So you’ve read Part 1 of Breaking Into Audiobooks and you’re still interested? Great! Now that you know the recipe for a successful narrator, here’s a list of eleven practical things you can do to get started! Take “The Test”: This suggestion was originally offered up by colleague Sean Pratt in his excellent blog post “So…
I receive inquiries from enthusiastic folks all the time asking how they might be able to break into audiobooks. It’s becoming such popular field, and though I try to answer everyone individually, lately it just isn’t possible, so I thought I’d write a post about it instead, with some tips and insight into how to…
Well we made it! Here we are at the last day of the year. I couldn’t let it go by without a quick post to wish you all a happy New Year. I still have one more post about agents in VO, but the holidays got the best of me so I figured I’d save…
Recording an audiobook at home is quite a project. The scope is much bigger than anything else you will do as a voice actor. I remember when I first started, I would become a slave to my internal anxiety. I didn’t even realize how secretly freaked out I was under the surface; it was this low-grade anxiety that would follow me around and be under my skin for days. Recording an entire book by myself felt like such a huge responsibility: I want it to be great and there’s no director or anyone giving feedback and it’s taking so long and I have to juggle all my other work and…it’s TAKING SO LONG and…ai yai yai…a recipe for a not so fun time. I would end up working every waking hour, pulling all-nighters, eating junk food and getting no sleep or exercise. My mindset was kind of like: Let’s just hunker down and get through this!
Thankfully, after two years I’ve figured out some coping strategies to quell that anxiety and make the entire experience more sane and enjoyable! There’s lots of great articles on how to actually prep an audiobook for record, but lately I’ve been thinking about how I’ve learned to prep myself for the task at hand. Here are five things I do to set the stage for success.
If you’ve been in the VO industry for the past ten, fifteen, twenty years, you will have noticed massive changes. I’ve noticed changes just in the past five years! Jobs used to pay more. There were more campaigns and long-term contracts. There were less voice actors and hardly anyone had a home studio. If you did have one, you had a serious advantage. And if it sounded good, even doubly or triply so!
For weeks, I’ve been thinking about something I read. It was actually an excerpt from my horoscope last month. Not exactly the NY Times, I know, but this one part has been working on me, repeatedly. “ …so you may not actually know that you have massive support across the board, from peers and higher…
Last week I discussed the number one thing you need to do to get started in voiceover. Here’s a few more suggestions for getting your career off the ground. 1. Learn as much as you can about the industry. That means “getting in the conversation” and immersing yourself with all things VO. A good way…
Happy New Year! I hope it’s gotten off to a great start so far. Since January is all about new beginnings and fresh energy, I’m dedicating my blog this month to the newcomer. I get so many questions from people wanting to “get into voiceovers”. So, in the spirit of a freshness and resolutions, I…