Why I Built Biglio: I Wanted to Listen to What Didn't Exist
Sometimes you build products to solve other people's problems. Sometimes you build them because you're frustrated that something you want doesn't exist. Biglio is the latter.
The Problem Was Simple: Most Books Aren't Audiobooks
I'm an audiobook addict. Long drives, gym sessions, cooking dinner—I consume hours of audio content daily. But I kept hitting the same wall: most of the content I wanted to hear didn't exist as audiobooks.
I'd discover interesting blog series, niche non-fiction topics, indie fiction that sounded fascinating—all stuck in text form. The traditional audiobook industry only converts a tiny fraction of published books to audio. And for independent authors? Forget it. Hiring narrators costs $5,000-$15,000, production takes months, and distribution is controlled by platforms that take massive cuts.
As someone who's built businesses for 25+ years, I recognized this immediately: massive demand (people like me who want more audio content) meets massive supply (writers with content that should be in audio format). The only thing missing was infrastructure.
So I decided to build it.
The Insight: Channels, Not Just Books
Here's what clicked for me: the traditional audiobook model is fundamentally broken. Authors publish a single book, it gets lost in a sea of other titles, and that's it. There's no relationship between the author and the listener beyond that one transaction.
But what if authors had channels? Like YouTube, but for audiobooks. You subscribe to creators you like. When they publish new content, you get notified. You build a library, they build an audience. It's a relationship, not a transaction.
That's Biglio. Your own audiobook channel. Publish unlimited content. Build subscribers who follow YOU, not just individual titles.
How It Works: Remove Every Barrier
The concept is simple:
- Launch your channel – Create your author presence with branding, bio, and links
- Upload your content – Books, articles, courses, whatever you've written
- Generate audio – AI narration converts text to professional audio in minutes
- Build your library – Keep publishing. Each new book strengthens your channel
- Grow subscribers – Listeners discover your channel and follow your work
No hiring narrators. No paying thousands upfront. No begging publishers for attention. Just you, your content, and your audience.
I wanted this to exist as a listener. So I built it for creators.
The Technology: AI Narration That Actually Works
The breakthrough that makes Biglio possible is AI narration. A few years ago, AI voices sounded robotic and lifeless. Today? They're indistinguishable from human narrators for most use cases.
I built Biglio on Next.js and TypeScript, integrated with cutting-edge audio processing APIs. The platform handles everything: text formatting, chapter organization, audio generation, streaming, and distribution. Creators just upload their manuscript and hit publish.
What used to take 6-18 months and $10,000+ now takes a few hours and costs nothing upfront. That's not an incremental improvement—it's a paradigm shift.
Where Biglio Is Today
Biglio is live and growing. We have hundreds of active channels spanning every genre you can imagine: sci-fi, horror, business, self-help, philosophy, health. Creators are publishing books that would never see the light of day in traditional publishing.
Some of my favorite channels:
Science Fiction Channel
Epic sci-fi stories that deserve to be heard. Worlds where thinking is a crime, digital ghosts haunt social media, and alien fleets observe Earth's final days.
Nightmare Theater
Spine-chilling horror that comes alive through audio. Perfect for late-night listening when you want to question every shadow.
Blood Code
A Stanford hacker builds the digital backbone for the world's deadliest cartel. Tech thriller meets crime noir.
Mind Spark
Neuroscience and psychology made accessible. Complex brain science delivered in engaging, bite-sized audio format.
These are the kinds of stories and topics I wanted to listen to. Now they exist, and I get to hear new ones every week.
Why This Matters
The traditional publishing gatekeepers decide what deserves to be an audiobook based on projected sales. If you're not a bestselling author or writing in a mainstream genre, you're out of luck. Your content stays in text form, and listeners like me miss out.
Biglio changes that equation entirely. If you write it and someone wants to hear it, that's all that matters. No gatekeepers. No minimum sales projections. No compromises.
I built Biglio because I was selfish—I wanted more content to listen to. But what I've discovered is that thousands of other listeners have the same frustration, and thousands of creators have been waiting for a platform that gives them control.
Turns out, when you solve your own problem, you often solve it for a lot of other people too.
Check Out Biglio
Whether you're a creator looking to publish your work or a listener searching for content that doesn't exist anywhere else, Biglio is worth exploring.