Please Join Me on My New Blog

I'm happy that you've found this Blog.  There are many posts here that pertain to new voice over talent, starting with Voice Talent Advice #1 For The Beginner.  And if you are new to the world of voice over, I'd suggest starting from the earliest posts and working your way forward.

Through the years, I've posted what I hope have been useful information and comments on the business of voice over.  This blog will remain here, and I may still post here now and then, but most of my blogging will occur on my new website: http://www.melaniehaynes.com/blog/

In addition to catching up on this blog, please join me on the new site for more information and observations about life, acting, and the world of voiceover!

Audiobook Narration Insight

Although my posts have been few and far between lately, I plan to change that soon.  I'll be moving both my completely redesigned site and blog to Word Press in the next month or so.  In the meantime, I wanted to share some  information regarding Audiobook Narration that I have either experienced personally or have learned from other successful audiobook narrators.

Audiobooks have never been more popular, and accordingly, there's never been as much work for audiobook narrators as there is now.  There are a number of ways to connect with audiobook narration projects:  direct contact with an author,  working via production houses whose business is  hiring narrators for their roster to work on multiple projects at a set hourly rate, or connecting with authors and/or publishers via ACX, Audiobook Creation Exchange.

While some narrators, even "stars",  earn large salaries for narrating best selling titles, the reality is that most audiobook production pays relatively little compared to normal voice over rates in commercials, documentary, and corporate narration. Payment models cover everything from an amount paid per hour worked (fairly rare), to pay per finished hour (common), to royalty share only or in combination with a lower pay per finished hourly rate, which are often found on ACX.

To do royalty share or not is a debate among many audiobook narrators.  Some have had great success with royalties coming in steadily from multiple books.  Others have basically just narrated a book for free because royalties do not materialize due to lack of sales of the particular audio book/s.  Apparently, the key to the difference is to do your research before accepting an offer of a royalty share only project.  By  asking the author or producer the level of sales of the book in all other formats, it is easier to predict the possible sales for the audiobook.  Then, you can decide if it is worth the risk of spending your time and talents narrating and most likely producing a 10-14 hour book, which, by the way, will take you 3 to 4 times that amount of time.  Some narrators, myself included, agreed to take on royalty share projects without knowing or in spite of the numbers, simply to acquire some audiobook narration experience and to build audiobook credits.

If you're thinking of working as an audiobook narrator, these are all considerations as you approach the craft and the business of audiobook narration.  All the best to you!

Are You an Actor as Well as Voiceover Talent?

I’m sure many of you are actors in addition to being voice-over talent.  The two can go hand in hand.  Your acting abilities affect your voice over work by helping you to “get into character” for a 30 or 60 second radio or television commercial, vignettes for e-learning or corporate narrations, and as the voice of authority or guy or gal next door in narrations of all kinds.  Have you ever thought of how your experience with voice over work can actually help your acting – especially, your audition skills?

You have to be a great reader to do voice over work, especially, long form narration.  You’re constantly “reading ahead” in order to keep from being caught off guard as to where that sentence is actually going.  You don’t usually have time to study your script and would never have time to memorize it in order to “make it your own.”  At most, you may just have time at the beginning of a session to quickly read through, get a sense of who you are – with a little help from your director, if you’re lucky - and take off!  Yes, you can stop or just restart if you make a mistake while recording, but you have to maintain your character, your momentum, and stay present in the scene.

In the best case (and most cases) with on camera auditioning for film, you are given a side or sides to prepare for an audition and access to the whole script if you are very lucky!  You usually have at least some time to prepare your character’s point of view, relationships, intentions, etc.   However, often times, you might be given another scene to read or even another character to read during an audition which cuts down dramatically on the time you have to prepare.  In these cases, your voice over experience of creating “instant characters” can help immensely.  As a voice over talent, your ability to read unfamiliar material and make sense of it, or even paraphrase it almost immediately can make a huge difference between floundering and taking charge in an audition.

I recently had an audition experience which made me realize how my voice over work helped smooth out a potentially excruciating audition.  A week before the audition, I was told by the director which role to prepare and told to read the entire script if possible.  However, when I asked if there were particular sides/scenes to prepare for the audition, I was told, no, they’d be provided only at the audition, but that I should be familiar with a 2 page scene in particular.  I read the script and pulled all of the scenes for my character and prepared them thoroughly, especially the scene he had mentioned.  Upon my arrival (early) to the audition, I found that there were no sides provided in the waiting room.  Thankfully, I had mine, at least, so I continued preparing while I waited.  However, when I was brought in to the audition room, the director handed me a completely different scene for a different character.  Fortunately, I knew the script and who this character was.  I had not, however, prepared this scene.  I was to read with another actor who, to my knowledge, had not prepared this scene, either.  We were to do the scene immediately, without preparation, and be placed on video. I found that my eyes quickly scanned the script as the director was setting up the scene for us.  I placed myself in the scene from what I remembered from my previous reading and I was able to read/paraphrase the dialogue without having to keep my nose buried in the script. I’m not sure why the director chose to deal with the actors in this way for this audition.  His reasons are not clear to me, but I’m sure he had some.  I could have balked and asked to be given time to go out to review the scene, which is usually the case in a situations such as this, but I got the feeling that’s not what he wanted even though he was friendly and kind.  He seemed to like what I did, and I really didn’t feel particularly stressed over it.  I believe that all the voice-over work with last minute scripts and creating “instant characters” helped keep this from being a disaster or at the very least, extremely uncomfortable.  It just gave me another reason to say, “Thank goodness for voice over!”

4 Reasons Why Voice Actors Lose Clients

As professional voice over talent, we certainly want to create and maintain our great client relationships.  There are many things we can and must do to grow our voice over business.  When we lose a long term client or simply don’t get repeat business from a new client, there can be many reasons. Some of those reasons are out of our control:  the client doesn’t really hire talent often, they lose THEIR client, their client wants to change the gender, age, style of the voices they use, etc.  However, sometimes, we might lose a client due to something we have or have not done.

The following is an article written by Edge Studio addressing four common and likely culprits that might cause us to lose clients.   Do you see yourself neglecting any of these areas?  Have you let some things slide due to keeping busy with other matters or just letting yourself get off track?

Read the article, and double check yourself to make sure you’re doing all you can to remain marketable and employable!

4 Reasons Why Voice Actors Lose Clients

The fact is, the voice over industry is continually evolving. So if you don't evolve along with it, YOU'LL LOSE CLIENTS.

Voice talent continually ask for our help. They say, "I'm getting less work than I used to." We ask why. They're either not sure, or they guess it's because they've been battling allergies, their clients must have wanted a new voice, there must be more competition, their demo may be getting old, a new agent opened up in town,....... On and on.

There Are 4 Reasons Why Voice Talent Start Losing Work. Read the sections that pertain to you

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Vocal Delivery: ARE YOU NO LONGER TRAINING?

Story: A while ago, one of our clients hired a student we had just trained to narrate a large series of videos. They loved his voice.

Recently we hired him back to narrate another large project. This time, he no longer sounded good. He lost a good client. I asked if he'd been practicing. He said no.

There are 3 reasons why CONTINUED TRAINING IS SO IMPORTANT:

You can fall into bad habits (no one tells you why you lose auditions!) Other voice talent will get better than you (watch out!) Clients always need new styles (new styles for podcasts, self-guided tours,...)

Solution: At minimum, work with a coach every other month to ensure you maintain. Preferably, work with a coach every month to become better and offer more clients more styles! Remember: your vocal delivery is your livelihood!

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Home Studio Quality: ARE YOU RESISTANT TO TECHNOLOGY CHANGE?

Story: A voice talent sent me an audition recording. Their voice was PERFECT. But their home studio quality wasn't. The client did not like them. (Note that some clients CANNOT DIFFERENTIATE between poor home studio recording and poor vocal performance.) After telling the talent this, she replied, "But this used to be fine." Yes, 5 years ago, her quality was considered good for a home studio. Today, however, clients are used to better quality.

Here are a few other examples of not keeping up with technology: Talent ask if they can fed-ex a CD to me. "Huh?" Why can't they FTP it to me? Or oftentimes we hear slight noises in recordings. Why? I guarantee the talent will lose some work. Fall behind in technology, and your clients may leave you behind.

Here are technology items to stay current with: equipment (editing on old software is slower, so you charge more, and bid too high) editing software / file type knowledge (unfamiliar with the new file extensions for flash? this scares clients) delivery methods (still have "fed-ex" on your rate card? you look outdated)

Solution: Hire someone to visit your studio once every 6 months for a tune-up. Have them update your software, show you new editing features, check sound quality, and set you up for new file types.

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Marketing: ARE YOU COMPLACENT?

Story: At a recent voice over event, I was re-acquainted with a lot of old-timers who told me, "I'm not getting the amount of work I used to get!" Funny, I thought they hadn't marketed to me in years and subsequently I had forgotten about them and how talented they are.

Trust me: there is a reason why major retailers (Honda, Sears, McDonalds,...) continue to promote themselves. If they don't, competitors will eventually take over. IT'S THE SAME THING IN VOICE OVER.

Many old-times got all their work from a few clients and/or agents. But things change. Sometimes suddenly. Are you prepared? Or do you rely on a few select clients (who could suddenly go out of business), and meanwhile you're not prepared to market?

Here are marketing to stay current with:

marketing frequency (do you think single marketing efforts are still enough?) marketing types (do you think business cards are still all you need?) marketing messages (still trying to be a jack of all trades?) marketing quality (perforated edged, matrix printed business cards don't work today)

Solution: hire someone who knows voice over marketing to review your business plan (do you even have one? if you want to grow, you should have one). take a workshop at edge or even at a local college.

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Professionalism: ARE YOU BUSINESS-LIKE?

Story: One of our clients got VERY upset with a voice talent who we hired recently. So upset, they chose to replace him with another talent! Obviously we won't hire that talent anymore. But the weird thing is that the voice talent didn't even realize what they did wrong!

Face it: our little industry has grown up. It's now a big, professional industry complete with a set of do's and don't's. And sure, as with anything, as time goes by, there are more and more changes. So for those of you who are beginning your voice over career, you MUST LOOK PROFESSIONAL from the start. And for those of you already immersed in the industry, you MUST CONTINUE looking professional. If you don't, you chance losing clients.

You MUST always stay on top of: appearing professional (the jargon, the sequence of events,...) dealing with corporate types: knowing when to ask which questions the general in's and out's of the industry the ever-changing politics of the industry (unions, agents,....)

Solution: Study the industry. Speak with folks who are in it. Read books. DO WHAT YOU CAN to come across business-like. This makes a BIG difference in the amount of work you get.

Edge Studio

Voice Over Coaching

While I am not currently coaching voice over (never say never!), I do hear from many prospective voice over performers who want information about how to get into voice over.  I always direct them to the How To Pages on my web site.  In those pages, I have tried to give a thorough, general overview of the voice over business, what you need to know, and what you need to do.   You can scroll down to the bottom of that page for links to specific information on my site such as:

• Voice Over - Articulation Exercises
• Voice Over - How To Read Copy
• Voice Over - Demo
• Voice Over - Agents
• Voice Over - Talent
• Voice Over - Studio
• Voice Over - Internet Professionals
• Voice Over - Profesional Voice Talent

In addition to this information, there are blog posts numbered 1-10 scattered throughout my blog that discuss these items, including a discussion of why it's important to work with a voice over coach.

Today, I was asked  how one should go about finding a good coach.  Word of mouth and referrals from working voice over talent are the best means of locating those coaches who can truly give you what you need to succeed. Then, you need to talk with the coaches, which may require paying for an evaluation session in order to determine where you are, your potential, whether personality types mesh, and to see what kind of a feeling you get for how this coach works and how they plan to help you reach your goals. This is an important investment in your career and not something to be taken lightly. 

Some top notch voice over coaches that I have experience with are:  Nancy Wolfson, James Alburger & Penny Abshire,  Marc Cashman,  Rodney Saulsberry,  Jim Conlan, and Edge Studio.  All of these coaches work in person or remotely, if you do not live in their locale.

Explore their web sites, get in touch with them, and find out who seems to be the best fit for you.  And who knows, one of these days, I just may add my name to this list!

The Audiobook Challenge

There are a great many wonderful audiobook narrators out there with tons of experience.  I am fortunate to have begun connecting with more and more of them via the APA and  Audiobook Community, and I'm learning a great deal just following their discussions and posts.  Although I've been a working professional voice over talent for over 20 years, I'm new to this area of voice over.  So, here, I feel almost like any new voice over talent. Granted, I already have the pro home studio.  I've been recording and editing my own tracks for about 10 years - hard to believe it's been that long!  I already know mic technique, have a good acoustical environment, and of course, know how to use my voice.  I do have an acting background.  In fact, I was an actress long before I ever thought of doing any voice over work, and as far as narrating books, in addition to reading constantly to my sons when they were little, I always volunteered to be the "mom reader" in all three of the boys' classes all through elementary school.   It was such fun reading to the children, visiting their classes each week, and yes, even being made to feel like a celebrity by the adoring "fans" - students and teachers alike. :)

Now that I've decided to broaden my horizons by getting into narrating audiobooks, it would seem like just a natural next step after the years of commercials, corporate narrations, e-learning course narration, etc.  I'm no stranger to long form narration, but it is not an easy transition to fiction, and at times it can be downright scary!  There is so much more prep time involved.  A narrator needs to read the book and determine the tone, mood, etc.  In addition, I must note all the characters and determine the type of voice I will use while recording their dialogue, and I must sustain all this through the entire book.  I must know and follow the recording and editing specs required by the client in addition to any and all deadlines.

While all of the extra preparation does take time, the real difficulty for me is finding the long stretches of time to actually record.  I really need to be able to devote several hours at a time to get and stay in the mood and rhythm of the book.  And then, of course, it all has to be edited which takes 3-4 times as long as the recording!  This can be tricky while keeping up with a busy schedule of other types of recordings and often, last minute in person or ISDN sessions.

All that being said, it is very creatively rewarding to record an audiobook.  My first audiobook was The Call of the Wild by Jack London for Cherry Hill Publishing last year.  I am currently working on The Four Window Girl or, How to Make More Money Than Men by Shepherd Mead (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) which is a fun "vintage" romp, circa 1959.   Next, I'll be recording the classic, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

I'm not sure that I see a constant string of audiobook recordings in my immediate future, but I do believe it is something that I'd like to continue pursuing as my schedule permits.  

PBS Series Narration: A Nuclear Family

It's been an incredibly busy start to 2012!  I apologize for not blogging in months (!) and I promise to really make an effort to keep up on a more regular basis.  One of the voice over projects that I found most interesting over the past few months was a documentary series I narrated for PBS titled "A Nuclear Family".  This series chronicles the beginnings and transformation of Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak Ridge, Tennessee from World War II until today.  After airing on PBS, the episodes reside on the Y-12 website in their video library.   This is the promo for the 4th episode:

I found this documentary narration assignment particularly interesting because my grandfather helped to build the complex. He left his home in Kansas to temporarily live in the area and work on the facility.  He was a steamfitter and, as everyone else working on and in the facility, he had no idea what he was working on until after it was finished.  Narrating an important part of history that a family member shared in was particularly interesting and poignant for me.  If you are at all interested in the era and the events of that time, I encourage you to visit the website and watch those particular videos.

I've also recently launched the newest version of my website, including a brand new mobile version, as well as a new look for this blog!  To me, the updates were long overdue, and I'm very happy with the results! Kudos to my talented son, Josh Petryk, for his creativity and especially his technical expertise!  Watch for a link to his new website coming soon!  In the meantime, if you are in need of a mobile version of your site or a complete new website, just let me know, and I'll put you in touch with him.

Our Christmas Light Show!

Had to share this awesome light show that my talented husband created!

Voice Talent Advice # 10 - Voice Over Coach, A Necessity!

Although one of the Voice Over - How To pages on my web site is titled “How To Read Copy”, it is very basic practice information for you and not in any way meant to be a substitute for working with a Professional Voice Over Coach! When I started working as a voice over talent, there weren’t as many people out there coaching voice over. Many voice over performers began as radio personalities or DJs and started doing voice over for commercials that way. Some, like me, came from an acting background and migrated into the world of voice over. And, yes, people had always told me I had a great voice, too, but then, as now, that is not nearly enough to help you become successful as a working voice over talent!

When I produced my first voice over demo, I found ad copy from magazines and other sources including radio station DJs who shared copy they had at the station. I probably even picked up some from Soundworks - known as Cook Sound back then- where I was producing the demo. Not having a coach, I relied on the expert guidance of the audio engineer who produced the demo to direct me. Later, I always created demos from snippets of spots I had actually recorded for clients. At the time, that was what everyone wanted to hear - actual work you had done.

Today, everyone with any experience in voice over will tell you that it’s best to study with a qualified voice over coach and only create your first demo when you are ready. You can waste a lot of money producing a bad demo which may not help your career and could, in fact, end it before it begins! There’s just too much competition out there. Agents will not want to represent you if you present them with a substandard demo, and producers will not want to hire you directly with it either.

So, how do you find a qualified voice over coach? Word of mouth and referrals from working voice over talent are the best means of locating those coaches who can truly give you what you need to succeed. Then, you need to talk with the coaches, which may require paying for a session in some cases, in order to determine whether personality types mesh and to see what kind of a feeling you get for how this coach works and how they plan to help you reach your goals. This is an important investment in your career. Getting into voice over requires an investment, especially if you intend to build your own home studio as well. (More about that in another blog!)

If you’re still not convinced that you need a voice over coach to give yourself the best shot at succeeding in voice over, please know that after over 25 years as a professional working voice over talent, I studied with coach Nancy Wolfson, of Braintracks Audio in order to stay current and in top form. In addition, I have worked with others in workshops and tele-seminars. You always need to keep learning. In my blog post titled “I’m Not a Voice Over Agent”, I list Nancy’s link as well as links to other reputable voice over coaches I know.

I hope this helps you on your journey into voice over!

Voice Over Advice: Redundancy is a good thing - especially when it comes to your computer!!

We usually try not to be redundant. But when it comes to our computers and important documents, pictures, and audio files it's a VERY good thing! I was reminded of that last week when my computer became infected with a serious virus even though we have a very formidable firewall. The virus attaches itself to some other benign file which you download and then wreaks havoc on your computer. All of a sudden, it appears that your hard drive is full and a window pops up as if it's from Windows which runs a scan, "detects" many issues with your hard drive, and offers to "fix" it. Even though I knew better than to follow through with this, it was impossible to close the window, and once my computer was shut down, it would not boot up again. It's called Windows XP Repair virus, and more about this particular virus can be found at http://www.2-viruses.com/remove-windows-xp-repair.

While this did put my computer out of commission for a couple of days, we were able to copy all of my files from the hard drive onto another drive before attempting to remove the virus. There was nothing wrong with the hard drive and only minimal files are kept on it. All of my important documents and audio files are stored on my server - which backs up daily to another server. Of course, we had to reload the programs I use, but it did give us the opportunity to do some housecleaning as well.

I have intended for awhile to have another hard drive waiting in the wings to take over in case mine should fail, and this has only emphasized the need to keep a back up with current information ready to go at all times making it even easier and quicker to get up and running in short order.

To further complicate things, I was scheduled to leave town just the day after this happened. Actually, since it's hard for me to leave town knowing I might miss something, it did have the effect of making me feel better about leaving since it was impossible to record on my own anyway. I was still able to record via ISDN before leaving even though I had to read the script from my iPhone! My FAX machine came in handy, too. Where there's a will there's a way to make it happen for dedicated voice over talent!

I can't emphasize enough how important it is to have multiple back ups of your hard drive contents and all of your important documents, pictures, and audio files! Keep it all safe, and be prepared.

Melanie Haynes Southern & Texas Voice Over Demo

An agency just requested a "Southern" demo, so I just put together some spots I've done with a Southern or Texas dialect. One or two of them are on my generic Character Demo, too. Always fun digging through old spots looking for the right thing to use on a demo. It used to be that everyone recommended only making your demo with actual work that you've done, but that doesn't seem to be the trend anymore. Of course, you have much more control when building a demo from scratch.....sometimes, there just isn't time for that, though. It does help to keep a library of your voice over work for times like these - neatly organized in folders on your computer or server. It's not always easy to get copies of the finished spots, but it's sure worth a try!

Melanie Haynes Medical Commercial Voice Over Demo

I've done quite a few medical commercials in addition to other commercial voice overs. I just created and uploaded a new Medical Commercial demo to You Tube:

What does it mean to be a Successful Voice Over Talent?

Bill DeWees shares another of his voice over videos on being successful as a voice over talent. Good points and interesting info. I enjoy watching Bill's videos and find that he's no nonsense when it comes to running your voice over business.

I'm Not a Voice Over Talent Agent!

Almost daily, I receive calls and emails from prospective voice over performers looking for an agent. I'm not a voice over talent agent. I talk about agents in the "How To" pages on my web site and in my blog posts, so I think my voice over talent web site may be picked up by the search engines because of that.

If you are truly interested in pursuing voice over as a career, I'd suggest you read my "How To" pages on my web site and also my blog posts. I hope those pages and my posts will be of some help to you – at least point you in the right direction. I have received many appreciative emails and calls from prospective talent thanking me for the quality and depth of information I have provided free of charge on my web site and blog. I’m happy to help with some basic advice. I do appreciate receiving emails from prospective talent as opposed to phone calls. I spend much of my day recording in my audio booth, and I cannot often take time out of a busy day to go through a step by step process of how to get started in this business. That’s one of the reasons I have provided the information which is accessible at any time on my web site and in my blog posts.

To begin your journey, you need to understand that it's not just about having a great or unusual voice that counts, but what you do with that voice and how you market yourself!

Those of us who work as voice over artists study and work hard continually honing our craft and marketing ourselves just to work and survive in this business. However, there are many talented people who do that and still do not make a living at voice over. Also, realistically, getting started by taking classes, making demos, marketing, building a web site, creating your own voice over studio, etc., requires an outlay of approximately $4,000 - $5,000. All things to be considered......

It is best to work with a voice over coach (in person or via phone!) in order to make sure you are ready to create a demo and start distributing it. The last thing you want to do is create a demo before you are ready. It will not serve you well in trying to get an agent or trying to get work. There are many good voice over coaches out there who are willing to work via telephone if you do not live in their area. Several coaches that I have personal experience with are: Nancy Wolfson, James Alburger & Penny Abshire , Marc Cashman , and Rodney Saulsberry If you contact them, please tell them I referred you. I don’t make any commission for referrals, but I just like them to know that I’m thinking of them!

Do your homework, find a good coach, and dig in! All the best to you in your pursuit of a career in voice over!

Email Newsletters - Good Idea or Bad?

My first ever voice over email newsletter. Good idea or not? I was never sure.... On the one hand, I like to keep in touch with clients and let them know what I've been doing - hoping to stay front of mind when they are casting. On the other hand, I don't want to be a pest. I don't plan to send updates often, but still, I would never want to clutter anyone's inbox. Of course, they can opt out, but that's just one more step for them to take if they're already annoyed.

Any thoughts on the true effectiveness of emailing newsletters to clients?

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-Melanie-Haynes.html?soid=1105531001782&aid=iprO4AaU0j8

How Much Money Can You Make In Voice Overs?

This video, Anatomy of a "Winning" Week Recording Voice Overs, by Bill DeWees is a down to earth look at a successful, working voice over performer. I've found many of the same things to be true in my voice over business as far as diversity in clientele, staying connected, marketing, and hiring help when you need it!

Voice Over "Salad"

Interesting and helpful VO news and information posted by Dave Courvoisier in his blog Salmagundi :

Salmagundi "…a hodgepodge or mix of widely disparate things…” usually in relation to a salad presentation, but I was just tired of the word “potpourri”.

You would truly have to be living in a cave to NOT feel the wave of VO information washing over you these days. However, I know there are some social media holdouts among you, so the following is a quick list of links and summaries of some “disparate things” I found on the internet lately that defy categorization other than “VO Salmagundi”.

1) VO friend Matt Cowlrick dropped a link on FB about DAWBox.com. Interesting and simple site revealing what looks like a diagram for a whisper room.

3) Speaking of which, another VO acquaintance, just finished his new recording studio, and he posted a video of it on YouTube: See Darren Altman’s new digs at this YouTube Link.

3) Dan Friedmann of ProComm writes to say: “…Just wanted to announce that SOUNDADVICEVO and SOUNDADVICE – Voiceover have changed to SOUND4VO! He’s referring to his FaceBook page. Dan’s a good one to stay on top of. He’s written a book with great advice about audio production, and he was a big hit at FaffCon2.

4) Stephen James Smith directs your attention to NOLA by saying: TO non-profits worldwide seeking voice actors pro bono for PSAs: NOLA Voice Talent is here to help. Check out the NOLA Voice Talent Foundation. Maybe you can help.

5) Synthopia is offering a free library of 1,000 free sound files and loops (and there are other free offers on this page). As far as I can tell there are no strings attached to this offer.

6) Click here to listen to WOR’s Valerie Smaldone’s podcast featuring an interview with top Vo Pro Joe Cipriano.

7) Cair0, Egypt-based VO talent Mahmoud Taji posts his Embarrassing Twitter Confessions on VU, which is actually an excellent review of Twitter/Social Media etiquette.

8) A Backstage.com article on whether SAG and AFTRA will finally merge.

9) OK, I think that’s about all I got…Oh!…one final thought: Do you keep a public calendar of your VO appointments so that potential clients can see your availability? That’s a suggestion made to me by the owner of a voice over studio, expressing frustration about scheduling.

Thanks for such a great recap, Dave!

Melanie Haynes

Dan's Two Cents - Worth Much, Much More!

An excellent article from Dan(Daniel Eduardo) Hurst!

THE BRUTAL TRUTH

Published April 15, 2011

A young man I know that’s trying to break into the voiceover business asked me what advice I might give him.

There are a lot of websites that have lots of information on them about this very topic. There is so much information that needs to be considered when you go into this business, and I don’t need to rehash what so many others have already said so well. Google the subject. You’ll find barrels of info.

However, there are five things that I’ve found extremely important as I’ve grown my voiceover business. I’m not being mean here, I’m just stating the brutal truth.

1. It’s a business, not a hobby.

I’m always amazed at the folks who try to make it in this business who treat it as a hobby, yet expect to deal with people for whom it is a business. I mean, think about it. Why would I trust my project that is part of my full-time business effort to a hobbyist?

If you’re going to make it in this business, invest in it! Get some training. Get some decent equipment and learn how to use it. Work hard at it. Treat it as your job.

Or get out of the road.

2. It’s a small person that carries a big grudge.

Let’s face it. Business is tough. You will run in to a lot of people that will take advantage of you if you give them the chance. And sometimes you will get stung. Learn to be smart, aware, and cautious, but don’t let the stings make you bitter and angry. Nobody wants to do business with people like that.

The people that try to take advantage of you are not going to contribute to your success. Quit taking their phone calls and delete their emails.

3. Always drink upstream from the herd.

I often get asked how I manage to get some of the great voice jobs that come my way. The answer is simple: you find them where they are. Looking for them where everyone else is looking for them is herd mentality. Looking for the little jobs that get through the herd…well, that’s just drinking downstream.

But if you go upstream, where the herd hasn’t been, you’ll find lots of fresh opportunities.

4. Plow around the stump.

There are some things you just shouldn’t do. If you’re not a movie trailer voice, quit jumping in that puddle. If you’re not a fluent reader, quit pretending that you can do long-form narrations and audio books. If you don’t know how to act, quit acting like you’re acting.

In other words, do what you do well. Because if you don’t, you’ll get a reputation for not being very good at what you’re not very good at.

And finally,

5. Your biggest problem watches you from your mirror every morning.

You’re the one that’s going to make the right decisions or wrong decisions about your business every day. Your success or failure isn’t up to anyone else.

You’re business isn’t going to make it or fail because of someone else’s choices. If they don’t choose you to do a job, it’s still up to you to find someone that does want your service.

All you’re doing everyday in this business is selling and delivering a product. Regardless of what some sales gurus have taught, your clients aren’t buying you, they’re buying your product. If your product doesn’t measure up to what the client needs, no matter how much they like you, you’re out of work. That means your product has to be exactly what the client is looking for. And that means you need to focus on your best product, go sell it, and deliver it on time.

So, there’s my advice. And it’s only worth what it accomplishes.

Reprinted with permission here by Melanie Haynes

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Thanks to Randy Kaye for sharing the info!