Voice AI powerhouse ElevenLabs is rolling out an exciting opportunity for authors. They've just unveiled an innovative feature that lets writers publish AI-generated audiobooks using their in-house Reader app. This comes hot on the heels of their recent partnership with Spotify for AI-narrated audiobooks.

Just last month, ElevenLabs announced a staggering fundraising win of $180 million. As part of their growing mission, they invited select authors to test run their publishing program within the app. Today, they're pleased to extend this invitation to all authors.

Image Courtesy of Eleven Labs

Speaking to TechCrunch, the company shared that their primary goal is to offer audiobook creation tools that are both affordable and user-friendly. A step up from the traditionally expensive studio production methods.

In an effort to provide authors with a greater royalty income, ElevenLabs is aiming to take on Audible. ElevenLabs will make their audiobooks available through their Reader app, and authors will get paid when users interact with their work.

The company is currently paying $1.10 per author for audiobooks that are listened to for 11 minutes or longer. Interestingly, during its testing phase, the average user devoted 19 minutes to listening to books on the app. The company considers these royalty rates competitive but has hinted at possible changes as its platform grows.

Payouts are now available for English-language titles and American-based authors. In the future, the business intends to extend rewards to titles in the 32 languages that its audiobooks support.

Alongside this, ElevenLabs aims to create a marketplace where authors can hawk their content with utmost ease.

One major advantage for ElevenLabs involves authors and publishers creating audiobooks using its AI tech in return for plans ranging from $11 to $330 per month—a more cost-effective approach to the traditional studio time and voice actor expenses.

Startups like Pocket FM and Kuku FM have already tapped into the audio potentials ElevenLabs offer by turning text into engaging audio content.

According to ElevenLabs CEO Mati Staniszewski, the company's next strategic direction will veer towards enhancing customer experience by hosting indie content on its publishing and distribution platform.