Since I recently began including my Twitter entries in my blog, I thought you might enjoy reading this interesting article in the Nashville Business Journal. It highlights the success stories of several businesses in using Twitter to build their brand and their business. Voice talent will find some ideas for implementation in your own marketing plan.
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:
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.
Dear loyal readers of my blog,
You may be surprised to see Twitter updates appearing instead of my normal essays about the topics of voice-over, marketing, and audiobooks. I have not abandoned my style or intention in maintaining this blog for voice talent. However, three life-altering events during the past 6 months — primarily the loss of my mother — have left me with little time to write anything of length.
I also realized that many of the links I have posted on Twitter are often excellent resources for voice talent and audiobook narrators. Even if you’re following me on Twitter (and if you’re not, it’s always a good time to start!), you may have missed some of this useful information.
Therefore, I am including my tweets as a supplement — not a replacement — to my usual writing on this blog. I have more feature-length articles in the works. I also plan to expand my content to include more short entries like this one since I know it can be difficult to make time to read a longer article.
I thank you for your continued interest in and support of this blog, and I hope you are living the life of your dreams!
Cordially,
Karen Commins
Photo credit: Akirastock/iStockPhoto
Karen’s narration of this entry
It was such a gorgeous day yesterday that Drew and I wanted to go swimming. We called our gym, hoping that the outdoor pool might be open. Most outdoor swimming pools closed Labor Day weekend, and the gym pool was no exception.
I have always loved swimming, especially outdoors in the sunshine. Not only is swimming fantastic physical exercise, but it’s also a wonderful meditative activity. I can’t think about too much other than the present moment if I want to keep track of my lap count! Since voiceover is always on my mind, it’s no surprise that I began thinking of parallels between swimming and voice-over during a recent swim.
Sunny summer day at the swimming pool at Lifetime Fitness, Duluth GA
Warm up
If I don’t warm up with some stretches before I get in the water, I will find it a greater struggle to get from one end of the pool to the other. In addition, muscles that I didn’t know I had — like around my collarbone — will wait a day before complaining about my lack of preparation.
Warm-up is also necessary before voicing copy. If I don’t warm up my vocal chords with some cold reading or tongue twisters, my voice will not be at my natural pitch and will gravel out in the lower range.
Build and maintain stamina
When I started swimming again, I was breathing hard and completely worn out by the time I finished one pool length. Like other things, I’ve found that the more you do, the more you can do. If I stop swimming for a week, I lose some of my endurance and have to work up to my previous level.
The same is true with voice-over. I need stamina to narrate long scripts or audiobooks. If I don’t practice everyday, including while on vacation, I can tell that I’m breathing heavier when I return to the recording booth. Yes, this is another plug for daily voice-over practice because it will help you with your breath control.
Isolate the sound
I am easily bothered by noise, and I hate hearing all of the shrill shrieking of kids at the pool, especially when we swim in the indoor pool at our gym. I was shocked to discover from a friend that you can listen to music under water! After she told me about it, Drew searched for products and found the H2O Audio Waterproof Case that houses my iPod Shuffle. The Shuffle housing has changed swimming for me forever! Now I listen to music as I swim, which helps me concentrate on my exercise rather than other people. I’ve also thought that I may use my swimming time to catch up on voiceover podcasts.
Like me, my Neumann TLM 103 microphone is very sensitive to unwanted noises. Due to my house’s location, I had serious and continuous interruption from a wide variety of outside noises when I was recording. As a result, I had to take extreme measures and add a room to my house for my voiceover studio. My studio is custom-built for recording with special soundproofing measures. The room has no windows, 2 layers of ceilings with added insulation, 2 sets of doors at each entrance with barrier space and 2 layers of 5/8″-thick drywall covering the walls. I installed a WhisperRoom sound isolation booth inside my new room, which raises me up from the floor and provides greater soundproofing. By investing in the construction of my soundproof studio, I am able to concentrate on what’s important — my script interpretation and vocal delivery. I’m not distracted by external noises like lawnmowers because I don’t hear them. While you may not need to build a special room for your voiceover business, you do need to isolate the sound to produce a recording as pure and clear as a chlorinated pool.
Focus on your goals
The endless repetition of swimming from one end of the pool to the other is far from exciting. On a day-to-day basis, it can seem like I’m doing the same thing for no reason. I can talk myself out of going to the gym for any number of reasons like weather, errands, or a desire to relax. However, I am working to make swimming a natural part of my daily routine. I have big health and fitness goals I want to reach, and exercise will help me get there. It’s important to do something I like. I create little goals each swimming session, like swimming more laps or improving my speed. I can’t see much incremental improvement, but I do notice improvement over time.
The voiceover audition process is equivalent to swimming laps. It can seem monotonous to perform endless auditions and win few, if any, of them. On a daily basis, it may even seem like your voice-over career is standing still. As with exercise, it can be so easy to become frustrated with gradual, incremental change. I’ve learned that feelings of frustration or disappointment only block me from moving forward.
I’ve also learned the hard way that every time you criticize yourself or bemoan your current status, it’s an act of self-negation and stops the good from coming to you. If you constantly focus on what you DON’T have, the Universe has no choice but to keep serving up more of the same to you. It’s therefore ultra important to maintain a positive, “keep-the-faith” outlook, and keep doing things you like. If the auditions aren’t working well at the moment, turn to some other aspect of your business where you can exert positive energy such as contacting prospects and clients or creating your own work. By always focusing on what you WANT, you will get a steady stream of inspired ideas for action that will bring you closer to your goals.
Monitor your form
One reason that I like swimming in the sunshine is because the sun casts strong shadows. By observing the shadows of my hands as they enter the water, I’m reminded to keep my fingers together.
Along with a shower and brushing my teeth, part of my morning routine includes narrating a daily spiritual guide and recording it into my digital voice recorder. Nobody hears this recording except me. It’s just one of the ways that I practice and monitor my narration form, which makes me better when I’m in my recording booth. I also record my sessions with my coach (with her permission) so that I can listen to the playback and hear how I modified my approach based on direction.
Make course corrections
One afternoon at the outdoor pool, I noticed it was difficult to swim a straight line from one end of the pool to another. I first thought I was tired, or maybe I couldn’t see due to the sun in my face. I soon realized the problem was the water current. You see those 2 big water slides in my picture? When they are running, a steady flow of water rushes from them, and an erratic flow of people of different sizes come through them, causing splashes of various sizes. The lap lanes nearest the water slides have the greatest fluctuations in current. I could either keep fighting against the current or make a course correction and have a more enjoyable time. In this case, a course correction might mean moving to another lane, going to the indoor pool, or waiting until the lifeguard break when the water slides don’t run.
Your voice-over career will also require you to constantly observe current conditions and make course corrections. We wish it could be a straight and quick line from never voicing the first word to being the rich and famous voice actor beloved by millions of adoring fans.
However, our paths rarely follow a straight and simple line. You may have identified a niche where you want to work, only to learn that the target market is difficult to contact. Sometimes the market doesn’t want your voice in a particular area like commercials; it wants you for something else like phone systems. Don’t fall in the trap of condemning your past action as a failure; just gently think of your next action as a course correction. Being flexible and open to opportunity allows the Universe to act on your behalf and fulfill your dreams in a way you didn’t expect.
Balance your life
Voice-over is a huge part of my life, but it’s not the only thing in my life. When I swim — especially outside on a sunny day — I’m reminded of the big, beautiful world that awaits me outside my house and away from my computer. I’m also proud of myself for taking action on fitness goals. I need my health as a foundation for everything else in my life, including my voice-over career. Even superstar swimmer Michael Phelps made time to do other things, like go to school.
Some days, I work 10 hours in my studio, barely taking time for anything like eating lunch or retrieving the mail from the mailbox. I’ve read messages from other talent for whom 15-hour days seem to be normal. Honestly, I don’t want to be someone who consistently works 15-hour days. My life would be completely off kilter, and my voice would reflect the stress and strain. I’m more relaxed and productive in my reads by making voice-over work ONE of the things in my day instead of the ONLY thing in my day.
Although fall is upon us, I’m happy that I can continue to swim at my gym’s indoor pool. In addition to getting good exercise, I find that I get creative ideas for my voiceover business in the process. I’ve read that something about the ions in the water increases creativity….but that’s probably another topic for another day! Does your exercise routine help you improve in your voice-over career? I’d love to read your comments on this subject on the blog.
Refashion. Reorganize. Remodel. Repair. Revise. Reinvent. Reshape. Reform. Rearrange. Repurpose. Revamp. Renew. Revitalize. Rejuvenate.
No matter which word you pick, you now know what my web site designer and I “R” doing, which explains why I haven’t posted a blog entry in over a month.
No worries. I have so many ideas about voiceover and marketing still to discuss! I appreciate your patience during my web site renovation and promise to return with new content later in the month to reclaim my place in the voiceover blogosphere!
Photo credit: Skip ODonnell/iStockPhoto
Karen’s narration of this entry
You see, Washington Roebling was an engineer — not just any engineer, but the chief engineer behind the famous Brooklyn Bridge. I recently read David McCullough’s fascinating and extremely well-researched novel The Great Bridge, which describes the people, risks, relationships, political environment, and long processes involved to build that bridge. It’s the sort of sweeping, satisfying book that I would love to narrate, but these historical books are usually about men and therefore narrated by men in the audiobook. But I digress …
Part of the story that is so remarkable is that Roebling fell seriously ill and wasn’t even on-site during much of the construction, yet he pressed on until the Brooklyn Bridge was completed and his dream realized. With his wife’s admirable and steadfast assistance, Roebling wrote such an incredible collection of notes and designs that his assistant engineers were able to complete the work to his specifications without his supervision.
The on-line Merriam-Webster dictionary defines vitality as physical or mental vigor especially when highly developed. I can’t agree too much with Roebling’s assessment that vitality is necessary to accomplish anything of importance, especially a voice-over career. However, I would also add time to the equation.
Many people jump into voiceovers with the expectation that a lucrative and easy career awaits them. Unlike an engineer, they don’t study the landscape or make calculations about the best way to proceed. They may give up before achieving the level of success that they seek.
I have often heard that entertainers and sports stars who are considered to be an overnight success usually have been working diligently and learning their profession for 10 years or more. This passage in John Maxwell’s book Put Your Dreams to the Test: 10 Questions that Will Help You See It and Seize It better explains that theory:
I thought again about the time and energy needed to complete a dream while we watched Macy’s July 4th fireworks on the Hudson River. We were treated to a spectacular 30-minute show, but the tremendous planning and coordination, including the actual fireworks manufacture and testing, must have started as soon as the festivities were finished last year, or perhaps even earlier. I created a short video of some highlights from the fireworks and added music from my royalty-free library. I am posting the video here for your viewing pleasure.
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Time and vitality have been necessary ingredients in my voice-over business since its inception. Like anyone, I have had and continue to have personal challenges, like the losses of my dad in 2003 and my mother just 2 months ago in May. In the past couple of weeks, Drew and I were shocked to learn that his position as a lead software engineer has been eliminated after 12 years of employment with his company, so we unexpectedly are starting a new chapter of our lives.
I don’t bring up my personal obstacles to gain your sympathy but to point out that vitality is needed to sustain the momentum in my voice-over career while time marches on. You may have noticed that even my blog entries lately required an unusual amount of time and energy to complete. Many days, I have to judge my progress on my voice-over dreams based on incremental forward movement. However, like Roebling and his bridge, I continue to focus on my vision of success, counting my blessings and victories as I go along.
What kind of correlation do you notice between time and energy in pursuing your voice-over goals? I’d love to hear from you with comments on the blog!
