Archives for 2008

Creating your roadmap to success

31 December 2008

In my last blog entry, I wrote about the necessity of envisioning success in voice-over and creating a road map to reach your desired destination. Since it’s natural to look toward the future as we change to a new year, I thought you might appreciate 3 ideas that may help you draw your map.

You’ve already decided on a career in voice-over, but do you know how your voice fits in the industry? Many voice talent try to be all things to all people and end up frustrated by endlessly attending classes, creating new demos, and marketing to potential clients without first thinking of how every action should tie together and lead one closer to one’s goals.

You see, I know something about such frustration. Oh, sure, I’m radiating inner peace now (well, most days, anyway!), but I have a journal entry from 1 June 2003 in which I wrote:

Today’s word is frustrated. I looked in the dictionary and found the word describes ME.

I even modified the dictionary entry to include my picture and my name in the description. If you can’t read the highlighted portion, it says:

1 a: to balk or defeat in an endeavor b: to induce feelings of discouragement in Karen Commins

My voice-over career was the number 1 reason for my frustration that day. I wrote:

I could do so many things to further my voice-over career…I have so many good ideas for marketing and promotion — so many things I want/need to do, should/could do — but not enough time. I know I could book more gigs if I could….

You get the drift.

So what changed?

After writing about my frustration, I next wrote:

I re-read Barbara Sher’s book I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What it Was and saw her line that frustration should lead to action.

Which brings me back to my point today.

We’re all unique. No one else sees the world the way you do, and no one has your exact same vocal characteristics. Your experiences and thoughts will influence your script interpretations. The question for us then becomes one of marketing that unique voice and style to voice-over clients. Rather than being all things to all people — saying you’ll record everything from promos to phone prompts — I think it’s important to concentrate your efforts into some carefully-chosen specialty areas appropriate for your voice, interests, and personality.

I have mentioned previously that I keep many journals, including one for plans and ideas for my voice-over career. On 31 December 2003 (just 6 months after the entry about frustration), I started a New Year’s Eve journal. The idea is to write in it only the one time as a blueprint for the coming year. I am looking forward to writing it in later today.

I was very harsh on myself in 2003, 2004 and 2005; I labeled myself a failure for not accomplishing the many goals I had written the previous year. However, the entry for 2005 was a turning point because I developed a mission statement.

If you’ve spent any time in corporate America, you’ve probably seen a mission statement hung on a prominent office wall in a cheap $1.29 metal frame. I always rolled my eyes when reading these statements — that is, if the statement didn’t put me to sleep. They always seem to use “suit speak”, with words like leveraging our human resources to transform the cost structure of our stakeholder-facing enterprises. (Translation: We’ll utilize our employees’ skills to lower costs across the business.)

It’s like they used a MadLibs book to fill it out — you know where someone asks for a noun, an action verb and an adjective and then inserts them into the pre-printed sentence structure to create a nonsensical but highly amusing sentence. While still nonsensical, typical mission statements are anything but amusing. How is a worker supposed to know what to do on a daily basis in order to further the organization’s objectives when the words used to describe those objectives are meaningless?

However, I changed my mind about the usefulness of a mission statement when I created one for my voice-over business. On this day 3 years ago, I used the free on-line process offered by Nightingale-Conant. It prompts you to enter information about your unique characteristics and goals; you may need some time to really think about your answers.

Developing my mission statement gave me a clear starting point on my road map. On any journey, you need to get good directions. In maintaining a successful voice-over business, it’s vital that you research the industry and keep informed about trends.

In the Information Age, we have no shortage of ways to learn about voice-over trends, from blogs to podcasts to conventions. I received 2 e-mails yesterday that offer tidy summaries of the current industry status.

First, David Ciccarelli, one of the founders of Voices.com, sent me a message to let me know he has researched trends for voice-over in the coming year and published his findings in a free report. This report offers some extensive statistics about the demand and growth potential for various types of voice-over work, as well as demographics concerning the audiences and purchasers of voice talent. It would be very helpful to study this report when developing or updating your marketing plan.

The other message was from one of my teachers, the always insightful and entertaining Pat Fraley. Whenever I receive the same message from 2 sources who did not collaborate with each other, I know it is a road sign from the Universe to PAY ATTENTION! Pat sent a link to his latest free .MP3 lesson titled “A Bumper Crop”, which in many ways echoes the trends outlined in David’s report. In these days where financial bail-outs are the news topics every day, a voice talent might think that opportunities are shrinking. In his usual delightful manner, Pat discusses how companies react in slower economic times and offers direction and hope to voice talent for the coming year.

The final idea for your road map is to create your own work. I have previously written about the benefits of making your own work, especially if you are in between paid gigs. Another road sign that I saw just this week was contained in Bonnie Gillespie’s column The Actors Voice: Social Networking and Acting. The essay is a brilliant analysis of an actor’s (yes, including voice actors) effective use of social networking platforms in establishing and maintaining a professional brand. I highly recommend that you read it and apply her guidelines.

In that article are some links to her previous columns about the power producing your own work and the new business model in the entertainment industry. Bonnie’s final sentences in her current column encourage us all to put our voice out there so that prospective clients can hear us.

So, armed with your mission statement, some solid industry research and your commitment to create your own work, you are well on the way to success as a voice actor in 2009 and beyond!

Future street sign photo: Joe Gough, iStockPhoto

Podcast — LibriVox Community Podcast #93

23 December 2008

The LibriVox community is a group of volunteers with tremendous talent, enthusiasm and energy. In addition to recording books, poems, short stories, and other literature as free audiobooks, they also create podcasts promoting the site. This week’s podcast had the theme of getting started as a volunteer, so I contributed a segment.

The podcast contains some excellent advice, and you will hear that many people take a professional approach when creating recordings for LibriVox. For instance, I frequently use web 2.0 technologies in my work as a voice-over talent, and I was glad to hear Icyjumbo talk about their use in his volunteer work. Andy Minter’s humorous discussion of character analysis is spot-on with comments made by professional audiobook narrators.

Mapping your success by thinking BIG

17 December 2008

Do you know where you’re going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to?
Do you know…?

Do you get
What you’re hoping for
When you look behind you
There’s no open doors
What are you hoping for?
Do you know…?

— Diana Ross when singing the theme from “Mahogany”

Those song lyrics have been floating in my mind after reading another voice-over blog in which the author wrote, “I have no idea where this is going.” While I have taken the writer’s words out of context, the face-value of that thought inspires today’s post.

Do you know where you’re going to in your voice-over career? When planning either a trip or a career in voice-over, it’s important to know your desired destination. You don’t need to know HOW or WHEN you will get there, but you do have to decide where you want to go. When you make that decision, you might as well decide to have the very best outcome you can possibly imagine.

True, even deciding on the destination can be very difficult. You have to take some time to analyze what’s important to you and find a destination that fills those characteristics. If I were planning a trip, I might say it’s important to me to go to a romantic place that is full of art, music and interesting architecture. When I decide that Paris fits my description, I now have a destination — a place that I can point to on a map.

Any number of ways exist for me to get there. It’s not up to me to decide every aspect of the trip. Life has a way of presenting delicious synchronicities that enable us to get further along our path. In fact, I previously wrote an entry about trusting your gut instinct. You may think your heart leads you to do things that are fun but unimportant in the long run. To quote myself: Your intuition will guide you to make choices and take action toward building your career that you may not totally understand at the time but will make brilliant sense in retrospect.

My voice-over career is just like a trip to Paris; I have a map and can point to my pinnacle of success. It’s important to me to voice projects that utilize my creativity, mean something to people, and are of lasting value. Audiobooks meet all of those criteria. I know where I’m going even though I have no idea when I will arrive.

You may be surprised to know that I am a Grammy award-winning voice talent for an audiobook in the Best Spoken Word category. You look perplexed and scratch your head as you think over this bold statement. “But Karen,” you finally say with great hesitation, “how is that possible when I haven’t seen your name on the Grammy awards list?”

Just because something hasn’t shown up in your reality doesn’t mean it isn’t real.<

When you use one of your 5 senses, you gain information about something in your world. No man-made thing that is in the world just magically appeared. It was first a thought in someone’s mind. They had to visualize its existence and know it was achievable before it ever became part of reality.

Athletes and entertainers often have related stories of visualizing their success for years before it was known to others. I love a quote from Barry Manilow in the 70s after he hit it big. Someone asked him what it was like to be successful, and he replied, “I’ve always been successful, but now I’m famous.”

Once you have a destination, you can create a map for getting from point A to point B. With your voice-over career or anything else, work backward from point B until you reach your place at point A. At each step, ask yourself, “in order for this to happen, what has to happen before it?”

I followed that process to create my map for achieving that Grammy award. I know certain things have to happen for my quest to be successful, and they inspire me to take action, whether marketing to a particular audiobook publisher, creating new demos, talking to others about audiobooks, etc. Sometimes the journey may seem stalled or going in a different or unexpected direction. Even in those times, I always have the inner knowing that I will arrive at my destination one day. It’s just a matter of time and consistent effort on my part in order to make this dream a reality. In the meantime, I know that the success I envision is on its way.

One of my friends described this kind of thinking as “a bunch of woo-woo”. In case this blog post sounds like woo-woo to you, you might be more likely to consider this advice from celebrated voice talent Nancy Cartwright. In an article for Animation World Magazine, Cartwright writes:

At any rate, if you are planning on being successful at what you do, no matter what it is you decide to do, you should be sure to envision having the greatest success in your chosen field. Don’t just decide to get a job, decide to win an Emmy. I did. Don’t just decide to be a background voice, decide to be on the #1 animated show on television. I did. Don’t just decide to make enough money to pay your bills or quit your day job, decide to make an abundance of money so your attention can move on to greater and more important areas. I did.

It is not about just dreaming. It is truly about making the decision, and thinking big!!!! Only you can decide what is best for you, so sit down right now, and make some decisions, who knows? It might change your life forever!

So, about my Grammy award — just remember you read it here first!

A holiday poem for voice talent

5 December 2008

‘Twas three
weeks before Christmas, when all through the land

Voice talents
and producers were wringing their hands.

The mics were
connected to computers with care

In hopes that
paying jobs would soon fill dead air.

The voice
talents were trained and looking for leads

With high dollar
amounts to fill all their needs.

Accounting soon
closes for another year

But some said
the good jobs are no longer here.

When on the TV
we kept hearing such clatter

From pundits,
newspeople and those who don’t matter

Such negative
folks declared a recession

I hastened to
write this poem and confession.

I don’t watch
the newscasts or read the headlines

I know less of
the world, but that’s just fine.

Instead, I think
good thoughts and make them come true

Hey, it works
for me, and it can work for you!

Banish the
naysayers and their words of gloom

You’re in charge
of your thoughts, so why think of doom?

Think of what
you want as if it’s already true

Then take action
on the ideas that come to you.

“Now audition!
Now blog! Now create your podcast!

On with writing
and speaking for impressions that last!

To the cyber
world! To the events in your town!

Keep promoting
your work, and your career won’t slow down!”

If you only
think of money you wish you had

The focus on the
LACK of the thing will be bad.

Whatever you
want in your reality

Must first be
visualized in your mind, you see.

Of course, voice-over
is just one part of life

Be thankful for
your blessings and forget the strife

Let your loved
ones know that you hold them dear

Have a magical
holiday season and happy new year!

Photo: Denise Torres, iStockPhoto.com

Short story — The Love-Letters of Smith

29 November 2008

Many of the stories written in the 19th century contain language that sounds jarring to our 21st century ears. I enjoyed narrating this sweet and humorous story written by Henry Cuyler Bunner (1855-1896) in part because his words sound more contemporary. In this age where people meet on-line and break up by text message, The Love-Letters of Smith is a refreshing look at relationships in past times.

Mr. Smith’s letters gave me the key to his character’s voice. For instance, here’s one sample of his writing style:

A mishnery that sells Rum
is the menest of Gods crechers

I recorded this story for the LibriVox Short Story Collection, Volume 35. Download this short story (20Mb, time 21:48)

Photo: Stefan Klein, iStockPhoto.com

Volunteering as a LibriVox narrator

29 November 2008

Before becoming a professional voice talent, I volunteered as a reader for 5 years at the Georgia Radio Reading Service. I read newspapers, Sunday sale pages, magazine articles and books for visually-impaired listeners who heard the broadcast over a special radio. I loved using my voice to help other people.

It is still important to me to be of service to other people. While Drew and I give money to charitable organizations, nothing can match the satisfaction of volunteering one’s time. I have been looking for a service project where I could once again give the gift of my time and voice-over experience to benefit others.

I am pleased to announce that I have decided to volunteer as a narrator for LibriVox, which is an Internet organization that creates audio recordings of works in the public domain. While working in my stunning soundproof studio, I can continue to serve a larger audience of visually-impaired and other people who need and enjoy audiobooks.

10/30/21 Update:

I previously suggested that people volunteer for LibriVox. Be warned that LibriVox releases its recordings into the Public Domain, which means someone else could sell your recording and/or harvest your voice for AI without any compensation to you. For that reason, I no longer recommend newcomers volunteer there.

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™