Some of you have landed here asking can Wattpad read to you? Yes, but don’t use Speechify. Here’s why:

Speechify is impoverishing audiobook narrators, stealing their voices, and using artificial intelligence software to turn works by creators (often without the consent of the creators) into full-blown audiobooks. The audiobook narrator that would have been hired gets $0 from this. The distributor of the audiobooks gets $0 from this. And the author of the Wattpad book gets $0 from this. It is highway robbery. 

If you want, you can use the text-to-speech app in your Apple computer. To do that, go to your accessibility options in your phone or on your Mac. Click on speech. Then speak screen. You can also turn on a setting so that it speaks whatever you’re selecting. You turn on highlight content (pick a color like yellow) and then you can have it read aloud to you.

In a similar way, through Microsoft you can use add Speak to the quick access toolbar. Then just select the text, click speak and that’ll do it. 

Both features are built into your computer and there’s no reason to compromise on your integrity simply to help Speechify take money away from narrators, distributors, and creators. 

You can still have an enjoyable experience through your internal system.

And, to be honest, tell your creators you want a full audiobook.

They might just hire a pro to do it and then you’ve helped three people earn a living (rather than a robot) and you’ve also gotten a high-quality audiobook in the process. Can Wattpad read to you? Yes, in a way.

Just don’t let Ai take more jobs from creatives.

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Photo by Sergi Dolcet Escrig on Unsplash