# ElevenReader Publishing: a direct-sale audiobook storefront for AI-narrated editions

Harvested 2026-10-30. Status for Cedwyn: PROPOSAL only (a new storefront and any generation spend need the owner's GO). Companion skills: google-play-auto-narrated-audiobooks-en-es.md (free creation route), spotify-for-authors-audiobooks-redemption-codes.md (Spotify edition), apple-books-digital-narration-ai-audiobook-gate.md.

## What the sources show (read 30 Oct 2026 unless marked)
- **ElevenReader team, "A New Chapter for Authors" (updated 3 Sep 2025):** authors can create an audiobook from a text manuscript and sell it directly in the ElevenReader app, keeping **60% of every sale**. They compare this with **40% (exclusive) and 25% (wide)** on "other major platforms" (their framing, i.e. Audible/ACX-style rates). No exclusivity; authors keep full rights; tools for **multi-book series including "first book free"**.
- **ElevenLabs launch post, "Introducing ElevenReader Publishing":** listeners can pick their preferred voice inside the app; authors get listener reporting. A beta pays **$1.10 per listener who engages for more than 11 minutes**, and at launch that payout was **limited to US residents for tax reasons**. Optional export of the finished audio to **Spotify via Findaway Voices by Spotify**.
- **Kindlepreneur review (Kevin J. Duncan, practitioner site for indie authors):** two earning models, Direct Sales (60% of net) or Engaged Listener Payout ($1.10 per qualified listener; suits short or serial works). No separate ISBN, distributor or metadata spreadsheet needed. Weaknesses he found: **in-app discovery is limited** ("more like a playback tool than a marketplace"), no bonus content or author notes, and **light data** (no completion or chapter drop-off figures). His verdict: useful if used deliberately, "not a shortcut to instant sales".
- A third-party review snippet states streaming pays **$0.20 per hour streamed**: not checked (page not read).
- UK eligibility for direct sales payouts: **not checked**. Welsh-language narration quality: **not checked**. Generation uses ElevenLabs credits, so it is **not free**, unlike Google's auto-narration.

## The playbook
1. **Pick the right book:** narrative, low-image, final text. Evidence catalogues, maps and tables read badly aloud.
2. **Choose the earning model per title:** Direct Sales for a full book with buyers already arriving from your own channels; Engaged Listener for short serial pieces (only where the payout is open to your country).
3. **Use the series tool honestly:** a short free first part (e.g. one chapter-length story) leading to paid parts. The free part is the sample; don't gate the whole book.
4. **Disclose the voice:** say plainly on the listing and on your own site that the narration is computer-generated. Spotify already adds "This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice" to such titles.
5. **Bring your own audience:** the review's main warning is weak in-app discovery. Announce to your list and socials; treat ElevenReader as fulfilment plus a 60% share, not as reach.
6. **Fix pronunciation before publishing:** listen to every place-name and personal name; a wrong name in audio is harder for listeners to forgive than a typo.
7. **Measure:** sales per title per week vs your direct e-book sales; if audio cannibalises direct sales at a lower margin, keep it to one title.

## How we apply it to Cedwyn
- **Fit:** one narrative Great House Farm e-book as an English audio pilot, then Spanish for Welsh Patagonia readers if the pilot sells. Welsh narration only after a native speaker checks a sample (not checked whether the voices handle Welsh well).
- **Pronunciation list first:** Llandough, Leckwith, Cogan, Penarth, Tŷ Mawr, Cedwyn, plus the personal names in the book. Two-Llandoughs and farm-name rules apply to any spoken text: our Llandough is the one near Penarth, never Llandough near Cowbridge, and Llandough Farm is not Great House Farm.
- **House rules:** wording follows the published book text; no banned words; the owner is never named in the audio or listing; no outbound links on Cedwyn, so the ElevenReader edition is mentioned as plain text on /ebooks/ and in emails or social posts only.
- **Order of routes:** Google Play auto-narration is £0 to create (the files can be reused elsewhere if the e-book is also on Play), so it comes first. ElevenReader is the option if the owner wants a 60% direct-sale storefront and approves the credit spend. Queue it as a proposal in the project workspace with the cost estimate; don't start generation under the zero-spend rule.
- **Don't confuse this with the documentary voice work:** the cloned voice used for Story Time intros is authorised for that format only. An audiobook narrated in the owner's cloned voice would need his explicit yes.

## Sources
- elevenreader.io
- elevenlabs.io
- kindlepreneur.com