Karen@KarenCommins.com

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™

Marketing

TDIMH — Starting a business

This Date in My History — Sun., Jan. 9, 2000 1:33am

I actually still consider this to be Saturday night even though the clock says differently. It’s a new year, but I still have the old dream!

I mailed CDs and still have not had any calls or reply cards. I’m sure other people were as busy and distracted by Christmas as I was. I was also extremely distracted from my voice-over career by my pursuit of enough cash to order my Camac Clio harp! I finally ordered it on Wed., 12/29! Since then, I have been giving more thought to voice-overs; the last few days have even seen some action.

On Thursday, I bought the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Book of Lists so I could have the current information for my mail-outs. I didn’t know when or if the SCORE office would get it. I hated to pay $35 for it, but it would be worth it if even one job results from it.

Yesterday, Mike Estrada and I went to the Atlanta Public Library at lunch. I found that they have the Georgia Business Directory, so i was pleased to know I will be able to make my own copies rather than wait for the very nice but exceedingly slow gentleman at the SCORE office.

The library had another directory of radio stations not found at SCORE. I plan to go back one day next week and start making some copies.

My biggest endeavor lately has been the design of a postcard that I am going to mail to the top 75 ad agencies and top 20 radio stations as indicated in the Book of Lists. I spent about 5 bucks or so today (Sat.) designing and testing the printing of it. We even found some matte finish postcards at Office Max that will enable me to print the design edge-to-edge. I’m really excited by the design!

Tomorrow, I plan to begin entry for the database, as well as do the layout for the card reverse with my logo and the mail merge fields.

Today’s Take-aways:

1) When starting a business, research your potential customers. The library and organizations like SCORE are a treasure trove of free information. Of course, today Google and LinkedIn searches could turn up countless prospects!

2) There’s more to life than your voice-over business. Spend time doing those other things that are important to you, like playing music.

3) You can start a side business while continuing your present job if you’re willing to press any spare time into service of your dream. I often developed my voice-over business during my lunch breaks at my full-time job at the IRS.

4) You can create professional results in your DIY marketing materials by learning how to use available software and buying quality products.
 

New series — This Date in My History: Elance

Greetings, all, and happy new year! When I began my voice-over career in 1999, one of my friends suggested that I start a journal. She said that when Biography or Intimate Portrait wanted to highlight me in a show, I would have all of this great background material to share with them about how I progressed from voice-over newbie to superstar. 🙂

Initially, I only focused on writing my voice-over activities in my journal. Over time, though, I found it more helpful and interesting to write almost daily about everything in my life. I often look back at my journals and find answers to current problems along with treasured memories.

I highly recommend writing in a journal as a way to clarify your thinking. It’s important to me that I hand-write my entries as the act of writing will slow down my thoughts. Long-time readers also know that I love writing with fountain pens.

Tip #1:  If you aren’t writing in a journal, what better time to start one than a new year!

After transcribing parts of my journals in previous entries, I’ve decided to create an on-going series here on the blog of things I’ve written in my journals. I hope that you may also find answers to problems and learn from some of my mistakes!

This Date in My History: Elance

Elance logo

 
Saturday 1/5/02 10:00pm

I lost another bid on eLance. This is the one where the guy said “great bid”. He chose someone else who is a professional talent but only bid half of my bid. My unwillingness to literally sell myself short sure hasn’t gotten me any jobs on that system.

Tip #2: You won’t know if a marketing channel works for you until you try it. 

For more thoughts about on-line casting sites, you may want to read this article.

I look forward to sharing more of my journal entries with you!
 

Going Public for Audiobook Month and Some Pronunciation Info

June is Audiobook Month, and this is Audiobook Week!

To celebrate, a number of audiobook narrators are posting short recordings today in the Going Public project.

This audio project is the brainchild of narrator Xe Sands. Each Friday, new audio is offered  for free download. Xe describes the project as pieces

recorded purely for the joy of reading something that truly resonates with the narrator and then sharing that joy with others. Pieces are offered gratis on a weekly basis, without compensation of any sort either to the narrator or author.

The project is also a brilliant way to further perfect and market our voices and our talents as audiobook narrators!

Today, I’m presenting the short story “Black Thursday”. Author Melissa F. Miller graciously gave me permission to record her award-winning short story, which is the prequel to the suspense/thriller audiobook IRREPARABLE HARM.

In this story, first-year legal associate Sasha McCandless learns that her blessings come at a cost.

When performing audiobooks, one large part of the narrator’s job is the preliminary preparation. You need to pre-read a fiction book to know how the story flows and find clues about each character that will help you make good choices about their voice.

You also need to look up pronunciations of words. Since this short story dealt with a law firm, I needed to find out how to pronounce some legal terms.

I usually start by Googling “word pronunciation”, for example, “qui tam pronunciation”. Usually, dictionaries pop up first in the results, and I may quickly find what I need.

In this example, I found an interesting document from the American Bar Association which explains that lawyers differ on the pronunciation of qui tam. This material was an exciting find since it allowed me to further develop the character in my mind and decide which way he would say the phrase based on the back story I imagined for him.

Narrators Judith West and Heather Henderson collected and created an exceptional resource of pronunciation dictionaries and research techniques that is a treasure trove for any audiobook narrator: AudioEloquence.com

If you have some free time, take a listen to the contributions in Going Public. Like researching pronunciations for your book, you’ll never know what you’ll find!

Photo:  iStockPhoto/ContentWorks
 

3 pieces of email marketing research

When I wrote the article 5 pieces of e-mail marketing advice, I was referring to those times when you send a personal message rather than a general newsletter to your voiceover clients and prospects.

As you might expect, an e-mail newsletter has its own considerations. Since newsletters can be a great way to unobtrusively remind people that I am a voice talent, I have just started publishing a monthly newsletter. I want to share 3 things I learned in this process in case you want to create one, too.

1.  Automated software is a must.

Lately, I’ve been hearing radio ads from ConstantContact — yes, RADIO ads about email marketing! I’ve also been seeing banner ads for multiple email solutions on numerous other sites. Email marketing systems have obviously become a big business since people continue to have success in using email as part of their marketing plan.

You could send mail to your list using your own database and email client like Outlook. Another, more popular approach is to upload your database to an on-line service. Since on-line email services are so prevalent and offer an array of built-in features including templates and tracked statistics, it makes a lot of sense to use one if your finances can accommodate it. You can try the systems at no cost for a limited time or number of users in order to decide the best one for you.

Here’s some research that may help you decide which one to use.

Earlier in the year, I saw a question in a LinkedIn group in which the participants were asked for pros and cons about email marketing systems. An assistant started compiling the results for me and got through 254 of the hundreds of responses. I had no idea so many email systems exist! If you’re interested, here’s the full list from those 254 comments.

Of the 84 companies found in those first 254 responses, the top 5 companies, representing 73% of the total votes in my list, were:

ConstantContact 41 votes

iContact 23 votes

MailChimp 22 votes

AWeber 18 votes

MyEmma 11 votes

Aside from this list, you can do a Google search and quickly find a chart like this one that compares numerous features across multiple systems.

2.  Permission-based marketing is a BIG deal. A VERY BIG DEAL.

You’ve probably noticed that most emails from companies include a link to unsubscribe to mailings. That feature is mandated in the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

Beyond that law, though, people have extremely strong feelings about being added to mailings without their permission. In fact, adding someone to your mailing list without asking them first is quite the polarizing issue.

I can make this assertion after reading questions about creating mailing lists in multiple LinkedIn forums. Each time, the question elicited extremely passionate responses. I decided to create a LinkedIn poll in which I asked the question:

“When is it okay with you if someone adds 
your e-mail address to their e-mail newsletter?”
I offered several choices for answers:
  • You’re connected on LinkedIn or other sites
  • They gave you their business card
  • You have exchanged e-mail messages
  • All of the above
  • None of the above — they need permission

Of the 14 respondents, 9 voted NONE OF THE ABOVE, with ALL OF THE ABOVE being the choice of the other 5 participants.

The comments on the poll page linked above and in a similar question I asked in 2008 when I first considered a newsletter give you a good snapshot of opinions on both sides.

I decided to use iContact for my newsletter host, and I felt they went overboard on ensuring that you have permission to send the message to each contact. You have to click a checkbox in several places to validate that you have the reader’s permission.

Here’s what happened to me when I set up my contact list in the system:

  • I removed from my database a number of voiceover clients that I’ve dropped and prospects with whom I hadn’t established a relationship. In some cases, I had been out of touch with a person for 2-3 years, so I removed their names, too.
  • I uploaded my list of solid contacts from my stand-alone database.
  • I couldn’t add a name to my iContact mailing until the person confirms I have their permission, so I decided to let my contacts confirm their mailing addresses could be added to the newsletter list before sending them the newsletter.
  • iContact made me initial that I could contact the person even when I was sending the pre-addition confirmation letter! That’s a Catch-22 if ever there was one!

3.  Timing is [not] everything.

Voice talent live by the clock. Radio and tv ads need to be 15, 30, or 60 seconds. Agents need auditions at a certain time, and clients expect a fast-turnaround for recordings.

Email has its own timing. I’ve read that the best time to send your message is on a Tuesday morning. I planned for my first issue of Success Leaves Tracks to be distributed on Tuesday, 5 July.

The only problem was that I didn’t realize that I was going to hit the permission-based wall.

I thought I could add my database during the July 4th holiday weekend and have the newsletter appear in mailboxes when people returned to work on Tuesday. Nope. I needed their permission. I ended up sending out the “please confirm it’s okay to mail to you” messages on Friday, 1 July.

Let’s just say that I didn’t get quite the enthusiastic response I had hoped for!

In hindsight, I wouldn’t have sent my confirmation notices on any Friday, particularly one before a holiday weekend! I’m sure that many people deleted the message and moved on, which limits my potential to send them messages through iContact.

Even though my timing in setting up the database could have been better, I’m confident that the newsletter will find the right audience. After all, in the words of Buddha:

An idea that is developed and put into action
is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.

If you’re planning to start or are already publishing a newsletter for your voiceover business, please leave a comment on the blog!

 

Launch of “Success Leaves Tracks” Newsletter

For years, I have wanted to produce a newsletter as a gentle way to keep in touch with clients and prospects. When I started writing this blog 5 years ago, I thought it might take the place of a newsletter. However, I see now that my voiceover business can benefit from both tools.

This blog focuses primarily on topics dealing with voiceover, audiobooks, and marketing. Many of the articles are prompted from specific questions that I receive about working as a voice talent. I also have started a discussion board on Facebook where people may wish to pose these kinds of questions.

Long-time subscribers of this blog probably know that I draw inspiration from reading lots of biographies. I often find myself repeating things I’ve read while in meaningful conversation with people who are looking to make positive changes in their lives. I didn’t want to change the focus of my blog, but I still wanted some way to share inspirational stories with others.

I wasn’t sure that a newsletter would fit the bill. Most marketers would probably say that the purpose of a newsletter is to keep readers informed about your product and services. To me, this viewpoint seems self-indulgent when marketing myself and my services as a voice talent. Just as I don’t fill my blog with entries about my voiceover projects, I don’t want to create a newsletter with that kind of content, either.

Instead, I want to offer something that people would want to read, something they would actually look forward to receiving each month, like they did when I sent postcards in the mail.

You see, I would would highlight a successful, famous person who had nothing to do with voiceover. I loved picking a person and doing some research about them. Then, I would write about their accomplishments and include some of their best quotations on the postcard. People actually called and emailed me to tell me they appreciated the mailing. I stopped the postcard mailings due to the ever-increasing printing and postage costs associated with mailing to a large database.

I don’t know why it took me so long, but the lightbulb finally went on — why not publish a monthly newsletter using the same general idea so that it serves as a virtual postcard?!

And so I am, starting with the inaugural issue of Success Leaves Tracks, to be published today.

In addition to a short biography, the newsletter will include a Success Track that may help you on your path to success. If it sounds interesting to you, I invite you to sign up for the mailing list from my Facebook page. If you don’t receive the July issue, you’ll be able to find it in the newsletter archives.

Now that I’ve told you about my newsletter, my next post will provide some info I learned that may be useful to you if you intend to include a newsletter in your marketing mix.
 

Creating promo videos with public domain components part 2

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!