General

I’ve had the good pleasure of knowing Scott Brick for a few years now. He’s a truly gifted audiobook narrator and a genuinely decent human being. He’s also lived through a rather remarkable set of experiences over the last several months. Please take 12 minutes to listen and/or read via his post A Storyteller Changes the End of His Story.

With thanks to Trent Hamm for posting this on his blog:

“No one wants advice – only corroboration.” – John Steinbeck

Roger King runs the PNA talent agency in Toronto, Ontario. He’s written an insightful article about your relationship with your agent titled Secrets of an Agent Man: Your Agent Should … Your Agent Shouldn’t. It’s well worth a few minutes of your time.

With spring training under way, I’m delighted to share this new feature on San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence.

Day O’Day has been a mentor and friend for quite a number of years. He’s one of a rare breed to studied improv under Paul Sills. If you know improv, you know what a remarkable fact that is. I, in turn, had the great pleasure of taking a seminar from Dan on improv for voiceover a couple of years ago. It was a truly enlightening and mind-opening experience. So, if you are in or can get to Southern Calfiornia next weekend, give serious thought to taking part in the Dan O’Day IMPOVABILITY workshop.

My friend Roxanne Coyne has an article published at VoiceOverXtra that’s well worth a few minutes of your time.

With my thanks to my friend Jonah Cummings for posting the link, if you are interested in what it would be like to be in the big leagues of audiobook work, check out this article on audiobook production at Random House.

Not everyone aspires to be humble, but for those of us who do this quote hits close to home.

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” – CS Lewis

The only way to hit a target is to first aim at it. Well, I suppose you could hit a target by accident if you don’t aim; but there’s not much percentage in that plan. How does this apply to the world of voiceover?

Voiceover isn’t a career so much as it’s a host of careers. Some people become very successful doing animation or video game characters. Some do move trailers and television promos all day long. Some do tons of radio imaging. Or audiobooks. Or commercials for television and radio. And that’s just a list of the traditional areas of voiceover specialization.

Then there are folks who try to do everything. While you can certainly do a variety of things as a voice actor, it’s far better to focus your energy and attention on one category. You might still do things that are outside your comfort zone or previous experience from time to time, but by being focused (by taking aim) you stand a much higher chance of hitting your target. Of reaching your goal to make your living doing voiceovers full-time.

The other thing you’ll likely find is that the area you end up being good at might well turn out to be something quite different from what you start out to do. One of my friends commented the other day that his goal when he started was to do animation work, but he’s found his place doing audiobooks. I always imagined that I would do lots of commercials. Yet, the thing I love doing is long-form narration.

So, if you’ve been at this voiceover thing for a while and you’re finding it hard to get any traction, think deeply about what you’re good at. Not so much about what you “want” to do, but what are you good at. Then aim at that target for a while. You may well be surprised at the results.

Seth Godin points out that you there are a number of things (attention, trust, plans for tomorrow) that you don’t own, you just rent them. And that rental agreement can be cancelled at any time, without notice.

What you do own is your effort, dilligence, passion, and love. (More about that last bit soon.) Pour these into your voiceover work and your rental agreements, most of the time, will continue.

I have lived by this principle for many years (and thanks to Trent Hamm for posting this quote).

“The only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him.”
     – Henry Stimson

Jonathan Fields blogs, and very well indeed. He’s also been doing a series of video interviews called the Good Life Project. As with most everything, I’m not 100% sold on everything Jonathan says, but there is a lot of good stuff in there.

He’s just posted a rather striking creed, that I want to share with you today. Enjoy.

Like this? Learn to build a better life at Good Life Project.

This blog post might not be for you. But if it is for you, it could be a significant game-changer.

It was just a few years ago that I finally made a transition I had been hoping and planning about for a long time. In my case that transition was to working exclusively and full-time in voiceover. If you’re reading this blog, you may be thinking about making your own, similar, transition. And if that’s true, then I recommend you take a few minutes to look into Kristine Oller.

Kristine is a remarkable lady. She’s help guide me on my path. She can do the same, or even more, for you.

With a tip of the hat to Trent Hamm for posting this quote recently:

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
     – Winston Churchill

The amazing Nancy Wolfson is the featured guest on VO Buzz Weekly. Here’s a sample.

I’m very much looking forward to Faff Camp coming up the first weekend in May of this year. Seth Godin recently wrote about why I’m looking forward to this event, though I suspect he may not have realized he was writing about Faff Camp when he published his blog post. Still, it’s right on the money.

Faffcon has been a phenomenal experience since it was started in the autumn of 2010. I’ve attended and helped sponsor each of them and have gained back far more than I gave, each time. But, Faffcon is limited to (a) working pro voiceover performers and (b) to a maximum of 100 attendees. So lots of folks who would love to experience Faffcon haven’t been able to because either they’re not yet a working pro or because they didn’t get their registration in on time.

Enter, Faff Camp, which has neither of those restrictions. Details about this event are on the Faff Camp site. Registration will be open soon. I hope to see you in Charlotte in May.