Before you move: what to gather from old projects
Five things make a rebuild quick. Collect them while you still have access.
- The source text. The manuscript matters more than the audio, because every chapter can be regenerated from it.
- Your cast list. Note which voice read the narrator and each character, with age, accent and tone, so recasting takes minutes.
- Pronunciation fixes. Any respellings or phonetic tweaks you made for names and invented words.
- Finished audio. Download any exports your plan still allows and store copies somewhere you control.
- Your licence terms. Commercial rights depend on the plan you had, so check what applies to audio you already published.
Play.ht and AI Audiobooks for long-form narration
The right column is a general description. Check Play.ht’s own pages for what is offered today.
| AI Audiobooks | Play.ht | |
|---|---|---|
| Known for | Full-cast audiobooks from a manuscript | AI voice generation, cloning and a developer API |
| Availability | Open to new accounts, with 100 gift credits (valid for 7 days, about 12 minutes on Standard; usage varies by text and voice tier) for a short sample via Google sign-up | Check what is currently offered |
| Input | Book files (EPUB, DOCX, PDF, TXT, Markdown) or pasted text | Varies by plan |
| Character voices | Detected and cast automatically, up to 10 named roles | Assigned by you where supported |
| Voice cloning | Not yet; on the roadmap | A headline feature |
| Chapter files | MP3 per chapter, ZIP with an index, M4B with markers | Varies by plan |
| Where projects live | Saved in your browser, with files downloaded to your device | In your online account |
When staying with Play.ht is simpler
If your current Play.ht plan still covers what you need, especially a cloned voice or an API built into your own app, staying may be the easier path. A move makes most sense when you want automatic casting, chapter files and an M4B for a book, or when you would rather hold the finished files on your own drive.
Rebuilding a book from its text, not its audio
Old audio cannot be turned back into an editable project, and it does not need to be. Bring in the manuscript as EPUB, DOCX, TXT or Markdown and the chapters come straight from the file: the EPUB contents, Word headings or lines such as “Chapter 7”. Cover, copyright and contents pages are set aside automatically.
The cast forms from the dialogue tags. Compare it with your cast list, swap voices until the narrator and leads match what your listeners know, and save the cast for the rest of the series so recurring characters sound the same in every book.
Write your pronunciation fixes into the text as respellings, following the audiobook pronunciation guide, and reuse old delivery notes as bracket directions at the start of a line. Then generate one chapter and listen against the earlier version before you do the rest.
If your audiobook was read by a cloned voice
Voice cloning is not available in AI Audiobooks yet; it is on the roadmap. If a book was narrated by a clone of your own voice and listeners know it, there are two honest options: keep using a service that offers cloning, or move to a new narrator from the library and say so in the new edition’s description.
For a series still being written, a change of narrator lands better at the start of a new book than halfway through one. Audition candidates in AI voices for audiobooks, which lists all 137 voices with filters for gender, accent and language.
Keep a copy of every finished file
Whatever tool you use, the lesson from any platform change is the same: the finished audiobook should exist on your own drive. Every export here downloads to your device, as one M4B with chapter markers, title, author and cover, as one MP3 per chapter, or as a ZIP with a chapters index.
Store the manuscript and cast list next to the audio. With those three, any edition can be rebuilt or updated later. Holding MP3 chapters from an old project? The free MP3 to M4B converter joins them into one chaptered file in your browser.
From an old Play.ht project to finished files
- 1
Upload the manuscript
Drop in the EPUB or DOCX. It is parsed in your browser and nothing is uploaded until you generate.
- 2
Recast from your notes
Match the narrator and characters to your cast list, then save the cast.
- 3
Generate a test chapter
Use the free credits from a Google sign-up, check it against the old audio and adjust voices or directions.
- 4
Export and back up
Generate the rest, download M4B or MP3, and file copies with the manuscript.
