Ethical Digital Narration: What It Means for Indie Authors ft. Phil Marshall of Spoken Press (EP#552)

Ever wanted to create an audiobook but been scared off by the price tag? Phil Marshall, founder of Spoken.Press, built an AI-powered platform specifically for indie authors who want professional-quality audio without the professional-level costs.

In this episode we chat about:

• Phil’s path from surgeon to tech founder and sci-fi author
• What “ethical AI narration” means — consenting voice actors who are credited and compensated
• The difference between text-to-speech (TTS) and speech-to-speech (STS) and when to use each
• How Spoken analyses your manuscript to recommend voices matched to your characters
• Creating multi-voice and full-cast audiobooks on a self-publishing budget
• Where you can distribute AI-narrated audiobooks (spoiler: more places than you think)

About Phil Marshall

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.

Website: https://www.spoken.press/

📚 RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• Spoken.Press: https://www.spoken.press/
• Spoken Ethical AI page: https://www.spoken.press/ethicalai
• Voices by InAudio (distribution): https://www.voicesinaudio.com/
• BookFunnel (direct audiobook sales): https://bookfunnel.com/
• Author Republic (distribution): https://www.authorrepublic.com/
• Taming the Perilous Skies by Phil Marshall (debut novel, June 2026)

🔗 CONNECT WITH THE SPA GIRLS:

🌐 Website & free self-publishing resources: http://www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

🎧 Subscribe to our weekly episodes on your favourite podcast app — search “SPA Girls Podcast”

💗 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: http://www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast