AI Voices for Audiobooks: Hear All 86, Then Cast Yours

Key takeaways

• All 86 of our AI voices for audiobooks have an audition clip on the NovelHive home page, and they play without an account.
• Every main character gets up to five voices to choose from, each with a clip: our pick plus alternates.
• You choose while a book from an idea is being written (with audio on), or on a finished or uploaded book before you record. Once it's recorded, the cast is locked.
• A four-voice children's pool is offered only for child characters.
• The narrator is one fixed voice. The library is English-only for now, and 80 of the 86 voices are American.

AI voices for audiobooks: hear all 86 before you upload

You can hear all 86 voices on our home page before you upload a word, no account needed. That matters, because only 16% of US audiobook listeners have tried an AI-voiced book, according to a survey the Audio Publishers Association released on June 5, 2026. Willingness to try one fell from 70% to 61% in a year. So we don't ask you to take our voices on trust.

That 86 isn't typed by hand. It's counted from the audition clips, and it's the same pool your characters are cast from. As the page says: "If you can hear it here, we can cast it."

Every clip reads the same line at the same loudness. It opens: "It's quieter here than I expected. Have you been waiting long?" Same words on every card, so the only thing that changes is the voice.

You browse by who a voice can play. The rail at the top asks "Who's in your book?" and counts every voice that can take each part:

Two more tabs round it out: 82 voices are rated able to narrate, and 4 make up the children's pool. (Your book's narration still uses one fixed voice. More on that below.)

Yes, the lists overlap, and they add up to far more than 86. That's on purpose. The line under each name is how a voice reads on its own, and most of them reach further than that.

A teal edge marks the 46 voices rated for reading a book front to back. "Narrow the read" filters by timbre, from Bright & crisp to Gravel & grain.

One tip before you upload: shortlist two or three voices you like for your lead, and two or three for your antagonist. When the picker later offers its options for each character, you'll already know what you're listening for.

Where the library is thin (we'd rather you know now)

The library is 41 women and 45 men. Counted by how each voice reads on its own, not by who it can stretch to play, it looks like this:

We say this on the home page too: "Where it's thin: eight voices read as mature or elder, and only one of those is a woman. Eighty of the 86 are American English, with four British RP readers and two transatlantic. All seven textured voices are men. We'd rather you know that now than after you upload."

What that means for your book:

• A grandmother is the hardest part to cast. The "older woman" list only reaches 20 because voices stretch past their label. Audition before you count on it.
• A book set in London will lean American. There are four British RP voices and two transatlantic ones, and that's the lot.
• It's English only, for now. The voices were evaluated on English audio. Books in other languages still get voices, but they're cast automatically and there's no picker.

We don't name the companies behind the voices. You choose by ear, which is how your listeners will judge them too.

How your book gets its first cast

For English books, your first cast is chosen by rule, and no AI model makes the call. It runs in three steps: hard gates, a scored shortlist, then a check that the cast sounds distinct. The same book gets the same cast every time, so reopening the picker won't reshuffle anything.

The gates never bend. A voice is out if:

• it wasn't evaluated in your book's language
• it isn't cleared for automatic casting
• it's a child voice and the character isn't a child
• it's the narrator's voice
• it mispronounced proper names in testing

That last one matters more than it sounds. Your characters say each other's names all book long.

When nothing fits a character exactly, age gives way before gender. A voice heard a decade off reads as a casting choice. A voice of the wrong gender reads as a bug.

Main characters also steer clear of voices that sound near-identical, not just the same voice twice. Two different voices can be close enough that a listener can't tell your hero from your villain, so the engine avoids those pairs. A voice gets reused only when that role's pool has run out.

We switched to rules for a plain reason: the AI model that used to cast English books couldn't repeat its own picks.

Pick or change each main character's voice

Each main character shows up to five voices you can take, each with a play button: our pick and the alternates. You're the casting director.

A few details make that easier:

• A voice another character already holds stays on the list, grayed out and marked "cast as" that character, so you can see where it went.
• Traits the engine read from a character's description, rather than being told, are marked "(guessed)". Those are the ones to double-check.
• Minor roles are matched automatically and don't appear in the picker.

When you choose depends on how the book started.

A book from an idea, with audio on. The cast appears once the characters exist. With Auto-approve on, which is the default, our picks go ahead a moment later unless you change them. Turn Auto-approve off and writing waits for you: "Writing is paused until you confirm the character voices." Confirming settles the cast.

A finished or uploaded book. Before anything's recorded, the picker says: "Pick the main character voices, or keep our choices." When you're happy, press "Confirm voices and generate." If you're starting from a .docx, here's how to prepare your Word manuscript.

On iPhone, for uploaded and finished books. iOS 1.3.0, live since September 8, 2026, added a Character Voices sheet. Each character is marked "Suggested" or, once you change it, "Your pick".

Swap as often as you like until you confirm. Once the audiobook's recorded, the cast is locked, so audition your picks first.

Voices for child characters

Four voices form the children's pool: Abby, Mia and Pixie for girls, and Justin for boys. A person picked them by ear in a listening session on September 5, 2026, and several other candidates were retired along the way.

They're offered only for characters marked as children. An adult character never gets one, and a girl's voice stays with a girl even when options run short. There's only one boy's voice, so the boys' pool runs out fast. When it does, a boy gets a man's voice rather than a girl's.

A label on a card can't tell you how they sound, so here it is. Abby and Justin read as teens, and Mia as a young adult. Pixie is the only one you'll hear as a young child.

Pixie's yours to pick. The casting engine never gives her a part on its own, so she only shows up in your book if you choose her.

Uploading a manuscript? When you review the characters, set a character's Age group to "Child" so this pool opens. Our Word upload guide walks through that screen.

Who's cast for you: the narrator and small parts

One narrator voice reads the narration. It reads most of the book and says the characters' names constantly, so it's chosen above all for saying names cleanly. It isn't part of the picker. You cast the characters; the narrator stays put.

Minor and background speakers get voices automatically. Supporting roles may share a voice, so in a big cast two small parts can end up with the same one.

AI decides who says each line, and it isn't allowed to change your words. On an uploaded manuscript it only labels who's speaking; it never writes text. Lines from "someone" or "a stranger" go back to the narrator instead of getting a voice of their own.

Why bother with a cast? We've made the longer case in why a cast beats one narrator. The short version: Google says its own auto-narration "performs best on titles with limited dialogue and emotional content" (Google Play Books). Most fiction is the opposite. Arguments, confessions, three people talking over each other in one room. That's where distinct voices earn their keep.

Here's who decides what:

Label it as AI narration

If you publish the audio, say it's AI narration. Naming guidelines from the Audio Publishers Association and the UK Publishers Association's audio group (October 2024) suggest a credit like "Narrated by: Amir (AI Voice)". They're best practice, not requirements. Which stores take AI narration is covered in what an AI audiobook costs.

See the cast while you listen

In the web reader, a Dramatis Personae list sits in the book rail. It shows up to seven characters, each beside the voice playing them, with the note "Read by a full cast." underneath.

Each character keeps one color across the product, from the cover to the import review to the reader. It's a small thing, but it means a name and a color stay attached to one voice in your head.

And if you'd rather hear the difference than read about it, the same home page plays that tavern scene both ways, one narrator and then a full cast, with a color-coded transcript underneath.

Frequently asked questions

How many AI voices can my audiobook use?

Your cast comes from a library of 86 voices. Every one has an audition clip on the NovelHive home page and plays without an account. Most can play adult characters, four form a children's pool, and 46 are rated to read a whole book. Main characters are cast to sound distinct from each other.

Can I choose the narrator's voice?

No. One fixed narrator voice reads the narration. It reads most of the book and says the characters' names constantly, so it's chosen for clean pronunciation. You choose the voices for your main characters, from up to five auditioned options each, and minor roles are matched for you automatically.

Can I change a character's voice after the audiobook is recorded?

No. Once the audiobook's recorded, the cast is locked. Until you confirm, you can swap any main character's voice as often as you like, on the web, or in the iPhone app for uploaded and finished books. So it's worth auditioning your picks before you confirm.

Are there voices for child characters?

Yes. Abby, Mia, Pixie and Justin form a children's pool that's offered only for characters marked as children, and a person picked them by ear. Abby and Justin sound like teens and Mia like a young adult. Pixie sounds youngest, and she's used only if you pick her.

Do the voices work for books in other languages?

Not the picker. The 86 voices were evaluated on English audio, so the library and the picker are English-only for now. Books in other languages still get narrator and character voices, but they're cast automatically and you can't choose them yourself.

Hear them, then cast your book

The quickest way to judge AI voices for audiobooks is to listen. Open the voice library, pick your lead's voice by ear, then upload your manuscript. Uploading, reading your file and casting the voices are free. You'll see the price before you record, and that quote is the most you'll pay. If you want the number now, price your own book first.