Medium Tools
Medium Audio Narration
How to create audio narration for any Medium article
For those of you that have been following my recent posts closely, you may have noticed that some of my Medium stories contain audio narration.
Historically, only a select few writers that were featured by Medium were able to create audio narrated articles. Now, utilizing Play.ht, Medium writers can make their articles even more engaging to their readers.
Sample Articles I Wrote with Audio Narration
Play.ht Overview
Play.ht helps Medium writers add audio to their articles. It’s super easy to use and requires no effort to create the audio. All you have to do is click the ‘Publish with Audio’ button.
Play.ht makes use of the best in class Text-to-Speech voices to convert the story to audio. I’ve been using it for past couple of months and have been pleasantly surprised to see an uptick in reader traffic.
Play.ht Features:
- Instantly add an audio player to your Medium story
- Increase listening engagement by up to 30% on your Medium stories
- View separate Play.ht analytics to see how many people are listening to your Medium articles
- Easily collect emails from subscribers who are interested in reading your future audio-enabled articles
- Free trial for Medium writers
Why Should Authors Consider Creating Audio Articles?
As a writer, I realize how implementing a new feature like audio narration can feel daunting.
But a big part of why Play.ht has been successful is that they have made the process of converting your articles to narrated audio as simple as possible. You do not need to be a tech expert to figure out how to convert your articles.
Perhaps most important, they are one of the few trusted embedded applications that Medium allows.
Beyond the simple design and enhanced reader experience, here are 5 reasons you should consider using Play.ht to create audio narrations for your Medium articles:
1. Increased Medium Partner Program Earnings
People who listen to articles spend on average 5x more total time on the website. Audio narration increases the reader dwell time which is a measure of how long the reader spends engaged with your Medium article.
Since Medium’s shift in its Partner Program compensation model, member reading time is the primary metric used to determine reader engagement, and directly impacts the compensation of writers.
This first reason alone justifies giving Play.ht’s free trial a test:
2. Enhanced SEO
Increased reader dwell time also improves the SEO of your article. Google favors content that holds a reader’s attention. Anecdotally, Google also seems to favor content that exists in multiple formats (illustrative images, written content, audio, etc.).
3. Repurposing Content
Converting your existing stories to audio is a great way to revive and repurpose your content. On of the most common complaints among Medium writers is that articles drop off into obscurity after a few days of initial traction. Play.ht gives you an opportunity to re-share, re-distribute and re-publish your articles again with your audience but this time with audio.
4. Professional Appearance
Audio narration is still a relatively new feature, even among the world’s top publishers. Some of the companies who offer audio narration on select articles, include: Bloomberg, The Atlantic, Financial Times, Wired, and Medium’s Editor’s Picks. Content differentiation is critical for small Medium writers.
5. Increased Data Analytics
Play.ht has it’s own data analytics which is extremely valuable. Play.ht’s stats measure ‘Listens’, ‘Shares’ and ‘Downloads’ of your audio stories.
You can also enable an email collection system, which allows any reader of your article to sign up for your email list! You can also link directly to your social media profiles and a third party URL. Medium gives you few opportunities to easily collect emails or direct traffic to external sources so this is a huge advantage.
If you are interested in trying out audio narrations for your articles, I would suggest giving Play.ht a try. They are offering an exclusive free trial for Medium writers.
While there are a few technical glitches in the system, it works surprisingly well and is not complicated to figure out. It’s worth noting that it’s easiest to use Play.ht when using Chrome as your browser, since that allows you to directly integrate your Medium account with the Play.ht extension.
Even when I have had questions, Play.ht’s live chat/customer service has been a great help.
I have loved using Play.ht over the past few months and plan to make this a major part of my 2020 writing strategy.
Click here to try Play.ht!
Thanks for reading this article! Leave a comment below if you have any questions. Be sure to sign up for the Blogging Guide newsletter, to get the latest tips, tricks, and news about writing on Medium and to join our Facebook group, Medium Writing, to share your latest Medium posts and connect with other writers.
If you liked this article, here are some other articles you may enjoy:
Casey Botticello is a partner at Black Edge Consulting. Black Edge Consulting is a strategic communications firm, specializing in online reputation management, digital marketing, and crisis management. Prior to founding Black Edge Consulting, he worked for BGR Group, a bipartisan lobbying and strategic communications firm.
Casey is the founder of the Cryptocurrency Alliance, an independent expenditure-only committee (Super PAC) dedicated to cryptocurrency and blockchain advocacy. He is also the editor of several Medium publications, including Medium Blogging Guide, Investigation, Strategic Communications, K Street, and Escaping the 9 to 5. He is a graduate of The University of Pennsylvania, where he received his B.A. in Urban Studies.
