Audiobook

Steps

Each chapter is narrated on its own, so you can re-record one without redoing the rest.

1. Open a book and choose `Turn into Audiobook`, from the book card menu on your dashboard or from the editor.
2. In the `Narrator` panel on the right, press the play button beside the voice name to hear it. Use `Change voice` to browse the full list.
3. Tick the chapters you want in the left panel. `All`, `None` and `Changed / new` are above the list.
4. Click `Record audiobook`. The panel shows how many credits the selection costs before you start.
5. Listen in the player along the bottom, then open the `Downloads` tab for your files.

While it records

Progress appears in the bar along the bottom of the studio, chapter by chapter. Recording happens on our side, so you can close the studio, leave the page or shut your laptop and come back to it later. Nothing is lost.

What each chapter is telling you

Every chapter in the left panel carries its state and how long it runs. Before a chapter is recorded the length is an estimate and shows a `~`; afterwards it is the exact runtime of the file.

• `Not recorded` — no audio for this chapter yet.
• `In queue` — waiting its turn in the current recording.
• `Recorded` — done, and playable in the bottom bar.
• `Recorded before changes` — you edited the chapter, or corrected a pronunciation, after it was recorded. The chapter itself tells you which. The existing audio still plays and still downloads; record it again when you want the change read aloud.
• `Needs retry` — that chapter did not finish. Tick it and record again.

Re-recording part of a book

You never have to redo a whole book to fix one chapter. Tick only the chapters you want and record again, and you are only charged for those. If you have edited text since recording, `Changed / new` above the chapter list selects exactly the chapters that need redoing.

Using your own recording for a chapter

You can read a chapter yourself instead of using a narrator. Under the chapter title, click `Record it yourself` to record in the studio: the chapter text stays on screen to read from, with a level meter, `Pause`, and a chance to listen back before you choose `Use this recording`. Your browser asks for the microphone the first time.

Already have a recording? Click `Upload your own recording` and choose the audio file: MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, FLAC or OGG, up to 200 MB and 2 hours a chapter. It takes a minute or two to prepare, then it sits in the audiobook in its place, evened out to the same volume as the narrated chapters. It uses no credits.

Your recordings are left unticked when you record the book, so a narrator never replaces your voice by accident. If you do tick one, the studio warns you first. To swap a recording, click `Replace your recording`.

The ACX files in `Downloads` are made from a full-quality copy of your recording, not the smaller copy the studio plays. If you read every chapter yourself, they leave out the spoken opening and closing credits, so you can record your own.

Where your narrator lives

Open a book and choose `Turn into Audiobook`. The `Narrator` panel on the right of the studio shows who is currently cast: their initial, their name, and a short description such as `Warm · US · Female`.

Two ways to listen, and only one costs anything

The round play button beside the narrator's name plays a short sample in that voice. It is free and instant, so audition as many voices as you like before deciding.

`Preview this chapter` underneath is different. That one narrates the opening of your own chapter in the chosen voice, so you hear your actual words rather than a stock line.

Browsing every voice

Click `Change voice` to open the full list, laid out in a two-column grid. Every row has its own play button, so you can work down the list comparing tones without leaving the studio.

Narrow the list

A row of filter pills sits above the grid: `Male` / `Female` on the left, then US / `British` / Australian on the right. Click any pill to filter; click it again to clear. Filters stack, so picking `Male` + `British` narrows the grid to Brian and Arthur. Hit `Clear` on the right to reset everything.

How to read the voice tags

Each voice has a short descriptor next to its name (e.g. Expressive, Bright, Warm, Calm) that hints at its tone; the accent is set by the filter pills above the grid. An HD badge marks the voices rendered by the richer HD engine.

Standard vs HD

Standard voices sound clear and natural and record in seconds. HD voices sound warmer and more expressive, closer to a human narrator, and take about a minute a chapter (longer for long chapters), recording in the background. HD is included on Premium (and AppSumo Tier 3 and 4). On Creator, the same narrators record in Standard, so Joanna is still Joanna, just the quicker rendering; the few voices that only exist in HD show a lock and open the upgrade prompt.

Changing voice after recording

You can switch narrator at any time. Click `Change voice`, pick the new one, then tick the chapters you want in that voice and record again. Chapters you leave unticked keep the voice they already have, so you can try a new narrator on one chapter before committing the whole book.

If some chapters end up in a different voice from the rest of the book, the studio marks them `Recorded before changes` and says so on the chapter, so you can record them again to match.

A different narrator for one chapter

Under each chapter title the studio shows who reads it. Click `Use a different narrator` to give that chapter its own voice, for a foreword read by someone else, a guest chapter, or a novel told from two points of view. The rest of the book keeps the main narrator.

The chapter list shows the chapter's own narrator beside it, and `Preview this chapter` plays it in that voice. Record the chapter to hear it in the finished audiobook. To hand it back, click `Use the book narrator`.

Narration pace

Under the narrator, `Narration pace` sets how fast the narrator reads in the recording itself: `Slower`, `Normal` or `Faster`. The number beside it is the narrator's real pace in words a minute, so you can see exactly what each step means for the voice you picked. HD voices take bigger steps than Standard ones.

This is different from `Listen at` in the player, which only changes how fast you hear it on this screen and leaves your files as they are. Narration pace changes the files you download.

Changing the pace marks the chapters already recorded at another pace as `Recorded before changes`. Recording them again uses credits as usual, and `Preview this chapter` lets you hear the new pace on your own words first.

Steps

Corrections belong to the book, not to one chapter. Save one for a character name and every chapter that mentions them uses it the next time you record.

1. Open your book and choose `Listen to Audiobook`.
2. Find the word in the chapter text in the middle of the studio. Each word highlights as you move over it.
3. Click the word. A panel opens asking how it should sound.
4. Write the word the way you would say it out loud, for example `shiv-AWN` for Siobhan.
5. Click `Hear it in this sentence` to check it. Listening is free and does not use a credit.
6. Click `Save`. The word is marked in the chapter text so you can see it is set.

Writing the respelling

Write it for a person, not for a machine. There is no phonetic alphabet to learn: break the word into syllables with hyphens, and put the syllable that carries the stress in capitals.

• `Siobhan` becomes `shiv-AWN`
• `Kael` becomes `KAY-el`
• `Hermione` becomes `her-MY-oh-nee`
• Letters, hyphens and spaces only, up to 80 characters

Where a correction applies

A correction matches whole words only, so an entry for `Kael` never fires inside `Kaelith`. Possessives and plurals keep working: `Kael's` matches and keeps its ending.

• Capitals you type have to be matched, so `Will` corrects the character and leaves the ordinary word `will` alone
• Lowercase matches either case, so `kael` typed casually still catches `Kael`
• Every correction applies across this book, and only to this book

After you save

Audio you have already recorded does not change on its own. Chapters containing the word move to `Recorded before changes` in the chapter list, and the chapter tells you a pronunciation changed rather than the text. Record those chapters again when you want the new pronunciation in the file.

In the chapter list, `Changed / new` selects exactly those chapters for you.

Changing or removing one

Open the `Narrator` panel on the right. `How words are said` lists every correction saved for this book.

1. Click an entry to reopen it, then edit the respelling and click `Update`.
2. Click `Remove` in the same panel to delete it.
3. Either way, the chapters that used it are marked for re-recording.

Steps

Chapters you did not tick keep their existing audio, and their existing voice. That is what lets you try a new narrator on a single chapter before committing the whole book.

1. Open a book and choose `Listen to Audiobook` to open the studio.
2. To change narrator, click `Change voice` in the `Narrator` panel and pick the new one.
3. Tick the chapters you want redone in the left panel. `All` selects everything; `Changed / new` selects only the chapters that have changed since recording, whether you edited the words or corrected a pronunciation.
4. Click the record button under the list. It names your selection, for example `Re-record 2 chapters`, and the credit cost is shown just above it.
5. Confirm when asked. The new audio replaces the old for those chapters only.

When to use this

Common reasons to re-record:

• You changed your mind on the narrator voice after listening to the first cut
• You edited a chapter's text and want the audio to match
• You want to A/B test two voices on a sample chapter before committing

Steps

The chapter ZIP contains one MP3 per chapter, named and numbered in reading order. Most stores that take audiobooks want the separate chapter files rather than one long recording, so check what your distributor asks for before you upload.

1. Open your book and choose `Listen to Audiobook`.
2. Check the chapter list on the left. Anything still marked `Not recorded` will be missing from the finished file.
3. Open the `Downloads` tab on the right. It shows how many chapters you have and the total runtime.
4. Click `Download book MP3` for the whole book as a single file.
5. For separate files, click `Prepare chapter ZIP`, then `Download chapter ZIP` once it is ready.

Read this before you record for Audible

Audio narrated by AI is not eligible for standard ACX submission. That is ACX's own policy on who may narrate, and it is separate from how the audio is encoded, so no export setting or file format changes it.

This matters before you spend credits, not after. If Audible through ACX is your only goal, our narration will not get you there. Some other stores, such as Google Play Books and Kobo, do accept AI-narrated audiobooks, and requirements differ between them and change over time, so check your distributor's current rules before you record.

What the chapter export gives you

The chapter export re-encodes your narration to broadcast audio spec: 44.1 kHz, 192 kbps constant bitrate, mono, loudness normalised so the level sits where distributors expect, and peaks kept clear of clipping. It packages the result as a ZIP with one MP3 per chapter, named and numbered in reading order.

That is a stricter and more widely accepted format than the single stitched MP3, which is built for listening rather than for distribution. Most stores that take audiobooks want separate chapter files, so this is the version to upload wherever you end up publishing.

Steps

1. Record every chapter and wait for them all to finish.
2. Open your book, choose `Listen to Audiobook`, and open the `Downloads` tab.
3. Click `Prepare chapter ZIP`. The encode runs in the background, so you can close the studio.
4. Come back and click `Download chapter ZIP` once it is ready.
5. Upload the chapter files to a distributor whose rules allow AI narration.