Every book deserves to be heard.

With Apple Books digital narration, now yours can be.

Digital narration technology

Apple Books digital narration brings together advanced speech synthesis technology with important work by teams of linguists, quality control specialists, and audio engineers to produce high-quality audiobooks from an ebook file. Apple has long been on the forefront of innovative speech technology, and has now adapted it for long-form reading, working alongside publishers, authors, and narrators. For information on how you can take advantage of this new technology, see how to get started.

Digitally narrated titles are a valuable complement to professionally narrated audiobooks, and will help bring audio to as many books and as many people as possible. Apple Books remains committed to celebrating and showcasing the magic of human narration and will continue to grow the human-narrated audiobook catalog.

Empowering indie authors and small publishers

More and more book lovers are listening to audiobooks, yet only a fraction of books are converted to audio — leaving millions of titles inaccessible to readers who prefer audiobooks, whether by choice or necessity. Also, many authors — especially independent authors and those associated with small publishers — aren’t able to create audiobooks due to the cost and complexity of production. Apple Books digital narration is free and creating titles is easy, so you can meet the growing demand by making audiobooks available for listeners to enjoy.

Voices

We currently have digital voice options available for books categorized as fiction, romance, mystery and thriller, science fiction and fantasy, nonfiction, and self-development. Hear samples below, or check out the full books in our audiobooks store.

Find the full book here.

Production and distribution details

Free and easy to produce
Simple to deliver via preferred partners
Wholesale pricing (includes pricing tier limits)
Distribution via Apple Books
Publisher/author retains audiobook rights
No restrictions on producing and distributing other versions of the audiobook

What authors and publishers are saying

“I’m really excited about Apple Books digital narration. It’s an affordable and high-quality option for me. And as a listener, it’s easy to get lost in the story and forget that the book is digitally narrated. I’m surprised at how far the technology has come in such a short time and eager to see where it will go from here.”

Stacy Claflin,
USA Today bestselling author

“Apple Books digital narration increases audiobook accessibility for everyone. Independent publishers now have an affordable means to convert backlist and boutique titles to audio that otherwise could not have supported full-scale production, while still offering a high-quality listening experience.”

Joe Matthews,
Independent Publishers Group (IPG) CEO

Interested in Apple Books digital narration?

Learn how to get started