Erggo

Karen@KarenCommins.com

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™

Audiobooks

Reasons to Create Your Own Stuff

Create your own stuff.

I’ve written about this theme in the past, but today, I want to show an example and talk about the marketing advantages available to voice talent who choose to cast themselves and develop their own work.

As a service project, I’m narrating the audiobook of A Woman Who Went to Alaska on LibriVox.org. May Kellogg Sullivan wrote the book in 1902 to recount her adventures during the Alaska gold rush at the turn of the 20th century.

Obviously, the audiobook itself is a form of creating my own work. Rather than watching fluff TV shows like American Idol, I choose to spend my spare time this way because:

  • I am improving my skills, both in long-form narration and audio editing.
  • I am being of service to others in offering a free audiobook.
  • I can use the credit in discussions with audio publishers about paying gigs.
  • The free audiobook will be helpful in developing a loyal fan base.

Marketing is a HUGE part of any business. It is especially important when the commodity offered by the business is one’s voice. Not only am I creating the audiobook on my own, but I also decided to market it by creating a trailer for it!

Early in my voiceover career, I did a lot of direct mail marketing with imprinted products. While my campaigns were extremely memorable and attracted voiceover jobs to me, they also were extremely time-consuming and expensive to produce.

Here are some immediate marketing benefits of creating this trailer:

  • The book is in the public domain, so most of the images had no cost. I only had to spend a few bucks to obtain the stock images that I used. The music came from my royalty-free library, which requires no residual payment.
  • The video is another method of advertising my voice to people who haven’t heard of me or listened to my demos.
  • The trailer demonstrates to clients and prospects that I could assist them beyond voicing their scripts.
  • We live in culture obsessed by and immersed in video. Tell the truth — when you saw the video in this post, did you immediately click on it before reading any of the text? People say they don’t have time to read. Many would watch my trailer who would never read my description of the audiobook.
  • I cross-posted the trailer on Facebook, some LinkedIn groups devoted either to audio publishing or Atlanta businesses, LibriVox, AudiobookCommunity.com, and BarbaraSher.com. Note that most of these postings are targeted directly to 1000s of members in niche markets who may be interested in hiring me for their projects!
  • I received more responses in a few hours than I ever received from a single mailing.
  • The trailer gave me material to add to my blog, which helps my search engine rankings.
  • Once the book is done, I will update the trailer from “coming soon” to “available now”.

In addition, the subject matter of an audiobook can point to even more opportunities for marketing it on-line. In this case, a flurry of TV shows are about Alaska, so I know the public has a lot of interest in that state. One show is even about a group of people currently mining for gold in Alaska — a perfect tie-in! Fans of these shows gather in discussion forums where I can post my trailer. I also can post it in forums for people who are considering an Alaskan cruise.

Aside from all of these reasons, perhaps the biggest reason to create your own stuff is that it is fun!

I hope that these examples of my spare time projects give you inspiration to create and market your own stuff. I’d love to see your work, so please leave a comment on the blog!

 

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 that narrators volunteer there.

 

Using my iPad in my voiceover recording studio

Recently, the talented voice actor Paul Strikwerda asked a question on the highly active discussion board of the LinkedIn Working Voice Actor group about using an e-reader in his recording booth. I decided to re-purpose my answers to Paul’s question into this post.

My iMac computer is outside of my WhisperRoom recording booth. I have longed to have a paperless studio and perform my scripts straight off a computer. I can’t place a computer in my booth because my microphone would pick up the sound of even the quietest computer fan. My MacBook Pro laptop is very quiet but not quiet enough, and any computer fan could rev up at unexpected times.

I originally wanted a second monitor in my booth. I could either stretch cable 10′ or more across the center of the studio floor or wind it a greater distance around the baseboards and corners to reach my computer desk. Due to the size of my WhisperRoom and the door placement in my studio, reconfiguring the studio isn’t really an option. I don’t like seeing cables everywhere, especially when my stunning soundproof studio is so incredibly beautiful that WhisperRoom features it on their brochure. Therefore, a second monitor is not an option. Wireless monitors seem to be on the horizon, so maybe a second monitor will be workable for me in the future.

The Apple iPad has solved the problem for me. I use the Wi-Fi on it to connect to my wireless LAN in my house. I’ve been able to read scripts from agents’ and clients’ web sites, as well as long e-learning Word files sent in e-mail.

My view of the world when I’m recording voiceover scripts and audiobooks —
my Neumann TLM 103 mic and Apple iPad

 
I had an Amazon Kindle, but it didn’t work well for me in the studio. It was cumbersome to load a Word or PDF document to it. Scrolling the screen required a click, which could be audible and/or disrupt my flow of narration. I can endlessly and quietly scroll the screen on the iPad while continuing to perform.

I typed my original response to Paul on my iPad, which reminded me of another advantage to it. I was recording a job, and the client sent me some changes in e-mail. I was able to read the e-mail and record the changes without leaving the booth.

My husband is my director, and he also has an iPad. He can keep the script in front of him while maintaining full-screen view and control of Pro Tools on the iMac. When Drew isn’t available to help me, I use a Frontier Design Tranzport to control Pro Tools from within the booth, so that’s another reason the iPad is a good solution for me.

The only downside I have discovered is that I can’t mark the text while recording, like when I want to take notes on direction. I could mark text in Word on my computer before recording. The method is not perfect, but it’s superior to printing.

The iPad doesn’t have a built-in app that lets you edit text in Word. However, as you might guess, “there’s an app for that”. Apple’s Pages app is the most popular. It can be purchased in the App Store for $9.99 and gives you functionality similar to the MS Office suite. This PC World article has more info about viewing and editing Word docs on an iPad.

Your PC can already talk to the iPad with email. If you’re using Outlook, you could set up a Gmail or other web e-mail account. You could then send your edited file to yourself and read the attachment in the booth.

I’m recording an audiobook of a public domain book. I was able to find the book in iBooks by searching on the title, and it loaded in that app. Just like on the Kindle, the on-line dictionary is handy. I can also change the font size and highlight characters’ lines within the iBooks app.

I saw a note on the Yahoo Voiceovers list that someone did an audition with an app called PureAudio ($2.99 in the Apps Store) and thought it came out well. When I originally posted about it, I saw only a handful of reviews were available for that app, and most were reporting various problems. Since the iPad is in its infancy, I know that more and better apps will be available over time.

Oh, and BTW — Drew and I have given up our Kindles. I’m a voracious reader, and I loved my Kindle. After getting the iPad, I didn’t use the Kindle. I can read my Kindle books on my iPad with an app. The fact that the iPad allows me to carry around a library of videos, books, and music is an added bonus to its tremendous functionality in my studio.

If you’re not a member of the Linkedin Working Voice Actor group, you’re missing a lot of fantastic and lively discussions that will help your voiceover career! Another talented voice artist and group owner Ed Victor always “whacks the hornet’s nest” with a new and interesting topic each week. Just as Paul asked the question about e-readers, you can post your own questions about any topic related to voiceovers. As always, I’d love to have your questions or comments about this post, so please share them on the blog.

5-time volunteer at HearTheBill.org

Have you read the Health Care Reform legislation that is currently pending in Congress? I haven’t read all of the bills. However, I have narrated 5 segments of the various bills as part of the monumental, volunteer effort by professional voice talent to create audio versions of all of the House and Senate bills on health care reform at HearTheBill.org.

In addition to narrating the bills, I have listened to much of them. Anyone can download the various bills and listen to them like an audiobook. The voice talent who donated time, energy, and talent to this project did so without any political agenda. The aim of the site is enable Americans to make informed decisions about the health care proposals.

As I stated in my profile at HearTheBill.org:

A lecturer once stated that civilization is built with the arts as the foundation.
As a voice artist, it’s always my goal
to create lasting work that means something to people.
Since this bill has lasting impact to every American,
I am thrilled to join with my fellow voice talent
to create this recording and make
the proposed legislation accessible to all citizens.

HearTheBill founders Kathleen (Kat) Keesling and Diane Havens worked incredible hours on this increasingly massive project to build and maintain the web site, coordinate the activities of dozens of voice talent, develop and update the recording style guide, blitz the press and obtain top-tier national coverage, and narrate multiple segments, all while continuing to perform voiceover work in their own busy professional lives. Since the Senate is still working on a compromise bill, I’m sure Kat and Diane will call on the HearTheBill.org volunteers to quickly narrate the new bill once it is available.

If you’re a professional voice talent, you can answer that call with me by volunteering to record a segment of the next bill. Not only is the HearTheBill narration important work that serves a vital community need, but the bills are excellent material for a legal demo reel. Think about it — only a voice artist could start with dry, legislative copy and breathe life into it so that it actually sounds interesting!

The preparation time needed for these recordings can be significant depending on the number of pages you undertake, as well as the number and type of references to legislation within those pages. The copy is overflowing with abbreviations for other legislation. In order to make my narration sound flowing, I mark my script each time to spell out all of the legal terms according to the Style Guide.

When the next bill is ready, I’ll be ready to volunteer again. What about you?
 

Time required to narrate and produce audiobooks

Two weeks ago, the following ad appeared on one of the freelance work sites. While it wasn’t on a site aimed solely at voiceover talent, it prompted me to write about the time required for audiobook production.

Hello. I am looking to turn 14000 word e-books into audio and or video format, this will be ongoing work i know it is a simple process to do and can be done free with max and or various softwares, if you have the knowledge and have done this before please reply this will be ongoing work i will pay $40 per e-book converted into audio. If you have a sample of your work please provide it this will help me make my dicission. [sic]

In reading this ad, I’m not clear what kind of work is actually requested. I’m not even sure the ad’s author knows what s/he wants. However, 2 things are immediately evident to me:

  1. a 14,000-word book is about 1.5 hours of finished audio narration
  2. $40 is entirely too little pay to even consider narrating this e-book

Paul Strikwerda, a Pennsylvania voice talent and thought-provoking blogger, wrote a most excellent and thorough analysis of the recording aspect of audiobook work titled Breaking down an audio book rate. He outlines the process for estimating the finished run time and consequently a recording rate based on the pages and words in a book. It’s a terrific article that I wish I had written, and I highly encourage you to read it and his other articles about setting rates.

But Paul’s article only tells half the story. What about the editing and production aspects of audiobook work?

Since I usually work alone in my stunning soundproof studio, I have to consider my total time commitment when submitting a bid on audiobook work. My rule-of-thumb is that each finished hour of audio requires 4 hours of real time to create: 1.5-2 hours to record and 2 hours to edit. While editing, you must consider the overall story flow when determining tracks, as well as editing pauses for dramatic effect.

If the person who wrote the ad above is expecting a voice talent to narrate his e-book, I can easily estimate that I might need 6 hours in my studio to complete the process. If I divide 6 into 40, I get an hourly rate of $6.66. If that rate looks like a devilish number, consider this point:  At this moment, the US federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.

Do you really want to do voiceover or audiobook work so much that you’re willing to make less than minimum wage?

The example Paul used in his blog is a book that would run about 8.33 hours of finished time. I don’t think even the world’s most accomplished narrator could record an 8-hour book in 10 hours. Not only might the narrator stumble on words, but other influences can stop the recording, like growling stomachs, external noise, and calls of nature. In addition, the vocal chords grow tired after hours of recording. Furthermore, errors like mispronunciations and incorrect inflections are caught during the editing process that must re-recorded and inserted into the edited material. Using my time commitment formula with Paul’s sample book, I would actually expect to spend over 33 hours in my studio to complete the assignment!

Establishing rates is always a concern for voice talent and all freelance professionals. Whether you’re quoting rates for audiobooks or some other kind of long-form narration, don’t be afraid to set a rate that truly compensates you for your time spent on the project.

PS. Speaking of time commitments, I wrote this article on 15 November but haven’t made time to record it. I decided I’d rather post it for you now without the accompanying narration than continue to delay its publication.

 

Reading for success

If you don’t like to read, voice-over is not the field for you.

In addition to reading, interpreting and performing others’ scripts for pay, I am convinced that the most passionate and successful voice talent seem to have an inherent love of reading. For instance, my friend Bob Souer finds and reads all sorts of interesting things on-line, which he shares with us on his blog. I recently had a discussion with another friend Dave Courvoisier about the merits and pleasures of the Amazon Kindle wireless reading device.

I plan to buy a Kindle for pleasure reading, but I may also use it in the recording booth to perform some auditions and possibly longer material. Since I have remote control of Pro Tools through my handy TranzPort, I’m really thinking of setting up a second computer monitor in the booth…..but I digress.

Any reader of my blog would know that I love words and language. I frequently refer to books that I am reading or have read since they help shape my perspective as a person and voice talent.

“Whatever you want to do or be in life,
you will find the blueprint for success
by carefully reading…”

I have loved books since childhood. I can remember my mother taking me to the library so I could check out armfuls of books. At that time, I could read 50 books in the summer. I still frequently utilize my library card although my time for reading is more limited. These days, I might read 50 books in a year, and I am in the midst of several books at any given time.

I can tend to read a lot by one author at a time and/or in a certain category of book. I constantly find myself reading books about marketing, success principles, the Law of Attraction, biographies, spiritual fiction like The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and other fiction and non-fiction.

I also avidly listen to audiobooks, especially for biographies and fiction requiring numerous characterizations. I think everyone who is or wants to be an audiobook narrator should spend time listening to and learning from others. In fact, whatever you want to do or be in life, you will find the blueprint for success by carefully reading, observing, and applying the success stories of those who have achieved your desired status.

I have often sprinkled quotations in these blog essays. Reading quotes from Emerson, Thoreau, and other great thinkers inspires me as I move foward in the life of my dreams. No matter what challenge I face in my voice-over career and life in general, I find encouragement and advice by reading the words of others:

Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve.
He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind.
— Leonardo da Vinci

Write down the thoughts of the moment.
Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.
— Francis Bacon

The world belongs to the energetic.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Reading has been the underlying foundation for my every achievement. However, as Seth Godin reminds us in his blog entry describing how to read a business book, achievements also require action.

Godin maintains that business books are 95% motivation and 5% recipes for achieving success. He advises us to read business books with an objective in mind. Actively highlight and write down passages and ideas that inspire you to action toward the changes you wish to make. He states:

If three weeks go by and you haven’t taken action
on what you’ve written down,
you wasted your time.

In your voice-over career, you will spend time every day reading from scripts. I encourage you to read just as much, if not more, for your own improvement and enjoyment, as well as for the improvement of your voice-over business. When you read something that inspires you, write it down and take action toward the life of your dreams!

 

Obtaining the audio rights of books

I received an inquiry today from someone interested in producing her own audio books. I thought other voice talent might find this an interesting topic and be able to add their knowledge to the discussion.

To obtain the audio rights on a book, you first have to learn who has the rights: the author, the literary agent or the print publisher. I have found that answering inquiries from individuals is not high on the agenda for some large print publishers. You may wish to start by querying the author about the rights. Like all other facets of your voice-over business and marketing, your research into audio rights may require persistence.

The author may need to research his/her contract. One author told me that she wanted to perform her book, so that’s another possibility that may occur. A literary agent told me that I may be able to offer the author something like $1000 for the audio rights If the author still controls them. However, I’m sure the exact amount depends on the author, the book’s popularity and each person’s skills as a negotiator.

Once you have the audio rights and are ready produce the recording, you also have to consider how you want to distribute the book. Will it be on-line, on CD or both? Books on CD require additional planning and money for the packaging. Will you pitch the book to an existing audiobook publisher who already has a distribution channel or forge your own path?

Recording and editing an audiobook to commercial standards requires a significant commitment of time. A commercial audiobook also requires time and expense for marketing. You may wish to perform books for your state’s reading service to gain experience and see how much you enjoy the process before deciding to pursue the acquisition of audio rights for a book. Also, many people gain experience and satisfaction out of volunteering for agencies that produce audio recordings for the blind and print-handicapped. You can search the Internet for locations in your area.

For additional questions about audiobook narration, I encourage you to read this post about getting started in audiobook narration. If you have more to add on the subjects of obtaining audiobook rights, audiobook distribution and audiobook marketing, I would love to hear from you! I encourage literary agents, authors, audio publishers and voice talent to leave comments so that we all can learn from each other.