An accent is not decoration. It tells a listener who the book is for and where it takes place. Choosing it takes four questions, asked in this order.
1. Where do your listeners live?
If most of your readers are in one country, the accent of that country usually makes the book feel familiar. If they are spread across several, a neutral standard accent travels better.
Look at where your readers already are: your sales, your followers, your email list.
2. Where is the story set?
A book set in a region often asks for the voice of that region. A mismatch is noticeable from the first chapter.
For non-fiction, the accent tells listeners where you are speaking from, which matters for authority.
3. What does the genre expect?
Some genres lean on a long tradition of certain voices, and listeners notice when a book breaks that. Fantasy, romance, thrillers and children's books each have their own habits.
You can break a habit on purpose, but do it with a reason.
4. Listen before you decide
Ask for samples of two or three voices reading the same page of your book. Listen to each for a few minutes and then ask yourself which one you could listen to for the whole book.
If you use a synthetic voice, we label it as such, so listeners know what they are hearing.
- Same page, different voices.
- Listen with headphones and on a phone speaker.
- Ask someone who knows your readers to listen too.