a good audiobook can make a real impact on the way I absorb and learn from a book. It’s a once in a century sort of shift in this medium.

My new book is now available in audio. It’s not on Audible, at least not now. Audible has exploited their dominant position and the offer they make to authors is unfair and almost untenable. I’m not sure their monopoly is as secure as they hope though–all of us have a podcast app on our phones, and services like SupportingCast now deliver books seamlessly to a podcast app–at the same time they bring authors closer to listeners.

SupportingCast makes it easy for audiobook creators to produce updates and reach the audience after the book is published–something that’s impossible with a print book, and forbidden by Amazon/Audible.

I think we’re about a year away from the majority of audiobooks being narrated by AI. One more upgrade in quality and they’ll deliver a better, cheaper alternative than all but the most skilled narrators. Reading the new book cost me my voice for more than a month, but I wasn’t happy with the AI version of me, so here I am.

With each section, I asked myself, “Am I doing the reader a service?” Just as typography took over from calligraphy, I think it’s likely that the answer one day soon will be, “actually, the AI can do this with more clarity.” But as long as I had the mic, I was eager to do the best I could.

As always, AI replaces mediocre work long before it provides a realistic or better alternative to the nuance, passion and insight that a human brings. But the arc here is clear.

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