The Spoken Studio Guide
Spoken Studio · Magic Mode™

The Spoken Studio Guide to Vivid, Immersive Audiobooks

A complete walkthrough of Spoken Studio's agentic production workflow — from a raw manuscript to a published audiobook, full cast, duet-narrated, or single narrator. Everything you need to produce an audiobook listeners love.
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Before You Begin

What is Spoken Studio?

Spoken Studio (with Magic Mode™) is Spoken's agentic path from manuscript to a professionally narrated audiobook — full cast, duet narration, or single narrator, your choice. Upload a manuscript in multiple formats and Spoken detects every character, builds a pronunciation lexicon, casts a distinct AI voice for each speaker, and assembles chapter-by-chapter passages ready for review — without you ever stepping into a recording booth. Across a long-form work, it holds every character's voice consistent, keeps the performance cohesive scene to scene, and reads context closely enough to inflect a line the way the page intended.

Every step stays editable. Nothing here is a black box: override any voice, correct any pronunciation, drop in your own audio, and flag anything that needs a second listen before it ever goes out the door.

This guide walks through the entire workflow end to end — Getting Started, Lexicon, Voices, Passages, and Publish — using real screens captured directly from Spoken Studio.

01
Section 01

Getting Started

Project Manager

Upload a manuscript, and Spoken commences a deep analysis of the entire work.

1

Welcome to Spoken Studio

Every project starts on one screen: start a brand-new project, jump back into an existing one, hire a Spoken-certified producer, or clone a story just to practice on.
HOW TO
Click Start a New Project to begin from scratch, or Select Existing Project to jump back into one already in progress.
2

Upload the manuscript

Name the project, then bring the manuscript in however it already exists — Word, ePub, PDF, or plain text.
HOW TO
Name the project, then click Upload Docx or ePub File — or Manually Add Text — to bring in the manuscript.
3

Spoken ingests it instantly

Spoken parses chapter breaks automatically, whatever format the manuscript arrives in — no reformatting and no markup to add. It accepts the file and starts working immediately.
HOW TO
No extra step needed — once the file's in, Spoken starts chapter detection and analysis automatically.
4

Classify the work, switch on Magic Mode

Once analysis completes, Spoken auto-detects language, category, subcategory, and genre. From here, switch on Magic Mode™ for Spoken Multi-Cast™ — full cast or duet narration — or choose a single narrator instead; both paths are right on this screen.
HOW TO
Confirm the genre fields, choose Multi-Voice or Duet Narration, then turn on Magic Mode to produce Spoken Multi-Cast™.
5

Auto-generate voices and set the read

Magic Mode runs a deep analysis of every speaking character and generates a prompt-driven voice derived from exactly how you wrote them — gender, age, accent, timbre, and vocal quality, all inferred from the text. Auto-generating is optional: change any voice it creates, or skip it and cast every character by hand from the start. Narrator accent and default pacing are set right here too.
HOW TO
Click Yes to auto-generate a voice per character, pick the narrator's accent from the dropdown, and set a default pacing.
6

A back-cover summary, written for you

Magic Mode reads the full manuscript and drafts a publish-ready summary automatically — editable any time.
HOW TO
Read the drafted Summary and edit it directly in the box, or click Chapter Summaries for a chapter-by-chapter version.
7

Fine-tune the narrator's accent

Set the primary narrator's accent in one dropdown to match the story's setting — and the same control is available per chapter, back on Project Manager, for books that shift setting partway through.
HOW TO
Open the accent dropdown to reset the narrator's voice any time — the same control sits per chapter back on Project Manager.
8

Discovery tags, generated automatically

Mood, tropes, and setting tags — plus comparable titles — arrive as ready-made Spoken-produced suggestions alongside the summary, saving hours of manual metadata work.
HOW TO
Click the x on any tag to remove it, or Add a Tag to include your own — the Comparables list below works the same way.
02
Section 02

The Lexicon

Getting Pronunciation Right

Invented names, foreign phrases, and unusual places are exactly where AI narration goes wrong — Spoken discovers them before narration ever starts.

1

Spoken Studio goes to work

Behind the scenes, Spoken runs character analysis, context extraction, and passage generation to support lexicon and voice assignment. You'll get an email when it's ready to review — no need to wait around.
HOW TO
No action needed here — Spoken emails you the moment analysis finishes and passages are ready to review.
2

Let's get this right

Spoken surfaces every unusual name, place, and phrase it found — Coeurs Sauvage, Rublevka, Chalet Sauvage. Preview each one to hear exactly how the AI pronounces it, and if it's off, add a phonetic alias and save the correction. Lexicon lists can be saved and carried into future productions in the same series, so a name only ever needs fixing once.
HOW TO
Click the play icon beside any word to hear its pronunciation, add a phonetic fix if it's off, then click Prepare Voices and Passages.
03
Section 03

Voices

Casting Your Story

A full cast, duet, or single narrator — auto-assigned, with a review panel, a voice-actor library, and personal voice cloning whenever you want more control.

1

Every character, cast automatically

Spoken reads the full cast and assigns a distinct custom voice to every speaking character — even the one voice in a crowd who shouts “It’s a bird, it’s a plane!” and is never heard from again. Word counts next to each name show exactly where every voice is used.
HOW TO
Click Manage beside any character to open their voice options, or Merge Characters at the top to combine two into one.
2

Audition and approve

Open every character, preview the assigned voice, and — like Matthew here — go in and change it easily: a full audition panel gives a written voice description, adjustable volume and speed, and one-click preview before it's locked in.
HOW TO
Click a character's name to open the audition panel, adjust Volume and Speed, then Preview This Voice before locking it in.
3

Write the voice as a prompt

Change the prompt however you like, generate three new samples at a time, and select the one that fits best. Any custom voice built this way is saved to your account, ready to reuse — and reassign to a new character — on future projects.
HOW TO
Select A Custom Voice, write or edit the Prompt describing the voice, then click Generate to create three new samples.
4

Or choose the voice yourself

Filter Spoken's voice-actor library by gender, age range, and accent to hand-pick a performer for any character.
HOW TO
Switch to the A Voice Actor Voice tab, filter the library by gender, age, and accent, then click Select This Voice.
5

Or narrate it yourself: My Voice

Upload or record a sample of your own voice to clone it as a Personal Voice, then assign that clone to any character, including the narrator. It's saved to your account and ready to reuse on future titles the same way a custom voice is.
HOW TO
Switch to the My Voice tab and click My Personal Voice to upload or record a sample, then assign the clone to any character.
6

Make Spoken

Once every character has a voice, one click sends the manuscript into full narration.
HOW TO
Once every character has a voice, click Make Spoken to send the manuscript into full narration.
04
Section 04

Passages

Review, Refine, Personalize

Line-by-line control over the finished narration — down to replacing any single passage with your own audio.

1

Track every chapter

The Passages tab shows exactly how much of the book is narrated, chapter by chapter, so you always know what's left before publishing.
HOW TO
Click any chapter row to jump into its passages, or drag the handle on the right to reorder chapters.
2

Read along, color-coded by character

Every line is highlighted in its speaker's color, so multi-voice dialogue is easy to follow — play the finished narration back right in place.
HOW TO
Click a character's tab at the top to reopen their voice module and adjust the voice assigned to their passages, then click Play to hear the finished narration in place.
3

Line-level control

Every passage can be fine-tuned in place: adjust volume and speed, regenerate a line that hallucinated or popped, edit the underlying text directly, or use Speak It to record a take straight into your computer's mic and have it come back synthesized in the character's voice — your exact performance intact.
HOW TO
Click on a passage to open the passage editor, then use Renarrate to regenerate the line or Speak It to record your own take.
4

Upload your own MP3

Upload an MP3 directly to any passage in Spoken Studio — including passages Magic Mode created — and place it exactly where it belongs. Insert a passage, change its type from “Magic” to “Upload,” and add the file; an existing passage can be replaced with your own audio the same way. Music, sound effects, author commentary, a special performance — once uploaded, it becomes part of the production, right where you want it, as part of the story.
HOW TO
Click on a passage, then click Magic and select Upload to switch its type — add your file, and it drops right in.
5

Proofing and flagging

Proofing a long-form audiobook just got easier. While listening to global playback, use the Proofing button to flag any passage that needs another look — Spoken adds a red marker to that passage's bar, and playback keeps going without stopping. Flags can also be added or cleared from the Passage Editor on any individual passage, giving everyone on the project a clear, shared visual record of what still needs attention. Listen. Flag. Keep moving.
HOW TO
Click Play to start global playback, then click the flag icon on any passage to mark it for a second look without stopping.
6

Fix a Magic passage: switch it to Text-to-Speech

If a Magic Mode passage comes back with an error, or a character's accent isn't landing the way it should, and regenerating doesn't fix it, flip that passage to Text-to-Speech. Switching the passage type opens it up for direct control, so you can correct it by hand rather than regenerating again and hoping for a different result.
HOW TO
Click on the passage to open the Passage Editor, click Magic, and select Text-To-Speech.
7

Edit the text, or cue the correct accent

Once the passage is in Text-to-Speech mode, you can edit the line's text directly, apply the correct accent through the emotion cue field, or both. Type the accent as a custom cue, like “Spanish Accent,” then renarrate, and the corrected line drops back into place in the performance.
HOW TO
Edit the text in the passage box, or open the emotion dropdown, choose Add Emotion, type the accent (e.g. “Spanish Accent”), and click Add. Then click Renarrate.
Production Control

Precision Pacing

Finer Speed Control

Pacing can change the feeling of a performance completely. Speed controls across both manual and Magic Mode production now have finer, more reliable increments for shaping narration:

0.8x
0.9x
1.0x
1.1x
1.2x

Start with your established pacing, then fine-tune it wherever the story calls for something different — at the individual passage level to shape a single scene, or globally at the character level to carry one performance style through the whole work.

Slow down a moment that needs room to breathe. Tighten the pace of a faster exchange. Dial in a character whose natural delivery needs just a little adjustment — it's another production control, there when you need it, and out of the way when you don't.

05
Section 05

Publish

Send It Out Into the World

Cover art, credits, and chapter selection — the last checkpoint before a finished audiobook goes out the door.

1

The Publish tab

Cover art, title, runtime, word count, and privacy settings all live in one place, ready for final review before release.
HOW TO
Click the cover art box to upload artwork, then set Privacy from the dropdown before reviewing credits below.
2

Opening and closing credits

Spoken generates opening and closing credits in seconds — a “Made With Spoken” distribution credit plus title and author announcements — every line previewable and regenerable before it's locked in. Record your own vocalized author intro, or choose which narrator voice reads the fixed title and credit announcements.
HOW TO
Click Re-generate beside any credit line to redraft it, or play the checkmarked line to preview it before it's locked in.
3

Choose what goes out

Publish the whole book or select individual chapters and installments — word counts shown for each — then certify rights and publish.
HOW TO
Toggle Select All or pick individual chapters, check the rights certification box, then click Publish.
4

Download and go

The finished audiobook comes out however you need it: individual chapter MP3s, a single zip with every chapter, an LPF — a signature-based file format for distributing through Voices by INaudio — or a five-minute retail sample for previews and storefronts.
HOW TO
Click Take It With You for the finished files, or 5 Minute Retail Sample for a quick promotional clip.
Before You Hit Publish

Tips & Tricks

  • 1
    Dialogue tags (“she said,” “he whispered”) can be removed in Spoken so the narration flows more naturally as a performance, rather than announcing itself line by line.
  • 2
    Speed up global playback while proofing to get through a full manuscript faster, then slow back down to judge performance quality.
  • 3
    Phonetic spelling works directly in the manuscript — or lean into it and write dialogue in the accent itself for a stronger effect.
  • 4
    Always proof a title in full before publishing. Magic Mode is remarkably accurate, but a human pass catches what automation can't.
  • 5
    Spend real time on casting. The strongest productions have every voice feeling like part of the same sonic ensemble, not just individually well cast.
  • 6
    Before hitting Make Spoken, passages can be switched to text-to-speech and given emotion cues right in prep — shaping the performance before narration ever runs.
Manuscript Prep

Scene Note

Scene-Level Intelligence for Magic Mode

Magic Mode gives authors, producers, and publishers a powerful way to prepare a manuscript for performance before it ever enters Spoken Studio.

Add a Scene Note beneath a chapter heading to direct the entire scene — its pacing, rhythm, accents, delivery, emotional arc, or the way multiple characters interact.

Example Scene Note
(Scene Note: This scene should build slowly and tensely. All characters speak with British accents, with increasingly rapid pacing as the argument escalates.)

When the manuscript comes into Spoken, Magic Mode reads that scene-wide direction alongside its own analysis of the characters and passages — giving it a clearer sense of how the scene should unfold as a complete performance.

Turn Your Manuscript Into a Studio-Grade Audiobook

That's the complete Spoken workflow — from a blank project to a published audiobook, full cast or single narrator — most of it handled automatically, and all of it editable at every step along the way.

Built by storytellers, trusted by publishers. From a single narrator to a full cast — ethically produced at any scale, with every right to your work kept fully yours.

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