Make More & Earn More

In the last few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has completely changed how creatives produce and share their work. They are making it faster and cheaper than ever to bring your creative projects to life. One of the most exciting—and profitable—uses for AI today is creating audiobooks, narrative podcasts, and screenplay readings in multiple voices.

If you haven’t started using Elevenlabs to create your podcasts, audiobooks, and screenplays, it’s time to dive in. It’s a game changer from every perspective. In this article we discuss this tool and several other sophisticated and quickly-mastered tools that will make you fall in love all over again with the work you want to do.

Whether you’re an author looking to sell your book in audio form, a screenwriter pitching to producers, or a podcaster building an audience, here’s how you can start recording professional-quality audio content in hours instead of weeks—and without breaking the bank.

Why AI Voice Tools Are a Game Changer

Professional voice actors and audio engineers can cost thousands of dollars per project, putting high-quality audio out of reach for many independent creators. With AI-powered tools like ElevenLabs, you can now:

Create multiple voices for characters or narrators
Experiment and refine until you get the perfect tone
Produce audio quickly at a fraction of traditional costs

The result? You can publish audiobooks on Shopify, Gumroad, or Audible, create compelling podcast episodes, or even pitch your screenplay with a dynamic audio reading that brings characters to life.

Step-by-Step: Creating Audio Content with AI

1. Prepare Your Script or Manuscript

Your first step is to finish your text and clean it up. AI voices handle well-formatted text far better than messy drafts.

For books, paste your content into Google Docs or a plain-text editor to strip out formatting. Note that ElevenLabs is very smart. So if your text indicates that someone is speaking softly, angrily, sadly, or uncomfortably, the digital character will work to portray that in the performance.
For scripts, copy the text directly from your writing software and paste it into an Eleven labs studio project to avoid broken dialogue lines or invisible formatting codes.

2. Choose and Test Voices

Log into ElevenLabs and test different voices by pasting a paragraph or two of your content.

Start with a narrator voice for books or stage directions.
For screenplays or multi-character stories, assign distinct voices to each character.
Experiment with settings like stability, similarity, and style exaggeration to adjust tone, emotion, and consistency.

Pro tip: Record short test passages to hear how different settings affect the tone before committing to a full chapter or scene.

Pro tip: You may find to get the performance you want from your digital characters you have have more descriptive text to your screenplays. For example, you may have to modify some text to add performance notes like “she said softly” or “he demanded” to get the reading you want. To edit those out later, and to add sound and other elements, you can use another great, cost-effective, AI editing tool called Descript.

3. Generate and Edit

Once you’ve selected your voices in Elevenlabs, paste in larger sections of your text to generate the audio. For longer works:

Break content into chapters or scenes for easier editing.
Download the audio files and review them, making any text or voice tweaks as needed.

For polishing, tools like Descript or Audacity let you edit, splice, and enhance the audio, adding sound effects or background music to create a more immersive experience.

4. Publish and Share

When your audio is ready:

Sell or distribute on platforms like Shopify, Patreon, and/or Gumroad.
Publish podcasts through tools like Transistor.fm.
Use short clips for social media marketing to build buzz around your work.

Producers, agents, and even potential readers love hearing a story come to life. It’s an easy way to showcase your storytelling skills and stand out from the crowd.

Tips for Success

Start small. Try a short story, essay, or single scene before tackling an entire book or screenplay.
Be prolific. Success rarely comes from one project. The faster you can create and share, the quicker you’ll grow your audience and revenue.
Upgrade wisely. ElevenLabs subscriptions scale with your needs, so you can start on a basic plan and move up as your production grows.
Stay legal. Only use voices you own or have rights to, and always include a copyright notice at the start and end of your work.

Final Thoughts

AI voice technology isn’t just a trend—it’s becoming as essential as a word processor or video editor. By embracing these tools now, you’ll not only save time and money but also open doors to new creative opportunities and income streams.

Whether you’re producing your first audiobook, building a narrative podcast series, or pitching a dynamic screenplay reading, AI makes it possible to do it faster, cheaper, and better than ever before.

Your audience is waiting—so start creating.