Karen@KarenCommins.com

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™

Karen Commins

Trying to get a voiceover agent?

Suddenly, I am receiving a rash of emails with the question: “can you direct me to some Atlanta voiceover agents?”

Many people think that the key to voiceover success lies with an agent. Once you get an agent, you just have to sit back and let the lucrative offers come in, right? Ah, if only it were so easy to make money at your microphone!

This week, someone wrote to me about getting an agent while still enjoying the flush of success from working his first paid gig. He lives in another city and was ready to get on a plane to Atlanta to meet agents. In responding, I explained that I was offering this information in the same spirit of helpfulness that I write my blog.

If you’ve only booked one job, it’s doubtful that you’re ready for a voice-over agent to want to represent you.

In order to land a voice-over agent, you have to show that you are a marketable commodity and can offer them something that they don’t already have among the people they represent. You should listen to the reels of their talent to determine whether and how you might fit on their roster.

You also want to compare the professional sound of your demo against those you hear on-line. Those professionals are your competition for booking jobs. If your demo is homemade, you’ll want to invest in any necessary training with a coach before getting a professionally produced demo.

Hard work, initiative, and knocking on doors does indeed pay off. I just think you need to knock on some other doors to establish yourself before you approach an agent. You can get work without an agent; agents are just one avenue, not the only avenue, of obtaining work.

Check out the advice page on my site and look in the archives of my blog for more in-depth advice and resources on finding and marketing yourself to people who might hire you right where you are. To quote Teddy Roosevelt:  do what you can, where you are, with what you have.

 
I guess my answer above is just another case where I tell people what they need to know, not what they want to hear.

A few other thoughts about agents:

  • Far too many organizations are ready to prey on people’s dreams by taking their money and giving them unfilled promises in return. Modeling/talent agencies that set up in malls, organizations that hold “open casting calls” or regular searches for new talent, and places that run radio ads are probably some sort of school that makes their money from selling classes and pictures, not from booking talent. A legitimate voiceover agent doesn’t need to solicit more talent, and they only charge you when you book a gig through them, usually 10-15% of the gig!
  • If the agency doesn’t have a voiceover department, I doubt they could really help you.
  • You probably don’t want to sign an exclusive agreement with one agent. Many voice actors have numerous agents located across the country and in other parts of the world. To reduce potential conflicts of interest among your agents and clients, it’s best if you only have one agent per city or geographic region. Also, the relationship gets tricky when you receive the same copy from multiple agents. In those cases, I send the audition to whomever sent it to me first.
  • If you are active with your marketing, be sure any prospective agents are not threatened by your efforts. One agent asked to represent me because she loved my clever pieces of direct mail and then dropped me a year later (after rarely sending me an audition), telling me that she felt my marketing competed with her. I have booked most of my work as a result of my own marketing, so I would not sign with another agent who discourages it.

 
If you still worry that you don’t have an agent, you are focusing on what you perceive you lack in your life. Instead, look at and be grateful for all you have. Keep a list of your accomplishments ready for review so that you can maintain your confidence and positive outlook.

A good talent agent can send you auditions and open doors that were previously closed to you. With polished skills, research, and patience, you will be able to attract the right agent representation at just the right time.

Photo: iStockphoto / Talaj
 

4 Lessons to Help You Keep That Client

Aflac fired Gilbert Gottfried after the so-called comedian made crude, tasteless jokes on Twitter about the Japanese earthquake/tsunami disaster.

In case you didn’t know, Gottfried was the voice of the company’s signature spokesduck for many years.

It’s not the first time that a major company fired a voiceover talent due to the talent’s remarks that reflected badly on the company. In April, 2010, D.C. Douglas left a politically-charged voice mail message as a private citizen that set off a media frenzy. The negative public attention and pressure from the political group caused GEICO to fire him from a new campaign.

What can we learn from these 2 scenarios?

1. Although you work on a freelance basis, you should consider yourself to be your client’s employee.

Voice talents generally know about conflicts of interest. You shouldn’t voice a script for a competing product in the same market.

However, we need to take the employee stance even further. Since anything you do could reflect on s/he who pays your invoice, it’s in your best interest to avoid doing anything that even has the hint of impropriety. If you’ve never read an employee code of conduct manual, take a look at this sample document to see the wide range of attributes expected of an employee. You may find ways to improve your dealings with your clients.

For instance, many scripts are now arriving with a non-disclosure agreement in which the talent promises they will not share their involvement in any form, including posts on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites. If you always acted like an employee, you wouldn’t risk disclosing proprietary information about your clients.

2. A little integrity goes a long way.

Integrity is defined as a soundness of moral character and honesty. Its synonyms are virtue and honor.

In my voiceover business, integrity means that I won’t voice scripts that are dishonorable, like political ads that attack an opponent rather than discuss the plans of the candidate in the ad. I compare any script to my moral compass to decide whether I will perform it. I won’t voice a script just for the money.

Integrity also means treating other people with kindness and respect, something Gottfried apparently overlooks in favor of making jokes at others’ expense.

3. Words have creative power.

I believe so strongly in the power of our words that I led a session about it last month at Faffcon. You can use words to build up or tear down yourself or others. Since you always have a choice about the words you think, say, and write, why would you choose to create more negativity in the world?

4. What you put out in the world comes back to you.

I usually tell people that the energy you put out comes back to you in a way better than you could expect. In those instances, I am talking about productive actions that propel one toward achieving their dreams.

However, this theory holds true even for those counterproductive actions that destroy dreams. In those cases, the negative energy will also come back to you in a way you probably didn’t expect. The key is to decide beforehand whether the action enhances life or diminishes it.

Many people don’t seem to realize that the creative power of their words coupled with a broadcast medium (TV or Internet) can cause the energy to come back in an exponential form, either positively or negatively. As I’ve written previously, the words you write on-line live on into perpetuity. I am continuously shocked by the things that I’ve seen other voiceover talent post on various sites, particularly a few vicious flame wars in one LinkedIn voiceover forum.

When a celebrity writes on-line, the power of the words is magnified. In Gottfried’s case, the venom he spewed into the world came back to him in the form of intensely angry public feedback and the loss of a lucrative, long-term gig.

Even if you don’t believe that doing good things in the world will attract good things to you, you’ll never know for sure unless you give it a try. Besides, I’m pretty sure that Aflac will be looking for someone who radiates with positive energy when they begin their nationwide search for a new voice for their quirky quacker.
 

Fantastic FaffCon!

Attendees at the original FaffCon had nothing but glowing things to say about it. After all, how often do voiceover actors get to spend an entire weekend in the company of other working professional voice talent, much less actually sharing ways to improve our performances and business operations to get more work?

I was unable to attend the first FaffCon, held last September in Portland, OR. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know that I would have attended the second one if travel had been involved. However, to my great delight, FaffCon2 was held this weekend in Atlanta. Add me to the list of the glowing FaffCon alumni! Not only that, but I’m already making plans to attend the next one! And yes — there WILL BE a next one, so keep reading!

Let me start by saying that this or any other blog post cannot do justice to the event! I have pages of notes and a head full of great ideas about tactics to take my voiceover business to an even higher level. I finally met people in person whom I’ve known on-line for years, and I also made new friends. Most exciting of all, another participant had an amazing idea as a result of one of the sessions and asked me to collaborate on a new project!

FaffCon Founder Amy Snively guides participants in Atlanta.

 
FaffCon is the brain child of the vivacious and indefatigable Amy Snively. While FaffCon might seem like a big voice talent meet-up where people just schmooze with each other, it actually is a potentially life-changing educational event that requires tremendous planning and organizational skills. I am extremely impressed with how smoothly everything ran, and I don’t know how Amy possibly had time to sit and enjoy the sessions.

In terms of voiceover training, FaffCon is unique because it:

  • is entirely participant-driven
  • fosters cooperation and camaraderie rather than competition as egos are left at home
  • doesn’t have sales booths in the back — or in any part — of the meeting rooms
  • gives participants unparalleled access to go “behind the curtains” to learn success strategies from other professional voice talent and industry leaders

Participants jockey to post topics and decide sessions to attend.

 
Amy explained that we should think of FaffCon as a field of golden nuggets. You have golden nuggets to share with others, and you’ll get some in return. However, no one knows when and how those nuggets might turn up. You may not even know you received a nugget until you’re away from FaffCon and review your notes.

In order to encourage everyone to reveal their secret formulas to success, what happens at FaffCon is supposed to stay at FaffCon. Some of the session highlights for me were:

  • 3 sessions with the charming and extremely knowledgeable David Goldberg from Edge Studio in which he discussed and demonstrated why the vast majority of demos are rejected along with other marketing Q&As
  • Numerous methods to attract repeat clients from the creative and clever Mercedes Rose
  • Inspiration to “invite the avalanche” from the highly esteemed yet incredibly humble Bob Souer
  • Positive energy and synergy generated in the session that I led, “The Power of Your Words Away From the Mic”.

I need to decompress, think carefully about what I heard, and develop an action plan to use the armful of golden nuggets that I received. As I said to a number of people over the weekend, everything about my voiceover business is an evolution. FaffCon was a much-needed jolt to help my business evolve exponentially instead of incrementally!

If you’re a working voice-over talent who wants to improve your business, make plans NOW to attend FaffCon3 this fall! I hope to see you there!

FaffCon logo for event scheduled 23-25 September 2011 in Hershey, PA.

 

A Demonstration of My Soundproof Studio

When I started my voiceover career, I recorded in a tiny closet with accordion doors. The room is upstairs on the front of the house and faces the street. The only entrance to our subdivision is about 150 yards away from my house.

Consequently, 99% of my 200+ neighbors must pass my house every time they enter or leave. To make matters worse, we live at the top of a hill. The neighbors step on the gas to get up that hill. I constantly had to stop my recordings every time a car passed.

Moving to a walk-in closet across the hall helped to alleviate some of the car traffic noises. However, it didn’t help with the air traffic, leaf blower, lawnmower, and other noises around here. The county airport is not far from our house, so planes with small propellers are constantly flying overhead.

In 2005, we decided to take drastic measures to reduce the noise. We started by replacing all of the windows on our house with triple-pane, casement windows. Instead of the common double-hung windows, which have 2 pieces that open by sliding them up or down, casement windows are one piece which opens outward. The movement forms a better seal to the house, and the 3 panes of glass with krypton gas between them significantly buffer outside noises.

We also built my stunning soundproof studio employing the following techniques:

  • 2 layers of ceilings with R30 insulation between them
  • 2 layers of 5/8″ drywall (instead of the usual single layer of 1/2″ drywall) in each of the ceiling layers and all 4 walls
  • 2×6 studs instead of 2×4 to provide additional space for insulation
  • sound barrier insulation under the siding and R30 insulation in the walls
  • air pocket between the garage and the studio
  • 2 entrances, each with an air pocket between 2 doors
  • no windows
  • built on a concrete slab

I bought a 6’x8′ WhisperRoom sound isolation booth. The WhisperRoom adds more density and air pockets in my quest for silence. Since the floor is on wheels, it can eliminate the low, rumbling noises that could be generated by passing trucks.

What a joy to record in this room! I can’t remember a time when I had to stop work due to a noise outside the studio.

I thought you might like to see and hear a short demonstration of the effectiveness of my studio. Using my iPhone4, I made a little video today after Drew started his motorcycle. I deliberately left the video in one continuous, unedited take, so I apologize in advance for any jerky movement. Turn your speakers up to really hear the difference!

PS. If you’re considering a room addition on your house, you’ll want to absorb my lessons learned before you hire a contractor. Download your free copy of Karen’s Crash Course in Avoiding Ca$h-Poor Contractors.

Exercise Your Creativity to be a Better Voice Talent

Creativity is not something that you wait for.
Creativity is something that waits for you.

— Neale Donald Walsch

A few years ago, Drew gave me a Valentine’s present of joint membership at a local pottery studio. While we weren’t envisioning a re-do of the famous scene from the movie Ghost, we had been interested in learning how to create some crockery. Instead, I learned something more valuable through the experience:

When I exercise my creativity in a new or different way, I’m more creative in other areas.

Each time I came home from the pottery studio, I might perform a voiceover audition with more inspired choices, play my harp more fluidly, or design a scrapbook page with lots of layers and textures. Any of these things make me feel even more pleased and give me the desire to do more.

I discovered this theory holds true when I attempt to draw in my journal. Even writing this blog, which itself is an artistic endeavor, causes me to feel more innovative when I finish each entry.

No matter how you express yourself, each way that you can be creative is scooping more good stuff into your life from the same bountiful well. Why use a teaspoon when you can use a jug?

In the last week, I’ve done a couple of things in marketing my voiceover business that allowed me to express my creativity in new ways. First, I created the book trailer video for an audiobook, which I included and discussed in my previous entry “Reasons to Create Your Own Stuff”. Many voice talent have written to me saying that they felt inspired by the ideas and marketing info that I presented, so I encourage you to read that entry if you haven’t already.

The other thing I did was enter the Voices.com photo contest on their Facebook page. They wanted pictures of voice talent in their studios with the Voices.com web site displayed on some sort of screen. While winning the prize would be wonderful, I entered because it was a direct call to action to be creative. After all, the judging criteria is the “most creative, coolest picture”.

I wanted to do something with recursion. In computer programming, recursion occurs when the program calls itself repeatedly. I also wanted the picture to be as much about me as Voices.com, making it good marketing material for both of us.

It only took a few minutes to come up with an idea that met both of those objectives.

Atlanta voice talent Karen Commins can’t get enough of Voices.com!

 
I have been most gratified by and grateful for the overwhelming positive response I have received in sharing these dips into my creativity well. I’m thrilled to have inspired others, but I also benefit since creativity feeds upon itself and manifests in my voiceover business. More importantly, I live an even happier and rewarding life!

What are you doing to feed your creative spirit? I’d love to get your comments on the blog!
 

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.