I’ve had many requests over the years for audio versions of my books but there were a number of hurdles that prevented me from doing so. Firstly, events in my personal life such as big moves – between continents – and illness. And then the loss of my husband.

Secondly, human narrated audiobooks are not a simple undertaking. They involve sourcing good narrators, then contracts have to be sorted out and payment arrangements agreed upon. Then there is the cost. Human narrated audiobooks are not cheap. 

With everything that has been going on in my personal life, I haven’t had the bandwidth to delve into human narrated audiobooks. However, recent developments in AI mean the process is much simpler and the quality of the audio is much better than what it was in the early days of AI.

I am using a company called ElevenLabs to produce AI audiobooks of my books. ElevenLabs are generally regarded as the market leaders in AI voice generation. They recently launched an audiobook app called ElevenReader which has a number of pay to listen tiers but the basic level is FREE!

Nearly all of my books are currently available on the ElevenReader app! I’m so excited about this – especially since you get to choose the voice in which you prefer to listen to the story. So, if you don’t like the way it’s being read by one narrator, you can pick another one and keep picking until you find one you’re happy with. 

But this is just the start! ElevenLabs has a bespoke studio option for authors and this is where I will be producing dual narration versions of my books. Imagine listening to the banter between John and Maggie in Someone To Come Back To as if it was them speaking! I’m so excited to bring their voices to life.

I’m not sure yet when the studio versions of the books will be ready. There’s quite a learning curve involved but keep an eye out for updates. 

Finally, should there be enough demand for the audiobook versions of my books, then I’ll look into getting human narrated versions done. I’m aware many readers only want the human versions but I also know many readers get their virtual assistants such as Alexa to read books to them! I’m hoping the AI versions are a happy medium. 

Below is a sample of the ElevenReader version of Someone To Come Back To. I’ve paired it with some images of the vibe of the book for extra enjoyment.