Spoken Beta V0.8.4: Smart Tags, Duration Filters, and Take it With You!

With our 0.8.4 release Spoken is making a transition to more frequent, bite-sized and themed releases. For our 0.8.4 release, we bundled in some requested features, as well as laying groundwork for some strategic advancements. Here's the rundown!

Smart Channel Tags

We anticipate Smart Tags will become some of the unsung heroes of Spoken. We have added an unprecedented analysis of each story to identify those topics or categories that might be important or trending within a particular genre, such as "Enemies to Lovers" in Romance, or "Coming of Age" in Action / Adventure. But don't worry. If we get them wrong, you can always update them in the Publish tab of your project!

Voice selection page updates

We have some great updates on our Studio voice selection page. You can create or change the prompt we generate for your voices and re-submit it to refresh the top matches from our library.

Also, for your Multi-character / Multi-voice (MCMV) characters, we will make sure that the library voices are constrained to the gender, age range, and accent that we've derived automatically from your story. But no worries if they're not quite right, you can always change them.

Can’t miss Carousel

Right below all of the carefully cultivated playlists On Spoken, you’ll be able to find our new Can’t Miss carousel. The Can’t Miss carousel features new installments and projects from authors you follow.

Take it With You (TIWU)

One of our most highly requested features is finally here! We have always held that authors own all rights to their works, and our TIWU feature allows you to request and receive the audio files of your work. For now, we'll manually process your request, but eventually authors will have this directly available as a self-service feature. We will add our one-of-a-kind Spoken audio logo to the first installment. To enable the TIWU feature, your work must be published and public on Spoken.

Filter By Duration

Whether you’re a short story lover or a full audiobook lover, this new feature is great for the avid spoken listeners. If you have a general favorite length of story, just go filter any list of projects by duration and you can find that sweet spot of perfect story length.

Other Improvements:

• Edit Custom voice name

• Jump Back In Carousel at the top of On Spoken

• Clicking on a project link will direct you back to the project after signup

• A fix to adding new characters from the Passage Editor in Spoken Studio.

Spoken – the Pioneering AI-Enabled Audio Storytelling Platform – Surpasses 3,000 Registered Users

Company expands free beta to democratize audio publishing for indie authors; announces key strategic advisors

Portland, OR – March 13th, 2025 – Spoken, the innovative audio storytelling platform purpose-built for self-published authors, today announced the expansion of its Beta program, empowering users with AI to narrate, publish, and stream stories free of charge. In a short period, Spoken has already grown to over 3,000 registered users, highlighting the untapped demand for intuitive, engaging audio publishing. Spoken is also announcing its strategic advisory board, featuring prominent publishing, consumer brand and tech industry leaders who will help it shape the future of independent audio storytelling.

“The self-publishing revolution transformed how authors reach audiences, but access to audio has remained locked behind outdated barriers,” said Phil Marshall, CEO of Spoken. “Built by storytellers, for storytellers, Spoken dramatically lowers the cost and complexity of professional-quality audio, unlocking a whole new Spoken Economy for writers of all forms, and for readers who love to listen. Creators are finding homes in social media, including TikTok and Instagram, but writers have had no such innovation until now.”

Spoken is Meeting the Demand for Audio Storytelling

Listening is the new reading. Audiobook sales are expected to surpass eBook sales this year, highlighting audio as a key part of today's mobile lifestyle. Additional market analysis indicates:

• Half of American adults listen to spoken-word media every day (The Spoken Word Audio Report, NPR, Edison Research)

• The global audiobook market is expected to grow 26.2% YoY and eclipse $30 billion by 2030 (Grand View Research)

“The complexities faced by self-published authors are enormous,” said M.L. Buchman, bestselling author and audiobook self-narrator. “In addition to crafting stories, we bear the burdens of production, distribution, and revenue management. We write, market, and become small-business entrepreneurs and all that implies. Audio often remains out of reach or an afterthought. Spoken fundamentally changes this, making audiobooks attainable for all indie authors.”

Three Core Innovations for Indie Authors

Spoken directly supports authors and listeners, addressing core pain points in audio storytelling, publishing and streaming:

• Spoken Studio: An AI-driven analysis and narration workflow enabling authors to create and publish high-quality, custom-voiced, immersive audio quickly, easily, and during the Beta program, for free

• Spoken Network: A free hyper-personalized discovery and streaming network built with community in mind. Listeners directly follow, support, and engage with authors

• Spoken Economy: A flexible creator-directed monetization model to optimize revenue, without exclusivity, coming after the Beta program

Strategic Advisory Board Announced

"Working with world class authors, story-brand experts and tech visionaries to build Spoken is thrilling," said Spoken co-founder Andrew Wallner. “We’re energized by the novel intersection of domain expertise rallying behind Spoken and our promise.” Spoken’s advisory board includes: 

• Joshua Meyer, Co-founder of Coqui, and expert in AI-generated digital media

• Adam Hanft, Renowned brand strategist, digital innovator, and consumer storyteller

• M.L. Buchman, USA Today and Amazon best selling author and self-publishing expert

• George Kassabgi, Serial entrepreneur and AI technology executive

• Peter Zuckerman, Bestselling and award-winning author and publishing strategist

• Mike Larson, Author and creator monetization strategist

“The Spoken team understands what so many tech companies miss,” said Josh Meyer, strategic advisor to Spoken. “AI only works when it serves real people. By focusing on indie authors and their needs, they’ve built the easiest, smartest way to turn books into audiobooks, effortlessly.”

Explore the Spoken Beta

“Democratizing access to audio is critical for indie authors and the future of spoken-word storytelling,” said Joseph Nassise, New York Times Bestselling Author, and Spoken Beta user. “The Spoken team’s focus on the needs of storytellers and listeners is evident in the brand’s DNA, from promise to product. I recommend curious authors give the Spoken Beta a try.”

Spoken is completely free, and during the Beta, it’s free for authors to narrate and self-publish their work. Join the Spoken Beta at ihave.spoken.press.

About Spoken

Spoken is a revolutionary storytelling platform designed to help storytellers tell stories. By integrating AI-enabled analysis and narration, streaming, and social engagement, Spoken is an end-to-end ecosystem for authors and listeners. Founded by tech entrepreneurs and passionate storytellers, Spoken empowers writers to create, publish, and monetize their work.

For more information, visit Spoken.press. Follow Spoken on social media for updates, or join our Discord or SubReddit for discussion. This announcement is also streaming on Spoken.

Spoken Beta V0.8.2: Dual Narration, Previews, and Explore!

Dual Narration

Romance authors, you asked, and we listened! Introducing Dual Narration. Common in romance audiobooks, dual narration mirrors the novel’s structure, where chapters alternate between characters’ viewpoints – typically hero and heroine. And while the default is dialogue within a chapter being read entirely by its assigned narrator, the author can go into passages, separate out the lines read by the other character, and choose that line to be read by the opposing voice. Which means, technically speaking, we now also have DUET narration!

Explore Page

What was previously known as the “search” page will now be known as the “explore” page. With the introduction of channel follows in v0.8, channel tags have now become an even more important part of the Spoken experience. Browse the new explore page to find your followed channels, as well as the channels trending on Spoken! Another great improvement to the explore page is that the display channels now show three across rather than two.

Social Cards

With the 0.8.2 release we’ve beefed up the social sharing experience. Sharing your profile or project, whether it be via text or social media, will now show the profile picture or cover art associated with it. Along with a description that includes likes/listens for a project, and followers/listens for profiles. This makes sharing your content even more interesting and engaging!

1 Minute Preview Playback

Ever since version 0.6, users who come across Spoken have been able to interact with the platform without the need for signing up, which we call guest mode. We’re excited to announce an upgrade to guest mode that allows users to listen to a 1-minute preview of any Spoken project for free. Send your projects to family and friends for a free preview of your work!

Intro fixes for projects that don't have Narrator

With the 0.7 release came the Author introduction feature, where you can introduce your work, or have your narrator introduce your work, OR you can do both. One use case we ran into is that some stories don’t have a distinguished narrator. You can now choose from any of your characters/voices to introduce your project.