How to read Kindle and ebooks aloud on a Mac

Short answerFor ePub books without DRM, Apple Books can read aloud (Speak Selection or Edit → Speech on selected text). For Kindle for Mac, there's no built-in read-aloud button and text selection is limited, so Speak Selection usually can't help; VoiceOver can read some books. Aloud's Control-Option-O lets you drag a box around the page on screen and reads it with on-device text recognition.

The free built-in fix

1. ePub in Apple Books. Open the book in Books, select text, and press Option-Esc (Speak Selection) or choose Edit → Speech → Start Speaking.
2. Try VoiceOver in Kindle. Press Command-F5 to turn VoiceOver on and use its reading commands. It's powerful but has a learning curve.
3. Read what's on screen. With Aloud, press Control-Option-O and drag around the page text. Aloud recognizes and reads it on your Mac.
4. Turn the page and repeat. Press the arrow key in Kindle to turn the page, then read the next page.

A note on DRM

Nothing here removes DRM or copies a book. Reading what's already on your screen is the same as having it read to you, for your own use.

The better fix: Aloud

If the built-in tools keep getting in your way, Aloud (ours, $19 once per Mac, macOS 14 or later) is made for this:

• Control-Option-O screen reading: drag a box around any text on screen, including an ebook page, and Aloud reads it using on-device recognition.
• A reading window with a word highlight and click-to-seek, so you can jump to any sentence.
• Speed from 0.75x to 2x, changed mid-sentence, and resume from the last sentence.
• Natural voices: your Mac's Enhanced and Premium voices, the on-device Kokoro neural voice (Apple silicon, macOS 15+), or ElevenLabs/Cartesia with your own API key.
• Private by default: with Apple or Kokoro voices nothing leaves your Mac; no account, no analytics in the app.

Buy Aloud, $19 once   Launch offer: code LAUNCH25 takes 25% off until Oct 31. 3-day free trial, no card or account.