Patreon Podcast Ep 1: The Kings of Kearny – Chapter 1
Hi, all! As promised, this is one of the big changes I mentioned in my last post – audio chapters!
I’m starting off with The Kings of Kearny (my best-selling book). I’ve always wanted to turn my novels into audiobooks, but I didn’t want to get sucked into the Audible cult where authors tend to not make much off sales and are restricted to only selling on Amazon, or have to shell out a massive chunk of change for actors.
Well, with the evolution of Artificial Intelligence, I don’t have to do either of those things. Instead, I signed up for some cutting-edge software that an AI developer friend of mine suggested, and I learned how to make an audiobook myself. I think you might be shocked when you listen because you REALLY can’t tell that I generated this file through a computer program.
The first three chapters of each season (each season = a different book) will be free to listen on Patreon, but all other later chapters will only be available to the $2 tier and up.
I’m cross posting this single episode to the blog so that you know to check out Patreon for more.
Hope you enjoy this chapter, and please let me know what you think!
navessa Allen
Listen to the first Kings of Kearny chapter now!
Awesome. Can not tell it’s AI. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you! Yeah, I was pretty blown away by the technology. Really glad there’s an option for Indie authors now that doesn’t put us in debt or make us so tied to Amazon. It’s a ton of work, and a big learning curve, but well worth it, I think.
This is really disappointing.
What? Why? I think it sounds awesome.
Me too
Me too
Thank you! Maybe they mean it sounds “too good”? I can’t think of this as anything but a good thing for indie authors. Amazons audio program is super predatory, and most voice actors are waaay out of my price range – plus, my readership is so small, I’d never get a return on my investment.
As a voice actor, knowing authors would rather go AI than look for a way to use a real person is really depressing. Congrats that it works for you, but AI is also predatory.
I understand that, and I’m sorry this upset you. If it helps, I used a paid platform and only the ethically sourced voices – because I was already aware of the problematic elements of voice AI. This was the only viable way for me to turn my books into audio, and it will be for a lot of other indie and marginalized authors. People like me aren’t taking jobs directly from voice actors by using it because I could never afford one to begin with. I do, however, see the larger implications of the software, especially with voice cloning, and definitely if larger authors or publishing houses start regularly using AI instead. Lastly, if given the choice, I’d still rather pay actual humans to read and record my books, and will go that route if I ever have the budget.
As a narrator myself, I was blacklisted ‘as not to use’ because my beliefs and politics were different than the “clubs.” So human voice actors are also predatory and can shut you down. Oh, I’m also an author. Now maybe other voice actors know how it feels to be shut down.