You may have seen at least one of the free videos that Dan O’Day and David H. Lawrence XVII have done in advance of their ACX Master Class, so you probably know by now if recording audiobooks is appealing to you. Registration closes at midnight, Friday, February 7, 2014. In other words, just a little more than 24 hours after I post this, and probably less than 24 hours from the time you’re reading this.
The first class will be Monday, so if you want to take part, register.
As I’ve mentioned a couple of times now, Dan O’Day and David H. Lawrence, XVII are going to be presenting a Master Class on ACX soon. Before that, however, Dan is releasing some free videos about audiobook narration, of which this is the third. It’s chock full with solid information, much of it from people who are actually successfully narrating audiobooks.
This video includes tons of tips about how to maximize your results via ACX. Dan even provides you with a checklist of things on which to work.
Dan O’Day has released the second of his videos about audiobook narration. As I mentioned a few days ago, Dan will soon be presenting an ACX Master Class for those who want to make better use of the ACX site in building their voiceover business.
In this second video Dan reveals the mystery audiobook expert with whom he is presenting this class. Honestly, I was all ready pretty interested in what Dan would offer in this class, but after watching this video I am even more interested than I all ready was.
I enjoy narrating audiobooks a great deal and have had a narrator listing on ACX since the day it went live. Maybe you’ve been thinking about starting to work in the audiobook field or you’ve put your listing up on ACX, but so far nothing is happening for you. Well, my friend Dan O’Day is about to do some teleseminars on audiobooks and he’s releasing a series of free videos to help you get a better handle on exactly what’s involved and to decide if taking part might be right for you.
The first video tackles “The 7 Lies You’ve Been Told About Narrating Audiobooks.” (Click the link to check out the video.)
My friend Philip Banks posted some cogent thoughts on the VO-BB earlier this week. I’ve quoted him here because not everyone will click through on the link and you really do need to see this:
1 -Stop comparing the Neumann U87 with any $150 mic from China and then asking for opinions.
2 – Stop comparing the MKH416 with the Neumann U87
3 – Stop debating whether or not P2P sites work
4 – Stop finding alternatives to ISDN
5 – Stop working on your brand, you don’t know what that means
6 – Stop linking to your blog, post your ill-informed opinions here
7 – Stop looking for yet another agent
8 – Stop trying to sound like the VO you admire
9 – Stop trying to find YET another VO Coach
10 – Stop asking other out of work VOs how to get more work
11- Stop giving advice to other out of work VOs on how to get work
12- Stop arguing with VOs who are at the top of the game
13- Stop believing other VOs who claim to be at the top of their game
14- Stop attending VO mixers until you’ve replaced the batteries in your Bullsh*t detectors
15- Stop telling potential clients how you sound and what you can do and let them decide
16- Stop following and start to lead
17- Stop apologising for your rate
18- Stop competing with others and start selling you; you’ll own the market
19- Stop aiming low
20- Stop giving yourself such a hard time, you’re doing fine.
Now you’ve cleared the decks that leaves you free in 2014 to do all the things you’ve been avoiding which lead to jobs and pay days. You will be amazed how much progress you’ll make in a relatively short period of time.
I wish you all prosperity in heart, body and bank account for 2014.
As Philip would say … “Think on.”
In the last 150 plus years, there have been a few periods of madness in the USA that were called a “gold rush.” The most famous was the California gold rush in the middle of the 19th century.
As you may or may not know, there were only a relatively few people who actually struck riches during any of these gold rushes. No, the people who most consistently made good money were the merchants who supplied the miners with tools and supplies. And at the time there were no certification bodies for safety or quality. So, when buying a pick or axe or shovel, the miner was on his own to determine if it was of an appropriate quality to do the work and last long enough to actually get some results.
So what does this mini history lesson have to do with voiceover?
In the last few years, there’s been quite a rush into voiceover. I can’t count the number of emails, calls and other messages I’ve received from people who have heard that there’s “good money in voiceover.” Here’s a quick thought on that subject before I continue:
“Voiceover is a great way to make a living, but it’s a terrible way to make a living quickly.” – Bob Souer
Look, voiceover is a business so, yes, you need to pay attention to making money. But, it’s also art. So, if you’re in voiceover just to make money, there are probably a lot better avenues to pursue. It’s a long, hard slog to build your business to the point that you can make a living doing just voiceover work. Only a tiny fraction of all the people who start out to make a career in voiceover ever make any real money at it. A very tiny fraction.
Meanwhile, you’ll find loads of folks with “advice” or seminars or workshops on how to make money in voiceover. I have no fear of being wrong when I advise you to run in the opposite direction from anyone who wants to sell you something or some plan to help you make money in voiceover.
There are many legitimate coaches. But there are a host of people more interested in separating you from your hard-earned money than they are in actually helping you make any real progress toward your goal of working in voiceover. I sincerely wish this were not true, but it is. Be very careful who you start studying with. Ask questions. Here’s one: What are the names of 5 people who have studied with you who are now working full-time in voiceover?
Assuming you get the names, contact these individuals and ask them about their experiences.
The coaches with whom I’ve studied have my explicit permission to use my name and share my contact information. I’m happy to give an honest evaluation about my experiences. And I do.
When you find a coach who is helping people actually make a living in voiceover, and you’ve talked with several students, then go for it. The money you invest (assuming you’re willing to do the work to actually learn and put into practice what you’re learning) will pay substantial returns in the long run.
With my profound thanks to my friend Fran McClellan for posting the link to this on Google+, where I found it, please take a few minutes to read some wise words and images in this post by Bill Waterson called A Cartoonist’s Advice.
Then take a few minutes to read this superb article by my friend DB Cooper.
For several years now, Harlan Hogan and Dan O’Day have been doing a teleseminar series once during the year. It’s called The Voiceover Class. I took part in the first of them back in May of 2009 and it was an excellent experience. I’ve encouraged many of my friends to take the subsequent editions of this teleseminar series and have posted about it here as well. The stated goal of The Voiceover Class is to help you take your voiceover sideline and turn it into your full time business. Based on my experience and the experiences of a number of my friends, I would say it’s a goal that Harlan and Dan do a terrific job of reaching.
Registration has been going one for several days now, but there’s a pretty strong reason you’ll want to act today if you think this is something you would like to invest in. Each time Harlan and Dan do The Voiceover Class, they bring in Jeffrey Fisher to do an evaluation of the sound the studios of the members of the classes. This year, because of other commitments, Jeffrey is only going to be able to do a limited number of evaluations so you have to register before September 1, 2013 (in other words by Midnight today or tomorrow depending on when you’re readying this, August 31, 2013) in order to be included in those who get this evaluation. And again, I can say from experience, what you get from Jeffrey is valuable information that will help you get a better sound from your studio.
Harlan and Dan have offered to pay me $200 for each person who puts my name in the “Your Comments” field of the online registration form. You decide if you want to put my name in there or not. I’m fine with whatever you do. It’s not cheap. In fact, it’s a pretty fair chunk of money, but I think you’ll find the money you invest in The Voiceover Class will be money well spent, especially if you’re serious about making voiceover your full time business. So click through on one of the links for The Voiceover Class to get all the details about signing up.
For several years now, Harlan Hogan and Dan O’Day have been doing a teleseminar series once during the year. It’s called The Voiceover Class. I took part in the first of them back in May of 2009 and it was an excellent experience. I’ve encouraged many of my friends to take the subsequent editions of this teleseminar series and have posted about it here as well. The stated goal of The Voiceover Class is to help you take your voiceover sideline and turn it into your full time business. Based on my experience and the experiences of a number of my friends, I would say it’s a goal that Harlan and Dan do a terrific job of reaching.
Registration actually started yesterday, and there’s a pretty strong reason you’ll want to act quickly if you think this is something you would like to invest in. Each time Harlan and Dan do The Voiceover Class, they bring in Jeffrey Fisher to do an evaluation of the sound the studios of the members of the classes. This year, because of other commitments, Jeffrey is only going to be able to do a limited number of evaluations so you have to register before September 1, 2013 (in other words by Midnight, August 31, 2013) in order to be included in those who get this evaluation. And again, I can say from experience, what you get from Jeffrey is valuable information that will help you get a better sound from your studio.
Harlan and Dan have offered to pay me $200 for each person who puts my name in the “Your Comments” field of the online registration form. You decide if you want to put my name in there or not. I’m fine with whatever you do, but I do think you’ll find the money you invest in The Voiceover Class will be money well spent, especially if you’re serious about making voiceover your full time business. So click through on one of the links for The Voiceover Class to get all the details about signing up.
My daughter Karen is my favorite proofer when I’m working on an audiobook. This isn’t just because she’s my daughter (so of course I love her); but equally because she’s brilliant at it. Her attention to detail is amazing and most of the time when I have her proof one of my books, it comes back no further corrections needed.
But, proofing isn’t just for audiobooks. She also proofs (and often edits as well) eLearning projects for me. As she writes there are 5 Benefits to having Proofed Audio. I can add nothing more to her insightful piece.
I was reading my friend Pam Tierney’s blog yesterday and took note of her recent post What’s in Your Toolbox?, which reminded me that I have a ton of insights, notes and material from numerous events I’ve attened, workshops I’ve taken and seminars I’ve signed up for; many of which remain unexamined in the aftermath of these events.
A valuable kick in the pants for sure. Which leads directly to this question, which is pointed and me even more than it is at you: what action am I going to take in response to this insight?
A few years ago I was asked if there is one secret to voiceover success. My answer is yes: don’t quit. Everyone who quits on their path to voiceover success (or any other effort) always fails to reach that success. Unless they start again and don’t quit that time.
The thing is, most people look at the journey to making a living doing voiceovers as a matter of being picked by the right agent or manager or something like that. But, as Seth Godin brilliantly points out in his blog post today Sure, but that’s not a plan; hoping to be picked isn’t a plan.
There’s a lot of hard work invoved. A lot of costs in terms of start-up expenses, training expenses, studio set-up expenses and on and on. Here’s another cold spash of water in the face: many, indeed most, of the people starting on this journey won’t make a living in voiceover.
But, if you stay with it. Plan carefully. And keep working and getting better, and don’t quit, you will make it.
Pat Fraley emailed this morning with news about a teleseminar he is doing with Scott Brick and Bob Deyan. Here are the details including links to sign up.
The 2013 Audiobook Gold Rush Webinar
Tues. May 21 6PM-7:30PM PDTJoin Robert Deyan, the audiobook producer
who hired over 500 narrators in a
two month period last year,
with Scott Brick and Patrick Fraley
for a meaningful, inside view of how
to work the audiobook market.
$47. Recording of all comes with the price.
Details: http://www.voice-overwebinars.com/Audiobook_GoldRush.html100% of the money goes to performer
Nicole Nielson who has been stricken
with an incurable disease.
This is a great bargain for anyone who wants to know more about voicing audiobooks. It’s also a great cause.
The final day of Faff Camp started with an opening circle, which was as it should be.
Then the first main presentation of the day was given, by me. The topic was Invite the Avalanche, and was based on (but not identical to) talks that I’ve given a couple of times at various Faffcons. The best way to get the substance of what I spoke about would be to put the word avalanche into the search box of this blog and read the articles that you find.
Here though is something you won’t find in any of those previous blog posts:
Beware of the cheap. It’s so very easy to self-justify either looking for something cheap because we think it will represent a bargain (but in reality what we’re buying is just cheap trash) or to self-justify selling ourselves for cheap.
Bottom line: it’s not about what you would like to do, nor about what you can do. It’s all about what you will do, and then actually doing the thing.
When I first saw the line-up of speakers for Faff Camp, I was so relieved and grateful that I was up first on Sunday; because the final main presentation was given by Doug Turkel. I did not want to have to follow Doug, who provided us with a virtual MBA of ideas and insights about how to improve our marketing, how to think more like a business person and less like just another starving artist.
Bottom line: the options and opportunities are nearly endless, but all of those options are worthless if you don’t actually take action.
After the main presentations, we again spent an hour taking part in the table top mentoring. This time I didn’t have to lead a discussion, so was able to enjoy discussions about transition from radio to voiceover (led by Don Brookshire, and for whom I don’t seem to be able to find a web site!) and about corporate narrations (led by Peter Bishop).
We then broke for lunch and in the afternoon did some breakout sessions; among which the stand-outs for me were Tom Dheere‘s on personal and business organization and time management and Sean Caldwell‘s on rates.
Faff Camp proper wrapped up with a closing circle and the day ended with a memorable Faff-ter party that was great fun, tinged with sadness as various people had to depart for the airport.
Truly a memorable weekend, chock full of both good times and excellent ideas. Now the challenge is to translate those ideas into actions!
A week ago I posted some thoughts following the first day of Faff Camp and I had intended to post follow-up reports each of the next couple of days. However, the experience proved to be so powerful and so exhausting at the same time that I simply couldn’t push myself to do those reports.
Now, a week has passed and I have both recovered from the exhaustion and have gained a bit of distance on the event. I hope my thoughts here will help you understand some of what it was like if you weren’t there and help you process what you expereinced if you were.
I begin with some thoughts not directly related to the Faff Camp experience itself. I have to admit I am truly puzzled about why attendance wasn’t higher than it was. Yes, there were other things happening in that part of the USA in the weeks before Faff Camp. Yes, there was another voiceover event going on in Canada that same weekend. But, the number of people who expressed frustration at not being able to attend Faffcon would have seemed to indicate the level of interest was high enough for a larger attendance at Faff Camp.
Maybe it was because it wasn’t Faffcon, but something else? I truly don’t know; but I can say that having now attended all 6 Faff events that while Faff Camp is different from Faffcon, the similarities are greater than the differences. At least in terms of the opportunities to learn and connect and grow.
However, I don’t intend this post to be some sort of scolding of those who didn’t come to Faff Camp. If you were not there, I respect your decision and your reasons. So, on with my thoughts and observations.
The first full day of Faff Camp began with an opening circle meeting to provide some background and set the state for what would happen over the next two days. Aside from the fact that the topics and topic discussion leaders were picked in advance, it was very similar to the start of a Faffcon. Next came a truly excellent presentation and discussion led by the wonderful Dan Friedman on Audio Quality and Auditions. Dan presented a bunch of helpful and insightful observations from casting directors, talent agents and production houses on what sort of difference it makes when an audition arrives with excellent audio quality versus one that arrives with marginal or poor quality. No surprise, the better audio quality books pretty much every time even if the peformance of the poorer quality audio is somewhat better.
Bottom line: even if your performance is top notch marginal or poor audio quality will mask your terrific performance.
The second main presentation on Saturday was a brilliant presentation on the creation and use of character voices by Rowell Gormon. I have been friends with Rowell for a number of years, so my views about his presentation are no doubt colored to some extent by that friendship; but it really was an eye-opening riff on ways to create characters to use in audiobooks, commercials and any where else we need to present a sound other than our “normal” voice.
Bottom line: even “bad” character voices can be useful … if we will simply use them when appropriate.
Then we had a hour of table top mentoring in which a number of us facilitated conversations about numerous topics. I led discussions about doing audiobooks at my table. There were loads of other conversations going on all around the room. I enjoyed this idea a great deal and thought the discussions provided a good exchange of insights from those doing the various kinds of work being discussed (in my case, narrating audiobooks) with those interested in pursuing that kind of work.
This was followed by an hour for lunch and then an afternoon of break-out sessions on again a wide variety of topics; the most memorable of which was a discussion on union, non-union and financial core that was led by Melissa Exelberth. All in all, a wonderful day.
I’ll write more tomorrow, with observations about the final day of Faff Camp.
I came to Faff Camp with high expectations. Each Faffcon event has been genuinely, incandescently wonderful; because of a combination of the awesome preparations of Amy Snively and the people who have attended each of them. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Faff Camp since it’s not Faffcon.
It is different, but quite wonderful in it’s own way.
But, one thing that’s the same is the generous spirit and warmth of all the voiceover people. I’m sure there might be other groups or categories of people where kindness and generosity and sweetness and humor and friendliness predominate; but I’ve never found them. Voiceover people are something else.
The friendships we make at Faffcon and now Faff Camp are so precious. There’s something solid and real about them, whereas at typical conventions there’s a fleeting quality about relationships, here it’s different.
There was a panel discussion that wrapped up the day yesterday on the current realities of the voiceover business that was truly excellent. One voiceover talent and 4 studio owners each contributed really solid insights. Here is just one of thoughts that i wrote down:
No one is going to hire you for your “improved” weakensses. Concentrate your energies on your improving your strengths, not your weaknesses.
I’m looking forward to what today hold.
