# ElevenLabs adds character-by-character voice casting for audiobooks

By Steven Van · 2026-07-29

Character Casting previews each character reading real dialogue, letting one person produce a full-cast audiobook without a studio.

[ElevenCreative Audiobooks](<https://creatorstoolbox.com/tools/elevenlabs>) introduced **Character Casting**, built around a simple but real problem for anyone converting a manuscript to audio: every character in a book has a voice, and finding the right one for each has traditionally meant either a single narrator reading every line the same way, or hiring a full cast.

[Source post](https://x.com/i/status/2082850828340064408)

## How casting works

Upload a manuscript and Character Casting helps identify the voice for each character, letting you preview candidate voices reading real dialogue from the book rather than a generic sample line. That distinction matters: hearing a voice perform an actual scene, with the character's real tone and rhythm, is a far better test than a stock demo clip when deciding if it fits.

## Why this matters for independent authors and publishers

Multi-voice audiobook production has historically been expensive and slow, booking a full voice cast, directing each performance, then editing everything together. Character Casting compresses that into a workflow one person can run: identify the characters, preview and select voices, and generate a full cast reading without a studio or a casting call. That's a meaningful cost and speed advantage for independent authors and smaller publishers who couldn't previously justify a multi-voice production.

## Part of ElevenLabs' expanding audiobook tools

Character Casting builds on ElevenLabs' broader voice AI platform, spanning text-to-speech, voice cloning, and now increasingly specialized creative workflows like audiobook production. Giving every character a distinct, well-matched voice is the difference between an audiobook that sounds like one person reading and one that sounds like a real cast performance.

![ElevenLabs](<https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=elevenlabs.io&sz=128>)

ElevenLabs

AI voice and audio platform for text-to-speech, voice cloning, and creative audio and video tools.

[View ElevenLabs →](<https://creatorstoolbox.com/tools/elevenlabs>)

Sources

[ElevenLabs on X](<https://x.com/ElevenLabs/status/2082850828340064408>).

[Read ElevenLabs adds character-by-character voice casting for audiobooks on Creators Toolbox](<https://creatorstoolbox.com/blog/elevencreative-audiobooks-character-casting>)

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