If you’ve ever wondered how to turn a Kindle book into an audiobook without paying for Audible, you have more options than you’d think. I tested every text-to-speech method I could find, from the Kindle Basic’s built-in assistive reader to Apple’s screen reader, Amazon Alexa, and my personal favorite, then ranked them from worst to best based on sound quality, ease of use, and how well they actually work for hands-free reading. In this guide, I’m breaking down exactly how each Kindle audiobook method works, straight from the tutorial on my YouTube channel, plus a Kindle Unlimited audiobook trick that most people don’t know about.’
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Watch the full video below, then follow along with the written ranking and extra tips underneath.
Watch the Video Tutorial
The 4 Methods, Ranked Worst to Best
Here’s the quick rundown before we get into details:
- Worst: Apple iOS’s built-in screen reader (VoiceOver)
- Second-to-last: The Kindle Basic’s built-in assistive reader
- Second-best: The Alexa app connected to your Kindle library
- Best: Send to Kindle + a tablet’s built-in text-to-speech reader (with S-Pen support)
If you’d rather shop the e-reader I use for most of this testing, you can find it here: Shop my Kindle Basic and e-reader favorites on Amazon.
#4 (Worst): Apple iOS’s Built-In Screen Reader
This one works on any iOS device — iPhone, iPad, iPad mini, doesn’t matter — using Apple’s built-in accessibility screen reader, which reads your Kindle app in a Siri voice. There are actually quite a few Siri voices to choose from (my favorite is Siri Voice 2, UK), and if it mispronounces a word, you can go in and manually fix the pronunciation.
That’s about where the good stuff ends, though. The biggest downfall is that if you pause it, there’s no reliable way to pick back up from that exact spot. It doesn’t continue reading from your selected point, and it doesn’t consistently highlight the text as it reads, so you can lose your place fast. It also just feels glitchy in general while it’s reading.
Pros: lots of Siri voices to pick from, custom pronunciation fixes.
Cons: a hassle to set up, doesn’t reliably resume from where you left off, inconsistent highlighting, glitchy performance.
#3: The Kindle Basic’s Built-In Assistive Reader
This is the Kindle Basic’s native text-to-speech feature, and it’s genuinely just okay. It’s not great, but it’s not terrible either. A few things to know before you try it:
- It won’t play sound through AirPods for the assistive reader — AirPods only worked for me when I was listening to an actual purchased audiobook, not the text-to-speech feature.
- The one Bluetooth option that consistently worked for the assistive reader in my testing was Beats headphones. I’m assuming any Beats headphones would work the same way.
Once you’re connected via Bluetooth, you turn the volume up, open your book, and double-tap to start the assistive reader. Tapping the screen pauses it. To resume from a specific spot instead of the beginning of the page, you tap and hold on your chosen starting point, then swipe down and to the right to continue reading from there.
The real limitation with the Kindle Basic’s assistive reader is that you can’t highlight while it’s reading to you. If you want to highlight, you have to fully turn off the assistive reader (either by disconnecting Bluetooth, or by turning off VoiceView while keeping your headphones connected) to go back to normal reading and highlighting.
Pros: built right into the Kindle Basic, no extra apps needed.
Cons: AirPods don’t work for it, only tested reliably with Beats headphones, and you can’t highlight while it’s reading.
Bonus: The Kindle Unlimited Audiobook Discount Almost Nobody Knows About
Before we get to the top two methods, here’s a tip that has nothing to do with text-to-speech but will save you serious money on real audiobooks: if you have Kindle Unlimited, Amazon has a special pricing plan where you can get the audiobook version of any book that’s included in Kindle Unlimited for around 70% off. I’ve picked up audiobooks for $2–3 that normally run $20 or more, just because the ebook happened to be in my Kindle Unlimited library.
The catch is you have to check for this on the Amazon website, not inside the Kindle app — the app doesn’t seem to surface the same discounted offers. And once you buy the audiobook, you can actually download it (Audible lets you download your purchases), so I’ve moved all of mine over to Apple Books and listen to them like I would any downloaded MP3. It’s a great workaround if you’re nervous about Kindle books technically being a license rather than a permanent purchase.
#2: The Alexa App Connected to Your Kindle Library
My favorite way to listen to a Kindle audiobook — though not quite my go-to for reading a physical book aloud — is through the Alexa app. Open Alexa, hit your library, and it’ll show you two things: everything in your Audible library, and everything in your Kindle library that was purchased directly from the Kindle store (this includes Kindle Unlimited titles).
The one downfall: Alexa will not read books you’ve sideloaded onto your device, like EPUBs or PDFs sent through the Send to Kindle feature. She only reads official Kindle store purchases.
Sound quality-wise, Alexa is genuinely phenomenal. She sounds like an actual person reading the book to me rather than a robot, which is why she lands at number two. As you read along, she’ll automatically sync to wherever you left off. The only con is that she doesn’t read along in sync with the page while you’re actively reading — if you look away for too long (to wash the dishes, for example), the sync can get thrown off and she might jump back and re-read a page you’ve already heard.
Pros: natural, human-sounding narration; auto-syncs to your last page; works for Kindle Unlimited titles.
Cons: only reads books purchased from the Kindle store, sync can glitch if you’re not actively following along.
#1 (Best): Send to Kindle + a Tablet’s Built-In Text-to-Speech Reader
And sorry, Apple users — this one isn’t available on iOS. My number one pick for turning any Kindle book into an audiobook is using the Send to Kindle feature to move an EPUB onto a tablet with S-Pen support, then using that tablet’s built-in text-to-speech reader.
It’s genuinely the easiest of all four methods to start and stop whenever you need to, and because it’s on an S-Pen-enabled tablet, you can highlight and take notes with the pen while it reads to you, something none of the other methods let you do without breaking the listening experience. The voice sounds natural, not robotic, and I honestly really like it. The one downfall is that I haven’t figured out how to change the voice yet, but since I like the default, it hasn’t been a dealbreaker for me.
Pros: easiest start/stop of any method, highlight and take notes with the S-Pen while listening, natural-sounding narration.
Cons: not available on iOS, no easy way (yet) to switch voices.
Final Thoughts
So that’s my full ranking for how to turn any Kindle book into an audiobook, from the Apple screen reader at the bottom, up through the Kindle Basic’s assistive reader, the Alexa app, and finally my number one pick using Send to Kindle with a tablet’s built-in text-to-speech reader. If you just want the simplest option and already read on your Kindle, start with the assistive reader or Alexa. If you want the best overall listening experience and don’t mind stepping outside the Kindle app, the Send to Kindle method is the one I keep coming back to.
If you’re looking for more of my favorite Kindle, e-reader, and cozy bookish tech finds, check out my full Amazon storefront.
Which method are you going to try first? Let me know in the comments — I’d love to hear what works best for you. And if this helped, give the video a thumbs up and subscribe to Abbi’s Digital Nook on YouTube for more Kindle tips and bookish content. See you in the next one!
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