Stars to Steer By -- the audio experience

It was both exciting and daunting to accept the publisher’s offer to read the audio version of Stars to Steer By. I wrote about it on my regular Authors Electric blog under the title ‘My Voice or AI Nother’s’ . The experience itself, working with producer Lucy Wroe at Wardour Studios in London, was something I will treasure. I hope that the product — 14 hours of listening via Audible or Spotify will while away some long journeys or send insomniacs blissfully to sleep.

Wardour studios in London’s Soho

It left me with an unanswered question, however. Studios and producers are expensive — rightly so,their equipment, time and professional expertise are invaluable turning hours of narration with inevitable tummy rumbles, hesitations, uncertain pronunciations, into a flowing product for the listener. For a company like Golden Duck, these costs are not affordable. So should we be turning to AI to make all our books available to those who can’t read print — or do we stick with the principle that individual human words, should be read in an individual human voice? I’m still not sure.

The Audio Version