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Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™

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Archives for 2011

Simple math about audiobook rates

13 June 2011

Last updated 2/7/21

 

My email inbox continues to provide fodder for blog articles. Last week, someone sent me this question:

I’ve been asked to record a 200 page audiobook. I’m not in a union or guild. I do have some voiceover experience. What do you recommend I charge?

Original Answer

While the question you asked seems simple, the answer requires more explanation, as found in this blog post and the one from Paul Strikwerda linked within it.

As basic info, you need to know the WORD count, not the page count, of the book you would narrate. You can figure out the finished run-time based on the word count. For instance, Audible uses an average rate of speed of 155 words a minute, or 9300 words per finished hour.

Paul’s article shows you a formula to calculate finished time. My article shows you how to calculate the real time required for editing to produce the book. As Paul points out in his comment to my article, you also need to add time for preliminary research.

You’ll have to consider all of these factors about the time commitment along with your experience, relationship with the client, training, and studio equipment to determine a rate that is fair compensation.

Small publishers only pay $50-100 per finished hour. I would only perform an audiobook at that very low rate if I wanted to build commercial credits.

I hope these thoughts are helpful. Best wishes for your continued success!

New Answer (WARNING: MATH IS INVOLVED!)

Apparently, I overwhelmed this person with good information that would require her to actually do some research because she re-posted her question on a voiceover forum within an hour of receiving my reply.

Here’s the simple mathematical formula for solving this problem:

1.  Divide the word count of the book by your rate of speech per hour to get the estimated number of finished hours. If you don’t know your rate of speech, Audible uses 9300 words per hour, or 155 words per minute (WPM), in its calculation for books posted on ACX. Your actual rate of speech and finished time may vary significantly from the estimate due to the complexity of the text and your acting choices.

Some narrators have reported that using 9000 words per hour (or 150 wpm) is a better average rate for more people. If you’ve done some projects where you were given a word count, divide the word count by your finished time to learn your average words-per-minute rate of speech.

If you don’t have the word count available, you can estimate the finished time by following these steps:

Let’s say you a have a 300-page book. To estimate finished time, start a stopwatch as you read 3-5 representative pages aloud as if narrating. Keep going when you have errors, and stop your timer when you’re done.

Divide the time you obtained doing the sample read by the number of pages in the sample to get the average time to read each page. For instance, if it takes you 10 minutes to read 5 pages, your average time per page would be 2 minutes per page. (10 / 5 = 2)

Multiply the total pages in the book by your average reading time per page from your sample read to see the total estimated minutes. (300 * 2 = 600 minutes)

Divide the total number of minutes in the previous step by 60 to get the finished hours. (600 / 60 = 10 finished hours)

Real life examples usually aren’t so tidy with whole numbers. You find it helpful to use a decimal-to-time calculator with your finished hours figure to see the minutes and seconds.

2.  Multiply the number of finished hours by 6. This number is a very conservative estimate of the number of real-time hours you and your team will spend in recording, editing, and transmitting your book.  For instance, a 10-hour book may require at least 20 and, if you are doing your own editing (which I don’t recommend — instead, outsource it), 60 or more hours of your life from the time you record the first word until the last byte is uploaded or mailed to the client.

The general breakdown of hours for experienced narrators is:

Recording: 2 hours for 1 finished hour

Editing: 3 hours for 1 finished hour

Proofing: 1.2 hours for proofing

Note that preparing to read (pre-reading the book, looking up pronunciations, etc.) is NOT included in this calculation, so you will need to add time for that process.

3.  Multiply the real-time hours by the hourly rate of pay you need to survive. Chances are very good that you will come up with a pay rate for this audiobook that is $1000s MORE than your client wishes to pay. You have to decide how to negotiate a rate acceptable to both of you.

Even with this formula in hand, you still will want to research current audiobook rates. Be aware that the SAG/AFTRA union minimum on ACX is $250 per finished hour. which is an all-inclusive rate. If you are producing the retail-ready project, you need to factor in costs for an editor and proofer as you will pay those out of your PFH rate. (Each publisher has negotiated contracts with SAG/AFTRA, and only the ACX rate is publicly available. The narration rate with other publishers varies.) If you want tips for negotiating a higher price, check out my article Cruising for a competitive advantage

Once you know the amount of time you’ll invest in the project and the amount of money you need to get for your time, you’ll know whether to accept an audiobook project.

For instance, I would voice a royalty-share book only if I’m willing to bet that based on from the book’s ratings and reviews that I would earn back my fee over time. Otherwise, I might do a RS book if I were passionate about the topic and had the time available for the project. I’m much more interested in a hybrid arrangement of a PFH payment up-front and a RS contract. On ACX, this type of arrangement is called a Royalty Share Plus contract.

It’s always good to be working and gaining credits if your survival needs are being met.

If you have more thoughts on this topic or questions on other topics related to voiceover, marketing, or just living your best life,, I’d love to get your comments on the blog!

Photo:  iStockPhoto.com/STEVECOLEcc

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Business, Narrators, Voice-Over

Creating promo videos with public domain components part 2

6 June 2011

Yesterday, I posted part 1 of this topic, in which up-and-coming voiceover talent Linda Velwest asked about the legalities of using images that she found on-line within the audiobook trailer she wanted to create. Even though she is only using her trailer for promotional purposes, she might not be able to use images and music found on-line due to the owners’ copyrights.

As promised, today’s entry is the rest of the story. In addition to seeing her terrific audiobook trailer created with public domain components, you can benefit from Linda’s list of sites of public domain images and music.

Hi Karen, 

Thanks for your note. When I started working on the video, I just started looking up pictures on the internet. Then I got concerned about stealing other people’s work and I got a little obsessed about stealing! You were very clear in your blog that you wanted other people to think about doing the same thing you did, but I was all paranoid! 

So, here it is!

I found a lot of resources for public domain pictures and pictures where it is very clear how to contact the person who has rights to them and what you need to do if you want to use them:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources

http://creativecommons.org/

The music I got from:
http://www.oldradioworld.com 

You can certainly share my emails on your blog – it would be an honor. Thanks again for your inspiration.

Linda Velwest

 
As Linda pointed out, finding images and music that are truly in the public domain and free of copyright restriction can be a tricky matter. Cornell University has created a very helpful Copyright Information Center which can help you navigate the copyright maze. In particular, this comprehensive chart lists dates that will help you figure out if something is in the public domain.

With so much material available in the public domain, I’m sure that more voice talent will create our own promotional videos instead of only narrating them for others! I’d love to hear from you if you have created or plan to create a promotional video using elements in the public domain, so leave your comments and video links on the blog!
 

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Book Trailers, Marketing, Narrators, Recordings, Videos, Voice-Over

Creating promo videos with public domain components part 1

5 June 2011

Recently, I had a wonderful e-mail exchange with up-and-coming voice artist Linda Velwest about creating a promotional video. Linda kindly gave me permission to repost her messages here on the blog so that others can benefit from this discussion.
 

Hi Karen,

I’ve been following your blog and I’ve been voluteering at librivox. My name there is lindavw. I just finished recording my first solo project and I’m waiting for it to be PL’d. I saw the trailer you made for your Alaska book and it inspired me to think about doing one for the book I just did! I hope you don’t mind me stealing your idea! It’s a good one. 

The book I read is a short YA book from the 1930’s about these girls who are in college and their adventures during their sophomore year. I was going to make a video with me talking about the book, maybe taking some lines from the book, and having a slideshow of colleges and college students from that time as the visual on the video.

I looked up on the internet and found a bunch of pictures of college students from that era. I found some great pictures from a variety of sources – some college handbooks that have pictures of their history, some pictures of movie starts of the time, some cool old pictures I also looked up the legality of using pictures in a video. And I’m kind of confused so I was hoping you could answer my questions or point me in the direction of sources that can. 

I am not a voice actress at this time. I’m taking classes, getting coaching and practicing all the time. But I’ve never actually been paid for anything. If I do make this video, I’ll post it around and use it as a way to promote myself and get my name out there. But I have no intention of getting paid anything for the book or the video. 

I think of it like a school project where I’m preparing to enter the workforce by dong things as similar to how a professional would do it as possible. I don’t want to do anything illegal or unethical and I don’t know what the boundaries are. 

Thanks for your inspiration and any help you can give me.

Linda Velwest

Here’s my response, with some formatting and highlighting added for readability.

Greetings, Linda! Thanks so much for the nice note; you made my day! I love the line in your last paragraph about preparing to enter the workforce. So many people dash off the question to me “I have been told I have a nice voice. How do I get started in voiceover?” without any thought or perusal of the wealth of info on my web site. It’s so refreshing to hear from someone who is working at building her skills and taking a methodical — and wise — approach to starting a new career. Bravo!

I’m delighted that you liked my book trailer and want to create one of your own. Not only do I not mind that you are using this idea, I expected and encouraged people to do so in this blog post.

As you’ll read in the comments, one voice talent used the idea to create a trailer for a local art exhibit and landed inquiries about creating a similar one for pay. Video is a very effective marketing technique! 

Also, take some cues from that article about ways to spread the video, as well as publicize your book. My book has been in the catalog for 1 week and has already been downloaded more than 500 times because I have been promoting it.

Think of the target audience for the book or how it might relate to a group of people, and you can figure out some places where those people hang out on-line. For instance, I posted the info and link to my book in the Alaska forum on CruiseCritic.com because it’s Alaska cruise season, and many people like to take audiobooks on a trip, particularly if it relates to their destination.

I really don’t have a lot of specific info I can share about picture copyrights. Generally, pictures on the Internet or in magazines, books, and papers are protected by copyright. You wouldn’t be able to use them or a derivative of them legally without permission of the owner. In gaining permission, you might have to pay a usage fee or royalties.

The same is true of music. You couldn’t use something from your own CD collection or off the web. I’ll come back to the music in a minute.

Most of the pictures in my video were from the public domain book I narrated, along with 1-2 that my husband took on our Alaskan cruise. As the photographer, he owns the copyright to those pictures and kindly granted me usage of them.

However, I also used some images from iStockPhoto.com, which is one of many on-line sites of stock images that you CAN use in your own work. Photographers and videographers upload their work to these sites. You purchase a picture or video clip, and a usage license comes with it. I’ve also bought and used these pictures in my blog.

The music in my video was from a royalty-free collection of CDs that I have purchased. You can buy royalty-free music on-line by song, CD, or collection. As with the images, it may take some time to hunt down just the right thing.

Since you’ve found images that you like, you can always write to those people and request their permission to use it. They may say yes or no, or they may ignore you completely.

Sometimes the copyright owner will surprise and thrill you with their response. In chapter 12 of my book, the author included the chorus lyrics from a Stephen Foster song “Old Black Joe”, and she described the setting for it. I first planned to sing the song in the narration (I did that with another Victorian song in the book), but I didn’t know the melody.

In researching it, I found a rendition on iTunes that captured the scene to perfection. While the song is in the public domain, and therefore free of copyright restrictions, the performance of it is NOT public domain. The artist has the copyright on the performance.

It was so perfect, and I really wanted to use it in my book.

I found the artist on Facebook and sent a message to him. Not only did he immediately grant me permission to use the snippet, but he offered to help me promote it with Facebook ads! He quite clearly told me that he didn’t care of someone lifted the song out of the book and used it for something else. His purpose in recording it was to reawaken interest in these old songs.

[Important note: Since LibriVox dedicates all recordings to the public domain, anyone could lift your free book and sell it without sharing the revenue with you. See the excellent discussion on Some Audio Guy’s blog about this potential downside to volunteering on this or any other site that leaves your recordings in the public domain.]

[I uploaded the pertinent 1:08 section of the chapter with music if you’d like to hear it.] I am proud of the way it turned out!

I hope these thoughts are helpful. Send me the link to your video when you finish it; I’d love to see it! Best wishes for your health, success, and prosperity!

 

Linda responded with a great list of sites where you can obtain images and music that are in the public domain for use in your own creative pursuits. She also shared her very cool audiobook trailer. All of these goodies will be in part 2 of this topic, which I’ll post tomorrow. Hope to see you here!
 

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Book Trailers, Marketing, Narrators, Recordings, Videos, Voice-Over

Reasons to Create Your Own Stuff — Part 2

25 May 2011

Earlier this year, I wrote a popular article titled Reasons to Create Your Own Stuff. In it, I described the audiobook that I narrated for LibriVox and included a link to the book trailer I created to promote the audiobook. I also listed some of the marketing plans I had for the audiobook and trailer among my reasons to create my work in this way.

Two bonus reasons to create your own stuff prompted me to circle back to this topic today:

1) My FREE, 10.5-hour audiobook of A Woman Who Went to Alaska is now available for download from LibriVox or through iTunes as shown on this page.

Bonus reason #1 to create your own stuff:

Copywriters have known for years that the word FREE is one of the most powerful and compelling words in the English language. If you can give away something valuable for free, you can get the widest range of potential buyers to sample your products, which in this case, includes my voice and interpretation, my audiobook production skills, my ability to write an effective script for a video, and my creativity in video production.

2) Rajkumari from Mumbai, India, left a comment on my post 10 ways to get work in audiobook narration, noting that an audiobook culture is not prevalent in India. When I responded, I said, “If the audiobook culture doesn’t exist there, perhaps it’s up to you to create it!”

As I wrote that sentence, I was reminded of the important passage quoted below from Eckhart Tolle’s incredible and highly-recommended book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose:

Bonus reason #2 to create your own stuff:

If the thought of lack — whether it be money, recognition, or love — has become part of who you think you are, you will always experience lack.

Rather than acknowledge the good that is already in your life, all you see is lack. Acknowledging the good that is already in your life is the foundation for all abundance.

The fact is: Whatever you think the world is withholding from you, you are withholding from the world. You are withholding it because deep-down you think you are small and that you have nothing to give.

Try this for a couple of weeks and see how it changes your reality: Whatever you think people are withholding from you — praise, appreciation, assistance, loving care, and so on — give it to them. You don’t have it? Just act as if you had it, and it will come.

Then, soon after you start giving, you will start receiving. You cannot receive what you don’t give. Outflow determines inflow.

Whatever you think the world is withholding from you, you already have, but unless you allow it to flow out, you won’t even know that you have it.

I have found this passage to be true of past voiceover jobs. In fact, Tolle’s message was an underlying reason I decided to spend time narrating an audiobook as a service project. You see, I hadn’t narrated an audiobook in a while. So, rather than feeling like an audiobook gig was being withheld from me, I gave this one to the world.

It feels great to be able to give!

What do you think of Tolle’s assertion that you should give that which you think is withheld from you? Does it apply to your voiceover career or any other part of your life? I’d love to get your comments on the blog!

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Law of Attraction, Marketing, Narrators, Recordings, Voice-Over

10 ways to get work in audiobook narration

12 May 2011

Like many of you, I love audiobooks and want to make it my major niche in voiceover. A couple of colleagues recently sent me emails asking advice about obtaining more work in audiobooks. As you might imagine, I wrote a rather lengthy reply from which I will add a condensed version later in this post.

At the moment, though, I want to share some hot news with you. The audiobook publishing industry has changed overnight with Audible’s launch today of a new marketplace to connect audiobook rights holders with producers and narrators — the Audiobook Creation Exchange, or ACX.

ACX launched with over 1000 titles, many of which have real budgets associated with them. You can find titles that interest you and submit an audition.

However, ACX does not require a subscription fee from narrators. The thought is that the cream will rise to the top. Narration contracts wouldn’t be awarded to talent who have issues in vocal delivery or sound quality.

You can read the official announcement from Audible. For more details, you may want to read today’s blog article from my friend and fellow voice talent Dave Courvoisier.

As promised, here are 9 more ideas culled from my earlier emails to other voice talent that may help you meet and follow up with audio publishers so you can land work in audiobooks:

1)  Obtain publisher contact info and submit your audiobook demo to them. Marketing your audiobook demo is the tried and true, #1 way of getting audiobook work. You can get publisher and producer info from the Audiofile Audiobook Reference Guide (where you can also be listed for a fee) and the Audio Publishers Association, if you’re a member of it. Note that you should not submit a commercial demo to an audiobook publisher.

2)  If you already have worked for 1 audiobook publisher, how did you get the gig? Can you replicate those steps to bigger success?

3)  LinkedIn searches can lead to work. Have you contacted publishers directly or asked for introductions to them from among your LinkedIn contacts?

4)  Volunteer to improve your skills, for instance at a local organization that reads to the blind. Why not create something because you WANT to, rather than for the money and fame? (The money and fame will come.)  

5)  I went to Pat Fraley’s audiobook class in 2006. One idea he presented to the class was to suggest a title (ideally with a movie tie-in) and send a custom demo to a publisher.

6)  Connect with publishers on social media sites.  Commenting on the publishers’ posts on Facebook congratulating them on Twitter, etc. seems like a non-pushy way to follow up and consistently get your name in front of people who may hire you. Also, are you may want to become an active member on the Audiobook Community Facebook page.

7)  Think about a value added service you can offer to publishers. How much and what kind of promotion do you do for the other projects you have voiced? How are your video skills? I think if I can show added value to a publisher in marketing, such as by creating a video book trailer, publishers may be more inclined to want to hire me to narrate a book.

8)  Start your own audiobook company and sell your offerings as digital downloads through Amazon. With tons of books in the public domain, you just have to look around for suitable books.

9) This last one may sound far-fetched, but give yourself an attitude adjustment every day in the mirror. Tell yourself “this is could be the day that an audiobook publisher offers me a narration contract for an audiobook that will get great reviews.” Things I’ve been speaking into the mirror have been coming to pass!

I know that audiobook work, like everything else in a thriving voiceover career, requires persistence, patience, and an attitude of gratitude. I also know that the more I relax and go with the flow, the more things like lucrative voiceover gigs come to me. I can look back over the last 11 years in voiceover and see where I have tried too hard to make things happen. When you try too hard, you actually push away the good that was on its way.

You and I cannot be denied the good that is on its way to us. If I don’t have something in my reality now, I know it’s on its way to me….like my Grammy for Best Spoken Word after working the ideas in this list!

Can you add some more ideas about gaining work as an audiobook narrator? I’d love to get your comments on the blog!

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Marketing, Narrators, Voice-Over

Every passion does not lead to a career choice

9 May 2011

Recently, I received this message as a comment on the entry A plan to break into voice-over:

Karen,

I can not tell you how thankful I am for your blog, and your selfless giving of voice over artistry information.

I am at turning point in my life and realize I’ve been working 20 years in a industry I have NO PASSION FOR!  In thinking, “how do I change this?”, I remembered the excitement I felt when asked to record automated attendant messages twice in my career. I’ve always been told I have a good voice and can’t wait to become a part of the community.

I know a lot of hard work will be involved but one day I hope to be successful and pass on my knowledge just as you.

You are wonderful,
God Bless,
Veronica

While I truly appreciate and am grateful for Veronica’s praise about my blog, I want to talk about her paragraph about passion. The key is not to find a job and industry that you are passionate about, but to create a LIFE that you are passionate about!

The last sentence was written with apologies to my eighth grade English teacher Mrs. Ellington, who would hate to see me ending the sentence with a preposition. She made us memorize a list of prepositions, and I credit her with my strong knowledge of and passion for English grammar.

There’s that word again — PASSION.

When people feel that something is missing in their life, they often say they want to feel passionate about something. Rather than doing the self-reflection necessary to understand what is missing in their life and make adjustments, I have observed that most people hurriedly make 1 or — even worse — a combination of the 4 life-changing decisions below. I’ve also included some of the common thought patterns that may lead people to the decision.

1) Have a baby 

  • “A baby would bring us closer.”
  • “A baby would always love me.”
  • “I might get a reality TV show if I have enough kids.” (If you don’t believe me on this point, do you remember the Octo-mom, or have you counted the number of shows about huge families on the TLC channel?)

2) Change residences

  • “I’d be happy if only I had more space.”
  • “I’m tired of this neighborhood.”

3) Change jobs

  • “I have no passion for my job or industry.”
  • “I’d be happy if only I made more money.”

4) Change relationship (get married or divorced, find a new love interest)

  • “I want to be in love again.”
  • “I’d be happy if someone paid attention to me.”
  • “You don’t bring me flowers. You don’t sing me love songs.”

Unfortunately, making any of those decisions without FIRST analyzing the cause of your feelings of discontentment will not solve the problem. Instead, the change will only serve to complicate the underlying issue, which often can be summed up as a matter of self-love.

If I were having a conversation with Veronica, I’d ask her these questions:

  • What was it about recording the phone messages that you liked?
  • Why did it matter to you?
  • Did you like knowing you were helping people?
  • Did you feel important or special to be asked to record the messages?
  • Did you get a buzz knowing that people would be hearing your voice when they called the number?

Veronica’s answers to these questions could be very illuminating in ways that she wouldn’t expect.

In her landmark books Wishcraft: How To Get What You Really Want and I Could Do Anything if I Only Knew What It Was, Barbara Sher wrote about finding your touchstone, which is the emotional core of the goal. When thinking about the things you like to do, you can find your touchstones by asking yourself thoughtful, probing questions like those above for Veronica. When you know WHY something is important to you, you make much better choices.

From Veronica’s message, it seems obvious that she has done some serious thinking and decided to embark on a new career in voiceover. Since I don’t know Veronica, I can only speculate about her answers and motivation to become a voice talent in the hope that it gives you food for thought about finding your own touchstones and designing the life you want.

For instance, I wonder if Veronica has a touchstone of recognition. If so, changing jobs to become a voice talent may not be the most satisfying way to bring more recognition into her life. In fact, if she knew that recognition was the thing that she felt was missing in her life, she might figure out ways to get it in the very job for which she says she has no passion.

Her touchstone might have something to do with becoming wealthy. If that’s the case, she will feel discouraged to read an article by fellow voice talent J. S. Gilbert’s. His thoughtful, in-depth analysis of the annual salary review in Parade magazine notes that a voice talent profiled in the review had the lowest income of any of the respondents. He also mentions that his article may extinguish the flames of passion.

Of course, Veronica may truly have a touchstone that involves creative expression through her voice — something more meaningful than simply being told she has a nice voice. Every person who contacts me about getting into voiceover tells me that exact same thing! I’m not picking on Veronica here. I’m just pointing out that the people who write to me probably have nice eyes, nice fingernails, and nice knee caps, but, since no one has complimented those things, the prospective voice talent don’t try to turn them into career choices.

Without further exploration on Veronica’s part, she wouldn’t know whether she should become a voiceover talent, a puppeteer, singer, telemarketer, lawyer, or a political advocate. These choices could have the same touchstone but would require wildly different actions.

I think we all yearn for some way for creative expression, and the lack of it may be at the root of some of the dissatisfaction with our lives. I’ve read that Adolf Hitler dreamed of being an artist but couldn’t get into art school. Can you imagine how much better the world would be if he had only followed his dream?

Where other people paint a canvas using brushes, I do it with words, either by giving voice to words written by others or putting my voice into words for others to read. The right kind of creative expression for each person would be that thing they want to do for its own intrinsic enjoyment. Maybe it becomes a career choice, but then again, maybe it doesn’t.

Through her self-assessment, Veronica might realize that she needs the cheers or applause from an audience. Voiceover is usually a solitary pursuit, which again indicates it wouldn’t be a good career choice. She might even realize that she doesn’t enjoy reading!

On the other hand, she could be passionate about using her voice to make a difference for others, but she doesn’t want to take on all of the myriad responsibilities associated with running a business as a voice talent. In that case, Veronica might prefer to volunteer to read for the blind or the children’s story hour at the library.

You can have passion for a lot of things, but you don’t have to make a career from them. You don’t have to make any money from them at all. As an example, I use my passion for English grammar when writing these blog entries and my private journals.

I’m also passionate about the Eiffel Tower. I have a web cam app that lets me view it any time I want to see it. I just spent my birthday week in Paris, and we stayed in an amazing apartment a block away from the Tower. It was so close that I felt like I could touch it out the open window.

While there, I found a way to combine my passions for writing and fine pens with my passion for the Eiffel Tower — collecting antique inkwells featuring the Eiffel Tower. I’ve started researching pictures on-line and creating a compendium of available styles along with selling prices.

Voice talent Karen Commins marries her passions for writing and the Eiffel Tower
by collecting antique souvenir inkwells from Paris featuring the Eiffel Tower.
In this one, the Tower tilts back to reveal the ink reservoir underneath.

 
Will I ever make any money from this new hobby? Probably not, but it’s not my intent to make money from it. My intent is to honor my touchstones of romance and beauty by bringing those attributes into my life (and consequently, these antique inkwells into my display cases!) as much as possible.

The good news is that each time you follow your passion in one area, the enthusiasm, excitement, and joy you feel from your new discoveries will overflow into every other area of your life. As a result of simply researching what it takes to work in voiceover, Veronica has already increased the level of positive energy — or passion — in her life.

If, after spending time in contemplation and figuring out that a voiceover career truly gratifies your touchstones, don’t be too hasty to quit your current job. Since security is one of my touchstones, you can trust me when I encourage you to think of your current job as a subsidy to your art.

Every moment has meaning, so whatever you’re doing now will only help you in the years to come. By analyzing your touchstones, you can figure out what’s missing in your life and take the action needed to develop a rich, full, wonderful life that you are PASSIONATE about!
 

Filed Under: Away From the Mic, Law of Attraction, Narrators, Voice-Over

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