Apple Books for Authors

Apple for Authors is an audiobooks service for authors to have their books narrated by artificial intelligence. The AI feature is only available for fiction and romance books and offers two voices, Madison and Jackson, for the listener to choose from.

Apple reportedly approached independent publishers in the US and Canada; those who agreed to have their work turned into an audiobook were told they would pay for the cost of production and would receive royalties from their sales. 

The new feature is said to significantly cut costs for book publishers - who typically invest thousands of dollars to produce audiobooks - and will help promote independently published authors.

Risks and harms 🛑

Apple Books for Authors has been criticised for potentially limiting authors’ exposure to other platforms, and for the complexities and potential drawbacks of using an aggregator or distributor, which may impact authors’ control over their work and their earnings.

News, commentary, analysis 🗞️

• https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jan/04/apple-artificial-intelligence-ai-audiobooks

• https://gizmodo.com/apple-audio-books-ai-authors-ebooks-1849952963

• https://bgr.com/tech/apple-books-launch-audiobook-catalog-narrated-by-ai/

• https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/apple-audiobook-narration-is-ais-latest-victim-but-it-could-be-good-for-authors-4293262

• https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/05/apple-launches-ai-powered-book-narrations/

• https://www.popsci.com/technology/apple-ai-audiobook-narrator/

• https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/01/13/apple-says-it-is-committed-to-book-narrators-expands-ai-reading-anyway

• https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/01/apple-rolls-out-ai-narrated-audiobooks-and-its-probably-the-start-of-trend/

• https://observer.com/2023/01/apple-launched-ai-narrated-books-shaking-the-audiobook-industry-and-its-human-voices/

• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11607515/Apple-quietly-launches-selection-audiobooks-read-AI-robot.html