Karen@KarenCommins.com

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™

comparisons

Antidote For A Dry Spell

 

As I wrote over 10 years ago, in order for your ship containing job contracts to come sailing in to your harbor, you have to keep sending out promotional and prospecting ships into the world. But what happens when you don’t see any results from your efforts? It’s so easy to fall into a negative mindset, especially when it seems that every narrator you know is announcing on social media that they had scheduled work through the next 6 months even before they were just hired for a 10-book series.

I still am not at the level of success that I envision, and some days, the critical voice in my mind starts in on me about what I haven’t accomplished. I notice that mean girl never gives me credit for all of the things I HAVE done! No matter how circumstances may appear in the moment, the key is to push the doubts away and keep marching toward your dream.

In 2012,  Dave Courvoisier wrote candidly on his blog about a dry spell he was experiencing in gaining work. In this article, I’m including and expanding on my response to him.

First, it’s possible to want something so badly that your desperation to have it can actually push it away from you. I wrote about this phenomenon in the article Voiceover and the Law of Paradoxical Intent.

I can tell you honestly that it was only after I truly ACCEPTED my life as it was that things really started to move forward for me.

Second, the number of jobs booked in a time period is only one small way of measuring success. I wrote about 3 techniques for maintaining a feel-good mentality about your career in the post The feel-good voiceover blog post of the summer!. I write my articles for myself as much as for my audience, and this is one post that I often re-read to maintain balance and objectivity during slow times.

I cannot overemphasize the 3rd technique too much — STOP THE COMPARISONS TO OTHER PEOPLE! It is the single greatest act of self-negation that keeps us from our good.

In fact, when I listened to Rob Lowe’s most excellent narration of his autobiographical audiobook Stories I Only Tell My Friends, I heard a compelling reason to keep going forward with your dream. When Lowe talked about meeting an unknown LeVar Burton about a week before ROOTS was aired on TV, he said:

“It showed me how quickly the rocket fuel of stardom can ignite, how unimaginably GIANT the g-forces can be as you are propelled into fame’s orbit.

Looking back, I also wonder at the mystery of destiny and fate. I marvel at the mercurial forces of fortune and am reminded that one must be ever vigilant to stay on one’s own path, without envy of others.”

When I don’t know what the next step is, I just take one. It doesn’t matter what it is. It doesn’t matter if it’s the best thing I could do at the time. It doesn’t matter if other people agree with me, cheer me on, throw spitballs my way, or totally ignore me.

It’s not about them. It’s about me. It’s about “staying vigilant on my path, without envy of others.”

All that matters is that I take that step…..because that step gets me one step closer to the life I’m meant to lead.

Law of Attraction

Shortly after I responded on Dave’s blog, I wrote the article Power of “I Am” In Maintaining a Positive Attitude. Whatever you put after those 2 words becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A passage in the 12/15/17 Science of Mind magazine daily guide really brings home this point.

“Whenever a negative, demeaning thought is believed and allowed to repeat, it is a prayer. “I am [blank] is a prayer. This thought repeatedly spoken becomes a belief. A belief becomes a reality, a prayer answered. By repeating the thoughts, “I am not good enough”…or “Life has always been a struggle”, I am actually creating that reality.

One of our greatest tools is practicing discipline with what we allow ourselves to think. The reality is that you must first believe your affirmation to be true of you.

…See and know your good, then praise and embrace it.”

We need to keep thinking and believing that the success we seek is coming to us. What we think about expands. If we focus on what we think we lack, we will continue to experience more of the same lack.

Just because things don’t happen on our timetable or in the way that we would expect them to show up doesn’t mean they aren’t going to happen. They probably will happen and be even greater than we could imagine!

Just keep smiling, taking steps, and sending out those ships!

 

4 Keys to Becoming a Successful ACX Audiobook Producer

Last updated 8/24/19

 

One of my friends is a well-established and highly successful audiobook narrator with years of experience working in commercial studios for traditional publishers. For the longest time, he had absolutely zero interest in setting up a studio and recording at home, largely because he is not comfortable with technology.

I often talked with him about the many merits of using ACX, including the:

Futhermore, traditional publishers are increasingly employing narrators who are experienced in home recording.

Once he was finally convinced that establishing a home recording studio would be an empowering career move on all levels, he decided to create one and asked many questions while implementing his plan.

The thought occurred to me that anyone who is new to home recording and working through ACX might benefit from the 4 key areas of practical advice and information that I gave to my friend about becoming a successful ACX producer.

 

4 keys in locks that look like puzzle pieces

[Read more…] about 4 Keys to Becoming a Successful ACX Audiobook Producer

Voice-Over Secrets from Adam, Bob and Bob

I ran across a fantastic entry on fellow voice-over actor Adam Creighton’s blog titled Acting is a lot of work. It’s the sort of thing I wish I had written.

I don’t know Adam and haven’t previously read his blog. However, he strikes me as an extremely talented, goal-oriented guy who can inspire all of us with his tremendous work ethic and fierce determination to live the life of his dreams. I particularly liked the paragraph where he said that if you don’t have work, you make your own. I also have used comic books for character voice creation and practice, but Adam takes that method one step further by creating simple animation by taking pictures with his digital camera.

Some of the most stellar ideas for business expansion have come from people making their own work. Hollywood stars often have their own production companies; why shouldn’t a voice actor do the same thing? In his most excellent course You Must Act!, actor/writer/director Bob Fraser advises would-be actors to cast yourself in roles that you want. Whether you are acting on stage or in a voice-over booth, his advice is still sound (pardon the pun).

I was fortunate to have a personal consultation with Bob in which we discussed that point. Casting oneself means that you know your strong suit, and you also know the things that you enjoy doing. You therefore actively seek out those opportunities or possibly create them for yourself. Adam knows this secret.

As much as I enjoyed seeing all of the positive and creative things that appeared on Adam’s list, I also must mention the striking absence of something from his list that seems to fill countless hours for many people. At no point did Adam say he spent his precious time comparing himself to or worrying about his competition.

Of course, I’m sure a smart man like Adam is keenly aware of the competition in the voice-over industry and his other performing arts fields. However, from reading his detailed list of activities, I am delighted to see that he is much too busy with the improvement of his own career to be concerned about the careers of other people. (By the way, I hope that the industrious Adam is way too busy to be spending his valuable time absorbed in gossip and idle chit chat on his cell phone or consumed with the results of a reality TV show.)

Comparing yourself to other people is a guaranteed formula for feeling BAD! Without too much effort, you can always find someone who apparently:

  • has more credits and/or more impressive credits
  • has booked more jobs recently
  • makes more money
  • has better equipment
  • has more agents and/or more aggressive agents and/or agents in more markets
  • has higher search engine rankings
  • has a better demo
  • has more training
  • has better marketing promotions
  • has more audition opportunities

You get the idea. By comparing yourself and your achievements to anyone or anything, you more than likely will find fault with your own situation. This negativity can cause feelings ranging from discouragement to despair and not only jeopardize your career but damage relationships as well. We are all unique, and we all have different gifts to offer the world. You cannot use the career of another person as a yardstick with which to measure your progress because every circumstance is different.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t review the demos, web sites and other marketing materials from others in the voice-over industry. I believe that we all can learn from others’ approaches and successes. Read the biographies of voice actors, business people or anyone else whom you admire. Success leaves clues. If someone else has done something that you want to do, you can emulate their steps. Your journey won’t be the same, but at least you will be on the right path.

From Adam’s comments about suggesting the toy and comic book licensing deal, I wondered if, in fact, he even views other voice actors as competition. I prefer to have a cooperative attitude instead of a competitive one. I know that my voice is not right for every project, and I have turned down projects that I didn’t want to voice because I didn’t like the words that would be coming out of my mouth.

We are all voice talents with something special to offer. Bob Souer, a successful voice actor who is as gifted when writing on the page as he is when bringing words to life behind the mic, wrote an eloquent post on his blog addressing the competition aspect of auditions . In Bob’s mind – and in mine, too – an audition isn’t a competition. When you read his captivating words comparing an audition to a Michelangelo sculpture, you won’t enter an audition situation with a competitive attitude again.

The next time that you think your voice-over career or any other part of your life is unsatisfactory, I would offer this challenge. Ask yourself if you’re really using every bit of available time constructively in pursuit of your dreams like Adam. Are you like veteran voice actor Bob Souer, who views every audition opportunity with the excitement that a sculptor views that new chunk of marble? Have you implemented the advice of the very wise Bob Fraser to cast yourself?

Look at the name of his course again. YOU MUST ACT. Even if you don’t cast yourself for parts that you want, you must take action if you expect anything to happen in your voice-over career. If you remember your high school physics, you’ll know that Isaac Newton stated:

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

All of your actions won’t necessarily lead to the reactions that you want. However, the Universe responds in kind to the energy that you expend. Once you start devoting yourself to the full-time pursuit of making your dream life a reality, I promise that you will be as happy, creative and fulfilled as Adam seems to be.