I think the point is that different parts of the story need different intonation patterns (reading a scary part vs a boring part, etc.).
So in theory, it could be achieved by having multiple training sets (for the different intonation styles), along with analysis of the text to direct which part of the text needs what intonation. You might even be able to blend intonations.
Or just pay MTurk workers to annotate texts with intonation cues.
I kinda doubt that would be profitable relative to just hiring readers, but in general you don't need to replace workers completely to cannibalize some of their wages/jobs.
Or treat it as part of the original author's job. When you write a piece of music you add tempo and intensity metadata to the score, so why not do the same when writing a novel?
