In an effort to help educators and parents during school closures, a number of publishers or authors of books in the Novel Effect Library have relaxed restrictions for online readings and sharing. The majority of titles in the Novel Effect app now fall into this category.

For more information, see publisher permissions and guidelines for recording, streaming, and posting read alouds of their titles.

For recording or sharing the best online read aloud using Novel Effect see our helpful guide, or watch this video.

Novel Effect is a voice-driven experience for the web or your mobile device that follows your voice and help bring stories to life. Read your favorite books and poems out loud and Novel Effect will play customized music and effects at just the right moment. Or be part of the story in our interactive videos and drive the action forward with your voice.

Our patented speech recognition system keeps up with your personal reading style by following your pace and your voice –responding to you no matter how you read.

To use Novel Effect with picture books on the iOS and Android mobile apps you’ll need your own copy of the print book (or ebook!) you want to read aloud. Some free in-app ebooks are available in the ebook collections.

Open the app, find the book you want to read and press play. Set your device aside, open your print book or ebook and start reading aloud when you hear the start chime.

Yes. The Novel Effect app is free to download and use on both iOS in the App Store and Android in the Google Play Store.

The Novel Effect app is compatible with mobile and tablet devices. It’s available for free in the App Store and in the Google Play Store. For our voice-driven book experience we recommend devices running iOS 11.0+ or Android 6.0 Marshmallow and up.

For our video experience we recommend the following devices:

• iPhone 6S
• iPad (5th generation)
• iPad Air (2nd generation)
• iPad Mini (4th generation)
• iPod Touch (7th generation)
• Any Android device running Android OS 6 and up

Novel Effect’s voice-driven videos on the web are best experienced on a desktop or laptop. Our web-based video experiences work best with the most recent versions of Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Opera using an internet connection with 10 Mbps or more.

The Novel Effect app currently supports a small number of Chromebooks with ARM-based processors. Please check the platform/CPU details of your device or check this chart for Chromebooks with ARM processors.

We provide music and sounds that complement popular kids books and poetry as you read aloud. Professional sound designers with experience in video games, movies, and television compose the audio to match each book’s spirit and tone.

We also provide interactive videos that empower you to read your lines out loud from speech bubbles when they appear on screen to drive the story forward.

All content is rated for kids 12 and under.

We have soundscapes designed to work with over 300 books, poems, and speeches and we’re constantly adding more! See our full list of titles

We’ve launched a showcase for our new video format with three videos, and are working to create more and looking for partners interested in creating voice-driven videos using our Maker Studio.

Yes. To enjoy a book with Novel Effect you’ll need your own copy of the book you want to read aloud, either in print or as an ebook. Some free in-app ebooks are available within the app in the ebook collections.

We offer a selection of free ebooks within the app. Free ebooks can be found together in the featured free ebook collection of the app. These include speeches like Shakespeare’s Friends, Romans, Countrymen… and popular poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson, Lewis Carroll, and more.

Yes. If you’re using the same device to read your ebook and run Novel Effect, first select the book in the app then tap play. Open the ebook reader.

On iOS devices the red bar at the top left of your screen means Novel Effect is running in the background and will follow along as usual while you read aloud from your ebook.

If you are using separate devices, treat your first device as a physical book, and read aloud with Novel Effect running on your second device.

Yes. Use your device settings to connect to a Bluetooth speaker or mirror to AppleTV. To connect within the app, select a book and then tap the ‘Connect’ icon at the bottom of the screen to select a connected device.

You can also use an auxiliary cord to connect your device to speakers through the device headphone jack.

Audio issues may arise for a variety of reasons. These issues might include no sound at all, or sounds that do not seem to change. Here is a list of possible solutions:

• Make sure the volume level on your device or speakers is set to an appropriate level.
• Make sure nothing is blocking your microphone so that Novel Effect can hear you reading out loud.
• Some phone and tablet cases, especially protective waterproof ones, may obstruct the microphone. Removing the case will improve the reliability of your microphone.
• If the volume meter on the book screen is consistently above the halfway point when you’re not reading, Try minimizing the noise in the surrounding environment.
• If your device is connected to external speakers, check that the connection is working properly.
• Contact customer support at support@noveleffect.com.

Go to the email login screen in the Novel Effect app and tap the link to reset your password. After entering your email address, you’ll receive an email with further instructions. If you don’t see the email, check your spam folder or contact customer support at support@noveleffect.com.

We’re always adding to our library and support authors large and small! Contact our team at authors@noveleffect.com for details on how to get your books added to Novel Effect.

Absolutely! We’d love to talk with you about working with our platform. Fill out our contact form or email us at partners@noveleffect.com.

Our system uses voice recognition powered by Keen Research and other components to play music and sounds based on your personal reading style.

With Picks for iOS, you suggest and vote for the books we’ll create soundscapes for next. We’re still putting the finishing touches on this feature for Android users and will let you know when it’s ready!

Community Picks come from your suggestions. Have a favorite you’d like to see in an upcoming pick? Let us know right from the Picks section of the app!

Votes let us know which books in the current Pick you’d most like to see a soundscape for next. The more you use the app the more opportunities you have to share your opinion with us.

Each day you use Novel Effect you’ll get free votes to use, at anytime you can increase your impact with optional vote bundle purchases.

Use your free daily votes on any book, or any combination of books, in the current Pick. Purchased vote bundles are applied to the selected book at the time they’re bought.

For the book you’d like to vote for tap the “Vote for this book” button, select the number of votes to use then tap “Vote.”

See the number of votes you have remaining for the day at the top of the Picks section.

Find the most recent Community Pick winners at the top of the Picks section of the app. There you can order a copy of the book, or tap to follow it and get notified when its soundscape is released.