Amazon opens up Alexa publishing to all

Amazon has made its Alexa Skills Blueprints program available to all users, a move that will allow anyone to create and publish content for Alexa-enabled devices. The program has a series of templates for making content available on the voice assistant ecosystem. That means podcasters and other audio publishers can make their work accessible by spoken commands, with the added perk that serialized programs with regular updates can be added to flash briefings.

Creators can add their audio and feed URLs to a Blueprint, meaning they don’t need extensive programming or tech knowledge to make the leap to voice. The templates let content creators make a range of formats available, including quizzes, flashcards, training routines, motivational messages, stories, and interactive audio experiences. Amazon also has a template for converting text into audio briefings, in a move that could bring more bloggers and websites into the voice assistant space.

Anna Washenko