How to fix AI narration pronunciation with a pronunciation dictionary

Listeners forgive a lot in an audiobook. A main character whose name is said three different ways is not one of those things. AI narrators read ordinary English very well, but invented names, place names from other languages and technical terms are where they guess, and a guess repeated four hundred times becomes the thing reviewers mention.

The fix is old: professional narrators work from a pronunciation guide that the author fills in before recording. This article shows how to build that guide for AI narration in VoicedBook, how to write respellings the voice actually follows, and how to save your work so book two of a series starts with every name already right.

Why AI narrators get names wrong

A voice model learns pronunciation from text it has heard read aloud. Your words fall into a few groups where that breaks down:

• Invented names. Characters, planets, spells and houses that exist only in your book. The model has nothing to go on except spelling.
• Names from other languages. Irish, Welsh, Vietnamese or Polish names often follow spelling rules English does not use.
• Names that could go two ways. Is Velmont stressed on the first syllable or the second? Both are reasonable, and only you know.
• Acronyms and jargon. Some acronyms are said as a word, others letter by letter. Field-specific terms in non-fiction have their own conventions.

In every case the answer is to tell the narrator, once, how the word is said.

Two levels: the book dictionary and your library

VoicedBook keeps pronunciations in two places.

• The book's pronunciation dictionary. Every book has its own list of words and how to say them. It is used whenever that book is narrated or auditioned.
• Your pronunciation library. Entries you save to your account, so you can reuse them in any later book without typing them again.

Both apply to studio voices and to cloned voices, and to every character in a multi-voice book as well as the narrator.

How to write a respelling the voice will follow

You do not need a phonetic alphabet. You write the word the way you would explain it to a friend in an email:

• Split the word into syllables with hyphens.
• Write the stressed syllable in capitals.
• Use spellings that only have one obvious reading in English. "ay" as in day, "ee" as in see, "eye" as in the word eye, "oh" as in go.
• Leave out silent letters. If the h is not said, do not write it.

Word in the book	Respelling	Why it works
Velmont	VEL-mont	Settles which syllable is stressed
Siobhan	shi-VAWN	Replaces Irish spelling with English sounds
Aoife	EE-fa	Short and unambiguous
Caer Idris	kyre ID-ris	Works for a phrase as well as a single word
Thessaly	THESS-uh-lee	"uh" keeps the middle syllable light

Then listen. A respelling is a hypothesis until you hear it in a sentence.

Step by step in VoicedBook

1. Collect the words before you narrate

After you upload the book and review the manuscript, make a list. Character and place names, anything in italics from another language, acronyms, and any word a beta reader asked you about. If you keep a series bible or a glossary, start from that.

2. Check your library first

Open the book's Voice page. Under the pronunciation dictionary, VoicedBook lists the terms from your library that appear in this book, for example "4 terms from your pronunciation library appear in this book". Press Add all and they are copied into the book's dictionary. For a series, this is most of the work done.

3. Add the new words

Press Add term for each remaining word and type its respelling, for example Velmont as VEL-mont. If you already have the list in a spreadsheet, use Paste a list instead: one term per line, the term and its respelling separated by a comma or a tab. When you are done, press Save to my library so the next book starts with these names.

4. Audition the hardest chapter

Save the voice settings and press Audition. It reads a short passage from your first chapter with the dictionary applied, and auditions are included in the price. Listen for each name. If one still sounds wrong, adjust the respelling and audition again. For names that only appear later, narrate the chapter where they first show up and listen to it before you narrate the rest. This is far cheaper than finding the problem in chapter twenty.

5. Narrate

Start narration once the names sound right. Every passage is still checked against your text and retaken if it drifts, and the dictionary is applied throughout.

Build a library once, use it for the whole series

Series authors reuse the same names book after book, plus a few new ones each time. Treat the library as part of the series bible:

• Save every recurring name and place, not just the hard ones. A name that worked without help in book one may sit in a different sentence in book four.
• When you start a new book, add the library terms the Voice page finds, then only the new words need attention.
• Export the library as a CSV file now and then. It is a useful backup and opens in any spreadsheet.
• If you write with a co-author or run a small press, share the CSV and import it on the other account so everyone narrates names the same way.
• Keep the respellings consistent. If a family name is VEL-mont in one book, do not change it in the next unless the change is intended.

Words you should not add

A dictionary entry changes the word everywhere it appears. That is exactly right for a name, and wrong for ordinary words that change with meaning, like lead, read, tear or live. Leave those to the narrator, which reads them from context. If one sentence still comes out wrong, a small rewording in the manuscript is usually the cleanest fix.

Found a mistake after narration?

It happens. Add or correct the entry and save the voice settings. VoicedBook marks only the passages that contain that word as out of date; the rest of the book keeps its audio. Start narration again and only those passages are recorded again, charged at the normal per-word rate for their words. You do not need to redo the book, but it still pays to get the list right before you start.

If your book has a large cast, pronunciation and casting go together. Our guide to multi-voice audiobooks with character voices covers giving each character their own voice.

Common questions

Do I need to learn the phonetic alphabet?

No. You write plain respellings such as VEL-mont for Velmont: syllables split by hyphens, the stressed syllable in capitals.

Does the dictionary work with cloned voices?

Yes. Pronunciations apply to studio voices and to cloned voices, for the narrator and for character voices.

What is the difference between the book dictionary and the pronunciation library?

The book dictionary holds the pronunciations used when that book is narrated. The library is saved on your account, so you can reuse the same entries in any book you start later.

Can I move my list from a spreadsheet?

Yes. Your pronunciation library imports and exports CSV files with two columns, term and say as, so you can keep a master list in a spreadsheet or share it with a co-author.

I found a mispronounced name after narration. What now?

Add or fix the entry and save. Only the passages that contain that name are marked out of date and narrated again, at the normal per-word rate for those passages. The rest of the book keeps its audio.