Novel to audiobook: paste a chapter, get a narrator and a full cast

What is the simplest way to turn a novel into an audiobook?

There are four common novel to audiobook routes, and they differ mainly in two things: can they do multiple characters, and can the result be published. For your own commute, a phone's read-aloud is enough. For an audiobook you want to publish, you need a cast, steady output and the rights.

Scheduling a 100,000-character web novel

A Chinese web novel of 100,000 characters usually runs to several dozen chapters. The time goes into preparation, not generation: splitting chapters, labelling speakers and making names consistent. A safe rhythm is to finish the first three chapters completely, confirm the narrator and the leads sound right, then format the rest in batches. To estimate how long a chapter will play, run its length through the script duration calculator.

Separating narration, dialogue and inner thoughts

In a novel, narration, dialogue and inner monologue are woven together. An audiobook pulls them apart: narration goes to the narrator at an even pace, dialogue goes to the characters and follows their emotions, and thoughts use the character's own voice, softer and closer. In a first-person novel, give the "I" narration to the protagonist's voice and it sounds like the hero telling their own story.

Keeping voices consistent across chapters

Each run is one chapter in its own project; the studio does not carry the previous chapter's cast over by itself, so your cast sheet is what keeps the book consistent. Use one spelling for every name, check each chapter's voices against the sheet after pasting, and update the sheet whenever you change something. More techniques are in keeping character voices consistent.

Can you publish an audiobook you made yourself? Rights first

Turning someone else's novel into an audiobook and publishing it requires permission from the rights holder, meaning the author or a publisher licensed by them. Article 23 of China's Copyright Law protects an individual author's economic rights for their lifetime plus 50 years. After that the work is in the public domain and can be adapted freely.

One catch: a translation of a public-domain book may still be protected, because translators own the copyright in their translation, so recording an existing translation needs the translator's permission too. Audio platforms such as Ximalaya each have their own upload and copyright review rules; follow whatever they state at the time. In an August 2024 Xinhua report, an expert interviewed said that when users upload recordings of well-known works without valid proof of authorisation, platforms should refuse the upload. For the rules on using AI voices themselves, see can AI dubbing be used commercially.