<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Ever wanted to create an audiobook but been scared off by the price tag? Phil Marshall, founder of <a href="https://www.spoken.press/">Spoken.Press</a>, built an AI-powered platform specifically for indie authors who want professional-quality audio without the professional-level costs.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">In this episode we chat about:</p> <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>Phil’s path from surgeon to tech founder and sci-fi author</li> <li>What “ethical AI narration” means — consenting voice actors who are credited and compensated</li> <li>The difference between text-to-speech (TTS) and speech-to-speech (STS) and when to use each</li> <li>How Spoken analyses your manuscript to recommend voices matched to your characters</li> <li>Creating multi-voice and full-cast audiobooks on a self-publishing budget</li> <li>Where you can distribute AI-narrated audiobooks (spoiler: more places than you think)</li> </ul> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" width="1024" height="576" src="https://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/EP552-1024x576.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-3693" srcset="https://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/EP552-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/EP552-300x169.jpg 300w, https://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/EP552-768x432.jpg 768w, https://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/EP552.jpg 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">About Phil Marshall</h2> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Phil Marshall is the founder and CEO of Spoken (spoken.press), the AI Audiobook Company. With a background in medicine and 25+ years in technology — including founding a conversational AI company in healthcare — Phil built Spoken after experiencing firsthand how expensive and complicated audiobook production was for his own debut novel. Spoken now serves thousands of authors worldwide, from first-time self-publishers to New York Times bestsellers.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Website: </strong>https://www.spoken.press/</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>📚 RESOURCES MENTIONED:</strong></p> <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>Spoken.Press: <a href="https://www.spoken.press/">https://www.spoken.press/</a></li> <li>Spoken Ethical AI page: <a href="https://www.spoken.press/ethicalai">https://www.spoken.press/ethicalai</a></li> <li>Voices by InAudio (distribution): <a href="https://www.voicesinaudio.com/">https://www.voicesinaudio.com/</a></li> <li>BookFunnel (direct audiobook sales): <a href="https://bookfunnel.com/">https://bookfunnel.com/</a></li> <li>Author Republic (distribution): <a href="https://www.authorrepublic.com/">https://www.authorrepublic.com/</a></li> <li>Taming the Perilous Skies by Phil Marshall (debut novel, June 2026)</li> </ul> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">🔗 CONNECT WITH THE SPA GIRLS:</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">🌐 Website &#38; free self-publishing resources: <a href="http://www.selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/">http://www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com</a></p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">🎧 Subscribe to our weekly episodes on your favourite podcast app — search &#8220;SPA Girls Podcast&#8221;</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">💗 This podcast is supported by our amazing Patreon community! ⭐ Join at the $10 tier for access to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group where we discuss marketing, writing, and answer your burning questions: <a href="http://www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast">http://www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast</a></p> <p></p>